Hard to believe, but yesterday was our last day in Antarctica. We had our morning polar plunge and the orca sighting. And then we were on our way to Half Moon Island. It was one more time to hang out with the penguins; to take in the icebergs; and generally just to enjoy Antarctica. Half Moon Island is a pretty little place inhabited by a whole lot of chinstrap penguins.
There is also one character who looks a little different than the rest. I could call him Tacky (shout out to my favourite penguin book of all time!) or, I could go with his real name - Mac. Mac is a macaroni penguin. There is a whole story of why they are called macaroni penguins. I think it's a pretty weak story, so I won't repeat it. I am trying to come up with a better one. Anyways, pick Mac out in this next photo. And he's not the little one. So Mac's story is interesting. He seems to have been a bit of a rebel. Or you could say, of questionable moral character, depending on your take on inter-species breeding. So Mac had a girlfriend. She was a chinstrap penguin. He was very dedicated to her, so he moved to the land of the chinstraps. He's the only macaroni on the island, but nobody seems to really care. Apparently he and his girlfriend tried for a long time, but were never successful in procreating (insert discussion about whether this was even biologically possible). His girlfriend isn't around anymore. They don't know what happened to her. But Mac stuck around and can generally be found just hanging out.
As I said, Half Moon Island is home to a lot of chinstrap penguins.
We saw a lot of different behaviours that we had discussed with the expedition staff over our time in Antarctica. It was like a highlight show. This was the most epic fight I had seen the entire time. It was actually two males both trying to steal stones from the poor lady in the bottom right. And then they ended up fighting.
And the chicks were out in force, always looking for food. So cute.
I will let you identify this next behaviour. And here is a random fact for you. Do you know how to tell the difference between the male and female penguins during breeding season? The females are the ones with footprints on their backs. No joke.
As we toured around the island, the fog started to roll in. At one point the expedition staff started to express concern that we may be called back to the ship because of the fog. You also noted a marked temperature decrease when the fog rolled in. We didn't get called back.
This next photo - one of my absolute favourites. Can I just say again how much I love penguins?
After we had spent our alloted time on the island, Doug picked us up in the zodiac. It was our regular group (with a couple additions). I also think we became the zodiac drivers' favourite group. Scott said it is always the best with the groups that also entertain themselves. We had no problem doing that.
The fog was rolling in and out and up the mountains.
But as I said, it was starting to get cold. It was the first time that I was really cold on the trip. Michelle and I bundled up as best we could, but we had been tricked by the sun when we were getting ready on the boat and probably hadn't brought enough to wear. Oops.
Still love the porpoising.
It was another amazing landing but sad to say goodbye to Antarctica. It was absolutely everything I wanted it to be and, in many ways, beyond what I could have imagined. But I'll write more about that some other time.
Last night, we had a black and white celebration. Some people took this very literally. Cody's costume was pretty impressive. Good effort. New species of penguin - the Tennessee Penguin.
We also had a night of acoustic karaoke (which at moments was a really bad idea, and I clearly did not have enough to drink). However, these Aussies obviously had enough to drink and put in a solid effort with Land Down Under (although many of them seemed to not know the words or the tune). It was a great night and we definitely celebrated. Thanks Antarctica!
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