With a one-day overpopulation, the people doing real work at this polar outpost were busy. But the day's visitors, stuck for the last month aboard a research ship were eager to see the sights. In particular, they wanted to visit the nearby islands where Penguins poop and elephant seals lounge in the guano.
Who'd they come looking for to pilot this Antarctic maritime expedition? None other than one very corn-fed Midwesterner raised on the prairie who just three weeks ago wasn't terribly sure about the whole bow/stern thing.
I can be quite impressed with myself (reporter, duh), but maybe never so much as when the locals sought me out to take 10 folks in a Zodiac to Torgersen Island. OK, it wasn't Worsley taking the James Caird from Elephant Island to South Georgia, but there were small swells and a gusty wind and a little snow.
It was also my bittersweet final Zodiac outing, and I was rewarded by principally, not messing up the boat, and additionally by seeing the newest born of Penguin chicks.
Now honestly, which is cuter? The chick, or the Zodiac driver?
5 comments:
You be cool! (and cold?)
The Patriarch
The penguin baby by far!
FYI- You make for one devoted Illini fan, inmate, or Gumby's fraternal twin (hat color is right at least).
Ok...U R cool once again.
Well done, Commodore Canon. Little did they know you would roast their flesh o'er an open fire if calamity struck.
Did the folks sign a waiver before they boarded?
Post a Comment