Penguins

Gentoo, Adelie & Chinstrap Penguins

Cuverville Island, Neko Harbour, Horseshoe Island, Pourquois Pas Island, Fish Islands and Stonington Island

We made a good few stops to see penguins on the Antarctic trip. The first two landings via Zodiac boats were on the same day: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The morning stop was at Cuverville Island and the afternoon one was at Neko Harbour. Both were to visit colonies of Gentoo penguins. Neko Harbour also marked the first time we would set foot on the mainland itself.

There were strict rules for all of our landings: keep a 5 metre distance from the penguins, do not touch them, do not feed them and respect the boundaries marked by red poles that had been placed by the crew. However, the colony of penguins on Cuverville Island had slightly different ideas. If you stood or sat still for long enough, they would wander right up to you. They pecked at dangling backpack straps, walked between people’s legs, and stood right next to your feet. They did not seem to be phased by the human intrusion at all. The crew were slightly taken aback by how close these penguins were getting and explained that usually 3 or 4 Gentoos might wander up – but not the majority!

At Neko Harbour, we were able to see a penguin highway in action. The penguins use grooves in the ice and snow as pathways to make it easier to move about. We had to be careful not to stand in the middle of these pathways, in case we blocked the penguins from moving. 

A few days later, we stopped at Horseshoe Island. Mostly, this was to see the abandoned British base, which has been preserved for visitors to have a look around. We hiked to the top of a ridge overlooking both sides of the island, and on the way back down, four Adelie penguins decided to take a stroll along the shore. One of the bird specialists on the crew explained that these four were youngsters – and their cheekiness certainly backed this up. 

The four of them hopped and skipped across the rocks in a little line, wandering up to the ice overhang every now and again to see if they fancied a morning dive. They always decided against it and continued their routine right in front of their ecstatic human audience.

They came across a seal, who was having a snooze nearby. These little penguins danced back and forth, getting closer and closer to the seal as if they were egging each other on. Three of the penguins made a break for it and ran in front of the seal, and were soon on the other side of the beach. The fourth penguin lost his nerve at the last minute and soon found himself left alone on the wrong side of a seal. He edged forward and darted back a few times – squawking at the friends who’d left him– until finally, in a single rush, he skirted around the obstacle and to safety! Such a comical display – it was as if it had been scripted!

We had planned to stop in a bay on Pourquois Pas Island on the same day as the Horseshoe Island landing. The weather had other ideas. The wind had picked up and a storm was coming in, which meant that the original bay had been blocked by ice. The Ortelius crew scouted out a second bay, but it had never been used before as a landing site – so they had to send out a member of the crew to ‘sound out’ the depths on approach. The sea was choppy and the winds were strong, so for a while it looked as though it was going to be to called off. But the all-clear came and we headed across in the Zodiacs. 

The path to the bay was scattered with icebergs, which stood like sculptures rising from the frosty sea. Fur seals swam around us as we carved our way towards land – and there in the distance was a scattering of Adelie penguins on the shore.

By the end of the trip, we had seen an abundance of Adelie and Gentoo penguins – but we hadn’t seen a flipper of a Chinstrap. However, on the day we did a Zodiac cruise around the Fish Islands, we caught a bit of luck. There were Adelie penguins everywhere, but as we rounded a corner, two Chinstrap penguins could be seen on a rocky outcrop.

Penguins in any shape or form were an absolute delight to watch – but I think that the four on Horseshoe Island will always remain my favourites.