Originally posted by sedona:
We are on day two of our trip to Elephant Island and have awoken to calmer seas than we went to bed to lady night. More folks have ventured out of their cabins and the dining Rooney, public areas and lecture room were full once again. Folks are looking less green and are laughing and playing cards.
Last night we had a lovely dinner with the folks across the hall. One of the blessings and curses with traveling with friends is that you tend to remain fairly insular and take your tours and eat with your existing friends. If we had been this
insular 10 years ago, none of our travel friends
I failed to mention in my last post that we added two new types of penguins to collection. As we neared our last stop, Cooper Bay, there was a great deal of activity outside. Seals were playing around and something wad busy porpoising in the water all over the place, like flying fish. We soon found out that these were the chinstrap penguins. They get this name from the thin line of black feathers that runs like a strap
under their white chins. They look like they are wearing a little helmut on a white face with a black beak. They are about the same size as gentoos and I had a hard time at first
distinguishing them quickly from one another. Both have orange feet (the only color on the chinstrap) but the gentoo has the slash of orange lipstick nod a totally black head, save for white eyebrows. The warming of the Antarctic Peninsula has seemed to favor chinstraps and they have become the locally dominant penguin species. We also finally saw the
macaroni penguin, who look a lot like the rockhopper penguin. Their tufts of hair are a bright gold and begin at the bridge of their beaks and are slicked back like a headdress. These penguins are the most numerous penguins in the world but only a small amount breed in Antarctica. Most of their
nests are scattered among chinstrap penguins. The name
macaroni comes from the English slang term for a man who dressed in gaudy attire popular in Italy. Breeding is interesting with this penguin. Macaronis lay 2 eggs. Incubation doesn't begin until the second egg has bern laid, by which time the first egg is dead or at least very cold. The
first egg then never hatches and this has puzzled biologists.
There is the Bergmann's Rule of adaptation that scientists have found applies to life in Antarctica. It appears that the closer one gets to the poles, the larger the animal becomes. Emperor penguins are found the furthest south and the smallest penguins are closest to the equator. This has to do
with the amount of body mass an animal needs to keep itself
alive. Even insects found in the Baltic region are massive in size compared with those found in the Antarctic.
Fish also adapt. They are invisible as they don't develop blood vessels. Seals and whales must also exist in a realm of intense cold, no light and crushing pressure when they fish.special physiology is required to function without
breathing and they must store oxygen and use it more conservatively than we do. seals do not hold their breath when they dive but their oxygen is so red in their blood and muscles. The volume of blood is greater in a seal to body size than that of a human. In addition, their blood can hold up to 3 times motes more oxygen.
Our expedition team has members who have become so immersed in life in Antarctica, that they even ice dive. They wear fur underwear and wet suits and examine life under the ice. They said even with these precautions, one's mouths
become frozen and it is impossible to protect one's extremities from the chill.
The entire team on Silverseas works very hard for us-- each and every staff member. The expedition tean not only present wonderful lectures, accompany every expedition, drive our zodiacs, but zip our coats, run down the halls to find you if you have lost a hat or glove. The front desk staff only wants to make things easier. I forgot my I.D. Card. I mentioned it to Doug while standing in line waiting to get in the zodiac. Nina said "please don't bother. You will get overheated running to your room. I will print you a new one right now." Everything on this ship runs smoothly and with a smile. I already have an open booking to return. I am happy with the ship, the staff, my room, the food, the itinerary. This is a class act.
