Paulet Island & The Weddell Sea
Morning found the National Geographic Explorer off Paulet Island, a small volcanic island in the northwestern corner of the Weddell Sea near the Antarctic Peninsula. Paulet is home to over 60,000 nesting pairs of Adelie Penguins and as we ate our breakfast we could gaze out the windows in the dining area and see the penguin colonies draped over the slopes and scattered on the on beaches along the southeastern coast of the island.
Soon we boarded the zodiacs and headed towards shore to a small gap in the breeding penguins where we could land. As the guests marveled at the expanse of penguins and the newly hatched Adelie chicks, our Oceanites team on NG Explorer, Aileen Miller and John Carlson, headed towards the other end of the island to conduct a census of the penguins nesting in a colony that Oceanites has been monitoring for 15 years.
Along the way we paused to count the number of nesting Blue-eyed Shags on the steep rocky slopes above the beach. Paulet is also home to one of the largest shag colonies in the area. After completing our census we climbed to the top of a large plateau above many of the nesting penguins to take reference photos of the expanse of colonies. These photos will help us monitor any potential changes in penguin distribution on the island. As we made our way back toward the landing site, high above the beach, we were able to see many of our fellow travelers between the penguin colonies.
The NG Explorer headed east into the Weddell Sea in the afternoon with plans to visit one of the islands in the area, but heavy ice and wind waylaid our plans. However, before we headed out of the Weddell, we were rewarded with a special treat. A dark spot on the edge of a large ice flow turned out to be something we had hoped, but not expected, to find – an Emperor Penguin. While the captain maneuvered the ship slowly closer to the bird, the bow on the NG Explorer filled with guests hoping for a look at this, the largest, and hardest to observe, of the penguins. We were rewarded with excellent views of an adult bird as it preened and stretched at the ice edge right in front of us as Snow Petrels swirled among the icebergs around us. It was, all in all, a wonderful day filled with a penguin metropolis and one member of penguin royalty.
Morning found the National Geographic Explorer off Paulet Island, a small volcanic island in the northwestern corner of the Weddell Sea near the Antarctic Peninsula. Paulet is home to over 60,000 nesting pairs of Adelie Penguins and as we ate our breakfast we could gaze out the windows in the dining area and see the penguin colonies draped over the slopes and scattered on the on beaches along the southeastern coast of the island.
Soon we boarded the zodiacs and headed towards shore to a small gap in the breeding penguins where we could land. As the guests marveled at the expanse of penguins and the newly hatched Adelie chicks, our Oceanites team on NG Explorer, Aileen Miller and John Carlson, headed towards the other end of the island to conduct a census of the penguins nesting in a colony that Oceanites has been monitoring for 15 years.
Along the way we paused to count the number of nesting Blue-eyed Shags on the steep rocky slopes above the beach. Paulet is also home to one of the largest shag colonies in the area. After completing our census we climbed to the top of a large plateau above many of the nesting penguins to take reference photos of the expanse of colonies. These photos will help us monitor any potential changes in penguin distribution on the island. As we made our way back toward the landing site, high above the beach, we were able to see many of our fellow travelers between the penguin colonies.
The NG Explorer headed east into the Weddell Sea in the afternoon with plans to visit one of the islands in the area, but heavy ice and wind waylaid our plans. However, before we headed out of the Weddell, we were rewarded with a special treat. A dark spot on the edge of a large ice flow turned out to be something we had hoped, but not expected, to find – an Emperor Penguin. While the captain maneuvered the ship slowly closer to the bird, the bow on the NG Explorer filled with guests hoping for a look at this, the largest, and hardest to observe, of the penguins. We were rewarded with excellent views of an adult bird as it preened and stretched at the ice edge right in front of us as Snow Petrels swirled among the icebergs around us. It was, all in all, a wonderful day filled with a penguin metropolis and one member of penguin royalty.
