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One of the main attractions on Deception Island is the Chinstrap Penguin rookery of about 10,000 birds, located a few miles away. Hiking there will be extremely dangerous as hidden crevasses abound under what appear to be safe snow fields. My strategy on hiking there is to keep to the volcanic ash and to avoid the snow fields. We will cross the snow fields, if unavoidable, by roping together and continuing with caution. We arrived at the rookery without incident but, after arriving, one of our expedition members wandered off onto a snow field and fell into a crevasse. Being lucky, he only fell about 15 feet, landing on a 4 foot wide shelf. He would have disappeared if he missed that shelf. After a successful rescue we continued to explore the rookery. The rookery itself was something else; wall to wall penguins, covering several acres, going about their individual routines.
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We worked our way down a rock slide to
the shore below. Penguins on their way to-and-fro to feed their young shared the route down to the sea. Halfway down, a basketball size rock broke loose from above, tumbling to the sea below and
leaving perhaps two dozen dead and dying penguins in its path. Not having any fresh meat for nearly seven weeks, we considered feasting on one of the dead penguins but quickly changed our minds
after observing parasites infecting their flesh. Upon noticing a splash about one hundred yards offshore, we realized leopard seals were patrolling back and forth having their pick of which penguin to have
as lunch. We tried not to have an impact on the rookery by moving slowly about. The penguins did not seem to mind our presence. An adult peng
uin waddle by doing double time, chased by two down covered chicks squawking cries of hunger.
Occasionally, a chick without an adult nearby would think that you were its parent, then approach you with open mouth and head back expecting a meal of regurgitated krill. Groups of up to a few dozen chicks, watched by a few
adults, made up the nurseries that seemed to be everywhere. Adults still building their nest would steal rocks from unattended nests. Overall there was quite a commotion going on among the penguins, hungry chicks, nest robbing,
and much squawking. By this time it was getting late so we decided to head back to Whalers Bay.