New Island, New Point of View

By Blog.Admin

3 Dec 2009





The last landing yesterday was on an island, once privately owned. The residents welcomed us to the wee museum above the beach where we landed. The beach was the first sandy beach we've seen on this expedition. A flock of kelp geese, uplands geese and oyster catchers were being eyed by a caracara at the water's edge. Some geese chicks were paraded across the tussock while we took off our life jackets. I lingered at the water's edge while the rest of the travelers hiked across the island to the albatross colony. Living among the Black-browed beauties were Rockhopper Penguins and Shags. It was a symphony in black and white when I finally arrived.



My walk to the colony took longer than others, because I kept lingering to drink in the views and video the geese. I am mad about kelp geese and upland geese. We returned to the ship for dinner and an auction to raise funds for Save the Albatross. Up for auction were some very special items. Doug Allan and Sue Flood donated a copy of the companion book to Planet Earth - autographed! The Captain and Expedition Team signed a poster of the KK. There was a toy albatross - Albert Ross was his name- that when you squeezed his tail made authentic cooing sounds. Robert Bateman donated a painting of a pair of Emperors that he had been working on in his cabin during the voyage. How is that for provenance? He began the painting after seeing them on the ice last week. I thank him for his generosity and initiative. We managed to raise over $5,000 for the cause!



Categories

Back to Top