Damoy Point - Dorian Bay

Today we took our first steps on Antarctica at Damoy Point.  Polaris anchored in Dorian Bay while we took Zodiacs to the landing site.  Polaris doesn't actually drop an anchor but uses the engines to keep it steady.

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Damoy Point has two historic huts.  The Damoy Hut is a historic site and was established by the British Antarctic Survey.  It was last occupied by the BAS in 1993 and can be visited by cruise passengers.  The Bahia Dorian hut was established by the Argentine Navy in 1953. The hut has been used as an emergency refuge and is not for casual visitors.

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There are quite a few Gentoo nesting areas here and I have lots of penguin pictures.  It was difficult to not include them all, so there are lots of pictures!  When on land viewing the penguins, we are supposed to stay about 15 feet away.  The crew arrives at the landing site first and puts up orange sticks to delineate our hiking path.  At some sites, not all of the penguins followed this rule!  They liked the packed down path that we create and would occasionally venture near people.

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Penguins make their own highways between the different groups within their colony and to the water.  On well used highways, only the top half of a penguin may be seen because the path has been compressed so much.  A colony can also be referred to as a rookery during nesting season.