Meet the Gentoos of Cuverville Island

On our first day of excursions we spent the afternoon at what is apparently the largest Gentoo Penguin colony in….the universe!  As we approached Cuverville Island in the zodiac, a strange and disgusting smell filled the air: penguin poop.  I now understand why zoos with penguins stink.  By the end of the trip I was rolling around in penguin poop to get good photos; after about fifteen minutes no one noticed the smell anyway.  I'll probably post a lot more about penguins and our excursion to Cuverville but I wanted to post a few of my favorite photos for now.

A wide shot of the beach at Cuverville showing one area where the penguins grouped together.

These penguins were marching down the rocky beach to go for a swim.

This is one of my favorite shots from the day.  This sleek and svelte Gentoo is making his way out of the water and is about to investigate the silly looking humans in red suits.

Another favorite of mine; this is a Gentoo with some of the fluff still left on his coat from molting.

Penguins usually walked in groups and did not seem to have a well-planned route at any time.

Here a mother penguin feeds her baby. The baby got a bit greedy and the mother had to peck at him a few times to calm him down.  

The mother is starting to cut him off from food at this point.

These were some of the Gentoos that were the most curious about me and my cameras.  They seemed to pose for every shot.