Penguins

Days go by, while the icebergs flow past. I don’t know if this is correct English, but it grasps our feelings pretty well. Days and experiments are becoming more and more alike. While I write this, an enormous iceberg glides past the porthole. But the weather is pretty grey, so I don’t even bother to take a picture. How spoiled can you get after 5 weeks? Fortunately, the view from the bridge is still pretty impressive and when the sun comes out everyone is out photographing icebergs, like a bunch of tourists. A couple of days ago, we sailed around an enormous iceberg and everyone was out on the bow taking pictures. We had been on station for quite a while, so the ships engines had to warm up for about half an hour, so we might as well tour around the berg… Yeah right, this had never happened before after being on station, luckily Stan could smile about it as well! When someone like Vladimir, our icepilot who has been sailing on Russian nuclear icebreakers, comes out to take pictures of the ice formations, you know it’s pretty special!




And the penguins remain fantastic! Three days ago we were set free on the ice for the afternoon, while some were installing a mooring in the ice. Time for the emperor penguins and the scientists to check each other out! Three emperors came right for me and came within 3 meters, looking a bit like big chicken, waving their heads back and forth. Incredible! Now we are sailing through big icefloes, where small Adelie penguins are looking at us quite astonished. Hellooo! What kind of big orange thing are you? Should we be scared? It’s impossible not to be moved by the Adelies! When Scotts South Pole expedition was sailing to Antarctica in 1910, those cool Brits, full of style and character, were singing to the Adelies from the back deck. Ninety nine years later they have to do with the musical clicking of our cameras.

Anna
(Far left in the picture wearing her 'Amsterdam' hat)