In the afternoon we went ashore at Waterboat Point, site for Antarctica’s smallest ever wintering party comprising just two men, who decided to stay for a winter to study the penguins by improvising a hut from an old boat, back in the 1920s. Almost an island, it is now the site of Chile’s González Videla Base (S 64°49.5′ W 62°51.5′).
There was a summer team of expeditioners down there who allow visitors to see some of the base. They also operate a souvenir shop where I bought one of the world’s more expensive (but also rather rare) beanies. I have now added a couple of extra souvenir cloth patches to it (one from the Plancius, and the other I will tell you about later), which makes it look rather more ridiculous than it did originally, although together the whole thing becomes just a smidge brag-worthy if you were that kind of person which I would have said I wasn’t but for the fact that I just typed this sentence.
The base is also the site of a penguin colony (they’re everywhere).
In amongst all the regular black-tuxedoed Gentoos there was a “leucistic” penguin, a colour variant arising from a melanin deficiency leading to a blonde rather than black appearance (this is not albinism; it does not have the red-eyes that albino forms would have).
One of the consequences of all the penguins is rather an awful lot of penguin poop.
Although somewhat unpleasant for us — and requiring careful cleaning when we went indoors at the base — that poop is actually rather desirable to the snowy sheathbill, otherwise known as the poop-eater. It doesn’t seem to experience any shame in its coprophagic habits, and why should anyone begrudge such abundant free meals?
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