Land of snow and ice

Once-in-a-lifetime encounters and a sense of scientific purpose colour Ben Olsen’s memorable expedition to the world’s last wilderness

A WELCOMING committee awaits as the Zodiac nears Breakwater Island, a snow-capped outcrop only a short hop from the Antarctic mainland. Shadowy figures line the shore as further crowds congregate on higher ground. We draw closer and—now a few days into this expedition and armed with some ornithological basics—I recognise the orange bills and stocky form of these enigmatic onlookers as Gentoo penguins. Several leap from the water in formation, their synchronised ‘porpoising’, likely to keep track of predatory leopard seals, marking them out as consummate showboaters.

Their effortless grace, however, disappears on land, replaced by an awkward, if loveable, waddle as they transport pebbles, one at a time, to their nesting sites. Closer observation of the colony calls the penguins’ widely acknowledged cuteness into question. Various narratives emerge and I observe pugilistic penguins fighting, flirting and pebble-plundering—scenes reminiscent of a Hogarth painting—as a similarly visceral smell lingers in the air. ‘You can read books, watch documentaries, but nothing prepares you for an encounter like this, this is smell-o-vision,’ says one of the expedition’s marine biologists of their squid and krill diet.