It is probably getting a bit old for me to keep saying it, but I guess my vocabulary is just not expansive enough for me to express my emotions any other way. WOW! I don't know if I can say that any one day down here has been the greatest day because they are all so unique, different and magical. However, if I had to make a list of the best days so far today would be very high on that list! Get ready for a lot of pictures!
We Brad, Marissa, Sandwich and I piled into the PB to go fishing. When Brad and Marissa went to pick up or lunches, they also came back with some hot and fresh grilled cheese sandwiches! How can you have a bad day when you start it by riding in the back of a PB with a hot, fresh grilled cheese sandwich!?!?
Here is Sandwich eating her sandwich!
Here are some more sandwiches, and my new gloves! I forgot to mention that yesterday at the party, my friend Nick (one of the helo techs that I took fishing) wanted to give me a thank you gift for taking him fishing. He got me some amazing gloves! I was so excited and wore them almost all day today!
During our morning commute, we had to profile several cracks. After we profiled our last crack, Sandwich and I were in the back ready to just relax for about another 30 minutes before we got to Inaccessible Island. However, off in the distance, we spotted some Emperor Penguins! We stopped the PB and got out to take some pictures. We were not prepared at all for what happened next. The penguins started to waddle, walk and glide on their bellies were coming right at us. They just kept coming! They got so close that we had to start backing away. The Antarctic Treaty does not allow anyone to approach the wildlife (unless you have a scientific permit). However, they kept approaching us! We kept backing away and they kept getting closer! In the end, we just had to get into our PB!
Now I am aware of cattle blocking the roads in some farming communities and that sheep routinely block roads in New Zealand, but how many people have a morning commute in which they have an unobstructed view of an active volcano (in Antarctica) and then have their road blocked by 19 Emperor Penguins? Probably not that many. You can see Mt. Erebus in the distance (no clouds today), the penguins blocking our “road” and our daily commuter, PB 310.
Once we were back in the PB, we took some more pictures as we waited for them to move on, but they just hung out around the back of the PB. We drove off very slowly and one even “waved” at us.
Then we saw 6 more Emperors less than two minutes later! In total, 25 Emperor Penguins!
Marissa and Sandwich fishing, Mt. Erebus in the background.
Me fishing. I don’t have a picture of me catching it, but today I caught a Pagothenia borchgrevinki. It is definitely my most favorite fish in the whole world. It is so beautiful! I wish that the pictures online did it justice but the picture that I posted earlier of one is close. They are incredible.
Here is Sandwich making sure that our flags are tied down properly.
Another breathtaking and unobstructed view of Mt. Erebus.
Finally, on our drive back, we saw all the same penguins again. It was like they were waiting for us! Still blocking the road. But we had fish in our PB this time so we just drove around them. Lastly, as we were driving, we saw a MASSIVE Weddell seal on the sea ice right next to the road and it was lumbering toward our PB as well. Talk about a day filled with charismatic mega-fauna!
It was another incredible day in Antarctica!
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