February 27 - Diego Ramirez Island, Chlie

The weather was cooperating with us this afternoon when we arrived at the Diego Ramirez Islands. It was amazing seeing these islands of jagged rock just come up out of nowhere as we approached in the ship. Since this was not a planned stop along our expedition, the Chilean Pilots and the Captain had to radio the men on the island as we got close to ask for permission to land. Luckily, they said yes and we tossed in a gift of two cases of beer as a thank you. I found out later that one of the Chilean Pilots in his 13-year career had never visited the island, and our Captain had visited 9 times, but never landed due to weather.

We did land for approximately two hours and it was spectacular. Upon landing, we found a molting King penguin, far away from its home. It was my first King penguin and it was impressive. He (or she) was standing guard over the stairs to walk up the hill, and it seemed bewildered that all of these people were showing up on its private island. I've attached a photo.


King Penguin

Up the stairs, and into the tussac grass and mud, we found nests of Grey Headed Albatross, Black Browed Albatross and Rockhopper Penguins. It looked a lot like the Falkland Islands in some ways once we were on the island, but the view of the group of islands and rocky outcrops from the ship reminded me more of the Aleutians in Alaska. The Grey Headed Albatross are so beautiful. I was mesmerized by their sleek coloring and shape and in awe of their size. They are also not at all afraid of humans (they don't see too many of us) and one got about six feet away from me before it took off into the wind. It was incredible to be so close to it and see it spread its wings and lift off on an updraft. I took some photos, but the whole bird would not fit into my lens with its wings spread! I've attached a close up photo of the head of the Albatross so you can see the beautiful coloration.

This evening we are sailing back to Puerto Williams. On our way to Diego Ramirez, a woman slipped on the deck and injured her hip. She will unfortunately need to go to a hospital, so we will drop her off in Puerto Williams in the morning and then head back out into the fjords.


Gray Headed Albatross