Page 85 - WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE DISCOVERING ENGLAND

Left: Stalwart penguins sleep while others
bleat.
Right: A mother and son share warmth
onboard the mv Discovery.

cal chinstraps with black feathers collaring their stole rocks from each other’s nests as we wan-
necks. dered through puddles and a gooey compound
one lecturer called orthinogenic soil (penguin
We rode in zodiacs to shore, wearing rubber and seabird manure). The excursion staff, wear-
boots, waterproof pants, parkas, gloves, hats ing bright yellow Penguin Patrol vests, kept
and annoyingly confining lifejackets--the pen-
guins were far more graceful. On Half Moon watch on us at all times. Penguins had the right
of way, waddling, hopping and tobogganing
Island, chinstrap penguins dotted hilltops and on their bellies between hills and the sea. They
beaches as if guarding the continent. Newborn
chicks sprawled on the rocks like sleeping cats seemed fearless, though guides told us penguins
are worried by humans and can get downright
while adults lifted their beaks and let forth with stressed with all the red jackets around.
a chorus of bleats.
Most of us would have been sorely disappointed
The ammonia smell of poop and pee was quite had we not spent time with the penguins, but
breathtaking. Small price to pay for watching they weren’t the trip’s only highlight. We had
hungry chicks chase their mothers. Parents fed
their young by regurgitating krill into the babies’ several calm days with air temperatures into the
60s and views of mountain peaks 70 miles off on
mouths--looked like they were swallowing the the horizon.
kids’ heads. The penguins posed, preened and

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