After Danco Island we head off to Waterboat Point – Gonzalez Videla Station. This is a Chilean research station, though not too much research is done here. Nearly all personnel residing here for the summer are military in nature. They are very welcoming and excited to tell us about their station and work.
The station is home to a Gentoo penguin rookery and a very rare leucistic Gentoo penguin. Leucistic penguins are not albinos, but do not have black pigmentation- a genetic disorder. This penguin is a female and has normal colour offspring. The chicks here, most couples having two, are much larger than those in Danco Island as all snow has melted. As I watch the penguins I note that as the mates try to impress their partners and bring them rocks for their nests, some are lazy and bring what i have termed “phantom rocks” . In other words they do all the motions but actually bring no rock back- but they do pretend drop these non-existent rocks. It was really funny to watch!
This station is also on the Antarctic mainland- and thus stepping onto the land means I have landed on my seventh continent!
As the station is relatively small we split the visit and zodiac cruising. During our cruise we see some spectacular icebergs and penguins trying to gather on the icebergs… they seem to have a theory that the smaller the iceberg, the more penguins can fit on it. As they launch out of the water like little missiles they knock off half the others that have managed to get on…endless entertainment really!
