Blog 12 Dec.
We left our Booth Island anchorage early and made our way to Petermann Island which, at South 65 degrees 10 minutes latitude, was our most southerly stop on this expedition. Petermann was discovered by Eduard Dallmann, who named the island after a German geographer called August Petermann. We anchored at the tip of Port Circumcision and hiked up from the beach to admire the beautiful icy vistas that surround the island.
We then trekked further up the slope to a mixed colony of Gentoo and Adelie penguins, where we witnessed enthusiastic mating activity and the blatant theft of rocks used for nesting. We were excited after days of seeing the ubiquitous Gentoo penguins to catch a rare glimpse of the Adelies, which are as stout and sturdy as the Japanese cartoon character Totoro and have arresting blue eyes.
The aroma of eau de penguin was particularly strong around the nesting site – something that often goes unmentioned in the guidebooks.
In the afternoon, we pushed northward past towering mountains and breaching whales before settling for the night in the safe harbor of Port Lockroy.
Tomorrow, northward ho!
