Delbert of Antartica Day 2

And this pathetic attempt at a Korean snow Angel - compliments of Corey! Not only am I not very good at Snow Angels - i need a haircut. ZZ Top eat your heart out! and to work out how to get the image up the right way.

A couple more shots from Day 1

After breakfast, Alejo had arranged for a German Biologist stationed at the Russian camp to take us for a walk to Elephant Bay.

Mikael is studying Squar's (a type of Bird) for his Masters. He is working with a professor who had been studying these big brown, aggressive, Penguin egg eating beasts for years. Last year they monitored 350 nests on George Is. This year only 30! They think there is a krill shortage as the whales didn't come into the bay in the numbers that would normally appear.

He took us down to Elephant Bay asking us to avoid treading on the mosses and lichens as it takes years to repair the damage in this climate. It is so named because of the number of Elephant seals that come here each season. A few weeks ago there were circa 200.

As I have mentioned earlier, everything is leaving for warmer climes. There were still a few grumpy Fur seals and some of the Big Buggers. At first you ask "is that a this or that"? Then you see a male Elephant seal and you see the difference! They are huge with bloody great noses! no jokes at my expense thank you.

There weren't many still here sunbathing or swimming but, like Penguins they produce the most awful fish smell! I cant imagine what it would have smelled like a  few weeks ago!

He was hoping to point out the Giant Petrol (another bird) but he said they are in very small numbers and very timid. There used to be a big community where the Chinese have built their station - they moved out.
We didn't see one.

Every now and again he would scrape some soil, put it in to bags & take the location with a GPS monitor for other scientists (studying fungae).
He is a really nice guy and the sort that really cares what is happening to the planet. He was even honest enough to say, when asked
"Was there a lot of competiton for this posting"?
"Yes, but I got it because the others were vegetarians. The time they had a Veggie in the Russian camp, he suffered from malnutrition & was sent home"!

I like him even more when he gave me a sticker from his project - that will go on the panniers with the others!

We said our goodbyes and boarded the plane. Alejo was coming back with us as he had things to do in Punta Arenas. He was sat in his seat talking to the Air Traffic controller (the guy that sees 1 or 2 flights in a blue moon) on his mobile. All smiles, he shouted to the pilot & with a thumbs up that we can do IT!.

IT became apparent quite quickly that Alejo had got permisson for an Air Display!

We hared down the runway and took off to (what felt like) about 10 feet. We continued low and accelerating across the island and then banked steeply over the bay and back for a fast fly past the "airport" Most of the time, water was the only visible feature to be seen through the windows! One more circuit and we were on our way back North. For all we knew we could have been trailing red white & blue smoke trails for the audience below.

I am not a nervous flier but he certainly got us gripping the armrests - it was the perfect way, even, the only way to leave after such a great two days.

Once we were cruising we all caught up on our sleep and were soon back in Punta Arenas.

It was something really special to have been shown this part of the world by Alejo and his friends, in such sublime weather. Tommy & Corey were very good company and  I cant think of a better way to spend the kids inheritance!