Continent #7!

It's February 29th and the weather was cooperating better. By 9:15 we were onshore Cuvaville Island visiting a gentoo penguin rookery.

Given the weather's been so unpredictable and I've learned not to postpone things until later, I donned my penguin costume and posed with the family! In the end I didn't bother taking it off as it kept me warm and the winds were a bit fierce. It was a hit and I got lots of laughs. I wore it proudly! The guides said they'd never seen anything like it. I'm actually quite surprised by that.

I'd been warned and the penguins do indeed smell a bit...but that's where having a cold is actually an advantage! ;o). It was fascinating to watch them and quite useful to have watched the BBC documentaries to understand some of their behaviours. The chick taps on the mother's beak, for example, when it wants to be fed. That cues her regurgitation instinct (yum, yum).

Many were moulting now too which meant they're quite vulnerable since they can't swim. We had to be very careful not to walk any closer than 5m to them. If they came to us, however, it was a different story. Sure enough, whenever I'd stop to take some pictures, I would look down afterwards to find them wandering right by me, not paying me any attention. (Obviously they're not fooled by my costume!)

This afternoon we went on a zodiac tour of the glaciers in Paradise Bay. I had to re-strategize the sock situation! Six pairs felt much warmer! We went closer to the glaciers and saw some humpback whales, more penguins and a cormorant colony. The hour we were out seemed to go by really quickly.

At 18h we headed out yet again to a Chilean military base. As I set foot on land, it marked the 7th continent that I've been to! I've always wanted to visit all seven continents and I am proud of the fact that I achieved my goal at the age of 36. As I also just realized, I accomplished this on one passport. I wonder what my next goal will be?!

Today is also my roommate Jemma's 10th real birthday or her big 4-0. What a way to celebrate! She had a huge grin on her face all day and said that it was the best birthday ever. I joined her table for dinner and we all shared some of the birthday cake they made for her. The pisco sours came shortly afterwards and got the post-dinner celebrations off to a good start. It was a really fun night and the laughter picked up significantly when I brought out the "Che Boludo" book and we started to read from it. Too funny. What a fantastic day it turned out to be!