The day before I was to leave on R and Ra I heard a delicious rumor, a penguin had been sited. Setting out to see if it was true I headed down to hut point and passed people coming the opposite way. "Is it true?" I'd ask. "Is there a penguin there?" I was assured there was, and one woman took my arm in deep concern. "It is very worrisome," she said. "People are getting really close and I don't think it's a good thing." Not knowing what to say I nodded and kept moving on expecting to see people posing with the penguin, doing peace signs and bunny ears on it as their friends snapped away.
When I crested the hill, this is what I saw . . . .
The penguin is to the right a little above the last guy on the right
Unless people had been wading across the antarctic waters and scrambling onto the ice, there was no way to get "real close" to it.
upper right
Apparently the Adelie was molting, a painful process, and that was why it was was just standing still. I think it liked the attention and was working on it's modeling career hoping BBC would come back and do On the Ice II. It was wonderful to see it real, without the glass barrier or the Styrofoam snow environment. There was no Zoo feeling, no ice cream licking pointing children, annoying adults tapping the glass, no Hawaiian wearing, camera toting tourist. Just us. Those of us living here, with them, and simply marveling at their beauty, grace and connection with nature.
So now that can be crossed off the list of what to see here -- not that I had a list. Next up polar bears - hahaha
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