Cheeky Chinstraps and Co.

Our first landing in Antarctica was on the Hydrurga Rocks near the northern entrance of Gerlache Strait, where multiple chinstrap penguin colonies (or rookeries), cormuran nests, and a couple lazy Weddell Seals were blissfully living their unencumbered lives.

Penguins were already an adorable favorite animal of ours, but seeing these droves of stumbly, curious, social cuties took us to another level of adoration.

The chinstrap penguins have a distinct black line across their face below their jet black beaks, as if someone had taken a sharpie to their necks. Their webbed feet are a soft coral hue with black undersides.

To get around, they waddle about, and sometimes simply flop onto their bellies and slide around instead.

We also happened to be visiting during the season of dating and mating. Each type of Antarctic penguin, whether chinstrap, adelie, gentoo, or emperor has a distinct mating call And a distinct coupling dance.

In the chinstraps case, they call out to their future partners and once found, perform a side-to-side snakeline movement of their necks to confirm partnership. It was wonderful to watch them couple off like a group of awkward middle schoolers at their first school dance.

Other shenanigans that occur at the rookeries include pebble theft. Penguins pick up pebbles, one at a time, to build their nest for future penguin chicks to nest in. Oftentimes, however, there are not enough pebbles for everyone or fetching them becomes far too cumbersome. So what do they do instead? Steal from their neighbors. The best part of watching this thievery is the squawking beak-pecking fight that ensues when the victim of burglary finally realizes what his neighbor has been up to.

Some photos of chinstrap colonies:

The other friendly wildlife we saw were cormuran birds, which often get mistaken for flying penguins. Penguins are by definition, flightless birds , always.

And here is a lazy Weddell seal who has found a lovely spot for his afternoon siesta.

We spent several hours traversing as much of the little rocky island as we were safely able to before we had to head back in our zodiac to the ship awaiting us at sea.