half moon island – RVing With a Purpose

Friday, February 7, 2025

After an early breakfast on January 21, we were ready to board our zodiac for our first landing in Antarctica. We went to Half Moon Island – which is still considered Antarctica even if it is an island. The scenery was amazing. The air was dry, not quite as cold because of the sunshine and everywhere you looked was more beauty and penguins. Half Moon Island is one of the South Shetland Islands in the Antarctica Peninsula region. It is a small island of only 420 acres. The Argentine Navy occasionally operates a research base there. They were not there when we were.

This morning we got up close with the chin strap penguins. They are so cute. The name comes from the narrow band of black feathers that go from ear to ear just below the chin. We tried to stay the correct distance away, but it was difficult because of their curiosity of us. The chin straps are an abundant species however, recent evidence suggests that the number of chinstraps is declining significantly due to reductions in krill, their main food.

First shore landing in Antarctica on Half Moon Island

The island is home to several chinstrap penguin nests.

Occasionally, the penguins would act like they were having a family squabble. And they can be very loud.

Sometimes a penguin would walk right up to us or follow someone around.

We also got to watch a parent feed a youngster.

The young penguins weren’t the only babies on the island. This is a black-backed gull with two chicks.

In addition to the penguins, the scenery was stunning.

Half Moon was also where we were able to claim our only geocache in Antarctica. We got several while in Argentina. The geocache had to do with the abandoned boat just as we stepped onto the island. One person told us it was an old whaling boat and another said it was a shore boat from a cruise ship many years ago, but… it was definitely an old abandoned boat.

The abandoned boat were we logged a geocache in Antarctica

When we returned to our ship, we had to sanitize our boots and lower waterproof pants. Our boots are the only things that can touch the land when we make a landing. Everything is sanitized so that we don’t spread something to another colony on a later stop.