January 10, 2006 - Navy invasion & Gentoo Penguin.

t was another overcast day here at Palmer Station.  We have not seen the sun since the day we arrived.  Because the clouds are low, we can’t see the mountains that are all around us.  I have just seen glimpses of these along the horizon.  George says that the view is really magnificent when the sky clears.  I hope we get a nice day soon. 
 
The cruise ship Bremen cancelled her visit to the Station, but yesterday we had a visit of an Argentine Navy ship.  Like our research ship, the L.M. Gould, it is painted orange-red on the bottom.  When I first saw the Argentine ship on the horizon, I thought it was the Gould returning for a visit.  But then they announced over the loudspeaker that the Argentine Navy would visit.  The Navy ship did not pull up to our dock (they are not allowed), but she dropped anchor out in the harbor amongst the icebergs.  They sent a small boat in to the station with some officers, who got a tour of Palmer Station.  Maria Vila, who is working with us on our project, and who is from Spain, was very helpful in serving as a translator for the group of Spanish-speaking visitors.  She helped show them around.  Apparently the ship and its crew are mainly from Mar del Plata in Argentina. 
 
Since we were invaded by the Argentine Navy today, I am including a picture of the Palmer Station Navy – our fleet of Zodiac’s.  These are the boats we use for sampling the waters around the area.  The rubber Zodiac’s are very good boats when you have a lot of ice around.  They don’t crunch or dent, and they are relatively easy to work from.  The one we use for our project is #55, all the way on the right. It has a blue wooden platform and you can see the davit and winch that we use to lower the sampling bottles.  You can also see the sample bottles in a rack on the right.  I’ll send a close-up picture of the Zodiac another day.
 
While I was out taking pictures of the ship I heard a loud squawking noise from the rocks by the dock. I went over to investigate and I saw a lone penguin standing there.   This was interesting because it was a new kind of penguin for me.  I have seen plenty of Adelie penguins but this one was a Gentoo Penguin.  Gentoo’s have a white stripe across the top of the head, whereas Adelie’s have a solid black head.  This Gentoo was just standing there on the rocks preening his feathers.  I was able to get pretty close to him to take some pictures.  He did not show any fear of me, but I did not get too close.  Technically, we are not allowed to “interfere” or bother the wildlife here in Antarctica.  My camera has only a 4x zoom, but still I got a decent shot of him.    There is another kind of penguin around here, called a Chinstrap Penguin, which I have seen in the water from the Zodiac, but I haven’t been able to get a good picture of one yet. 
 
I worked in the lab running samples for most of the late afternoon and evening.  I did manage to get to the gym for a good workout. That felt good.  I worked until after midnight again – I seem to be getting into my late mode.  I also spent some time analyzing data that has been collected for the last several months.  There is a lot of data to go through.