Half
Moon Island |
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Welcome to Half Moon Island, the third excursion on our first day of landings. Most of the continent and the surrounding islands are covered with ice year round and are therefore it makes it very hard to land a zodiac. This island has a gently sloping pebble beach that makes it quite easy to land. There are designated landing sites that tourist companies can bring their clients to. The tourist industry in Antarctica is goverened by the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO). Members of the association adopt a set of guidelines that act to preserve and protect the continent for years to come. |
The
island is home to a chinstrap penguin colony that numbered over 6,000
in 1995. We also saw many different seabirds nesting there and a few
southern elephant seals who were hauled out on the beach. The penguins
were continuously moving from their nests to the ocean, often in a single
file line. |
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The
island is also home to the abandoned Argentine base Camara. Throughout
the trip we saw several research bases that were no longer in use. Most
of them were abandoned because of financial reasons. The Argentine economic
collapse of the late 1990’s left the country in a state where
scientific research, especially costly Antarctic research, was impossible.
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Seen
here in the rear are the pure white Snowy sheathbill (Chionis alba).
These birds are true scavengers and will eat anything that was once
alive. The bird in the foreground is a kelp gull. |
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The picture on the left was taken several years ago during a similar tourist expedition to the Antarctic continent. The picture on the right was taken by me on my trip. Notice the abandoned whaling boat in the left picture. The very top of the boat is visible in the picture on the right. This year the snowpack was very late to melt. This is most damaging to the penguin populations because of their need of exposed ground to make their nests. Penguin "real estate" was very valuable this year. |
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