Our first introduction to king penguins was on Macquarie Island, five days after leaving New Zealand. These three were having an animated discussion about something that eluded us. We were instructed to limit our viewing of the penguin rookery by staying on our side of the rope that was laid on the ground. These two […]

Among the tortured forms of colliding ice floes, amidst blowing snow and salt spray of the Ross Sea off the coast of Cape Hallett sits a lone Adélie penguin. She is grooming the feathers on her white breast, picking out loose down, smoothing the fibers of her soft insulating coat. Our Zodiac raft, carrying eleven […]

Each time I return to the ship, I am aware of feeling intensely alive as well as amazingly fortunate to be here in this place at this time with this small group of individuals. The staff members have rich backgrounds in varied aspects of the area. Joan, who turned 70 at the beginning of the […]

“Chilean Sea Bass” is a term created by marketers in the fishing industry. It is a name they chose to give to the Antarctic toothfish which is found in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica. As a large predator, the Antarctic toothfish is at the top of the food chain, along with Orcas. It feeds on […]

Krill are shrimp-like ocean creatures that grow to 2-3” long. They are one of the most abundant animals in the world, representing 500,000,000 tons of biomass worldwide (about half that of humans). They are a critically important food source for fish, squid, seabirds (including penguins) and whales. About half of the world’s krill end up […]

The pest eradication program on Macquarie Island over the past couple of decades provides an informative story about human’s attempts of manage animal species. The story goes back to the early 1800s when Macquarie Island, in the Southern Ocean south of Australia was discovered by men hunting seals and whales. The first sailors who came […]