Sunday, November 26, 2006

Penguin, Dolphins and comments

Please look again at my posts for the Gerlache Passage and the Neumayer Passage. I added several great shots to each post. I can hardly convey the beauty of those parts of the trip.
No trip to Antarctica would be complete without the penguinos. I admit they are cute, very funny birds who do mimic humans in some of their behavior. I tried to post an AVI moving image file form my camera. It showed this penguin hopping over rocks to the water, looking around, belly flopping in and jetting away underwater. They can really move underwater. Unfortunately, I can't post it here.
This Adelie came over to watch me videoing the glacier and was very curious. Then he turned and scrambled down to the water and dove away. We'll go our to Torgensen Island for more shots later.
WARMING In response to some of the comments: I understand that is area of the Antarctica Peninsula has experienced more warming than any other part of the world, perhaps 5ºC (9ºF) in the past 20 years. Our glacier is retreating a a frightening rate. Bob Farrel, our station manager says, in response to a question about the future in the Antarctica Sun, asked, "You had a glacier?"

It is a giant pile of snow and it has retreated over 120 meters in 20 years (500 feet) from the back of Palmer Station. That's a lot of water to add to the oceans if you multiply it by all the snow and glaciers on this peninsula.


These are birds we saw on the Gould in the middle of the Drake Passage from Chile. We were never without birds along side, even when over 1000km (700 miles) from land.


I believe these are Commerson's Dolphins. Very entertaining as we were leaving the waters of Tierra del Fuego. Beautiful and very fast. These guys would dive under the boat and surf the bow wave. The photos are thanks to Frank Howell or Raytheon.





16 Comments:

Blogger RedHairedandFriendly said...

Simply Beautiful. Thank you for sharing with us.

11/27/06, 2:31 PM  
Blogger KrisinHawaii said...

Penguins, yahoo! You read my mind! (Of course one can never look at penguins the same way after "March.")

Pretty please try posting your video again. What about going through something like YouTube? We just have to see that penguin video!

The dolphins are amazing looking. What grand colors, and it had me wondering why so many of the animals there are black and white.

'scuse my ignorance, but it is "summer" in Antarctica, yes?

11/27/06, 2:44 PM  
Blogger Holly said...

I'm really enjoying your blog and photos, thanks for posting them

11/27/06, 4:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

WOW ! really green with envy here ! what a chance in a lifetime to travel to such a rare, beautifull & texture rich place.

11/27/06, 6:19 PM  
Blogger Chris said...

You mention about the melting of Glaciers, live in Canada, just west of the Rockies. Have watched a huge Glacier at the top of the Rodger's Pass all but disappear over the last 20 years. Very scary. Thank you for sharing the pictures and your experiences. Most incredible

11/27/06, 6:47 PM  
Blogger mirk said...

Typical blogger won't let you post AVI or animated GIF. Although you could try and remote host the AVI it's easy. On my blog if you click on the animated eyes it links to where you can remote host video etc. Might help!

Those dolphins were superb I never knew you could get them that colour... just gray I thought. Good to learn something new every day.

11/27/06, 8:43 PM  
Blogger Suzi-k said...

these dolphins also new to me, this being able to share your trip is RAD! Can't thank you enough for the experience! I have also noticed how photos of Kilimanjaro have changed over the years, the glacier, which was such an icon of African scenery, is all but gone now, really sad!

11/28/06, 5:26 AM  
Blogger therapydoc said...

I can't help but wonder what you'd think of the movie Happy Feet!

11/28/06, 6:44 AM  
Blogger The Great Quotes said...

COOL PICTURES!!!!!!

11/28/06, 9:31 AM  
Blogger Copijza said...

El blog es grandioso, las fotos increibles...

I like so much!

Your blog is great!

11/28/06, 11:15 PM  
Blogger zippiknits...sometimes said...

What wonderful pictures of those dolphins. A new dolphin species to this SoCalian. Thanks for blogging all this for the "stay at homes". Lol

11/29/06, 2:50 AM  
Blogger Moon said...

beautiful

11/29/06, 11:59 AM  
Blogger HappySurfer said...

Firstly, congrats on being a blog of note.

Such great pictures. Thanks for sharing them. I've never seen such close-up pictures of penguins. Amazing shots - great looking penguin. The dolphins are pretty. I wonder if all pretty animals come in black and white. I'm thinking pandas, penguins and now dolphins. Good luck with your project.

11/29/06, 3:44 PM  
Blogger rainbow said...

It's beautiful! Love the penguins! :D It's like you could touch them...Thanks for sharing!

11/30/06, 6:38 PM  
Blogger Nazlee said...

apa khabar...

truly beautiful and gorgeous! remarkable creatures and of course thanks for sharing.

12/5/06, 6:30 AM  
Blogger tina said...

i love the blogs :) all great pictures

9/6/07, 6:32 AM  

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