I am quite sure you heard of Gen-X, then Gen-Y, but what about Gen-2? Gentoo are a species of penguin, our first penguin encounter of our trip. They are indiginous to the Antarctic. Please meet the southern gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua):

Hey there!

With a diet of mostly krill and shrimp, they dine mostly in the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean. Kathryn and I dine above the ocean on the luxury adventure ship, Seabourn Venture. Which would you choose?

This lobster tail beats Krill any day.

The gentoo breed on ice-free land, typically a raised set of rocks they build themselves. They gather pebbles and stones to build a nest. The nest is jealously guarded by the female who will squawk voraciously when there is an interloper. The female will lay two eggs and then share the incubation with the male for approximately 35 days. The chick(s) hang out for the next thirty days until they are allowed to play with other chick-friends. I never did any breeding on a pebble bed.

Building the nest, one pebble at a time.

Chick hatched very late in the season, not likely to survive the upcoming winter.

Which one of these things is not like the other.

Goodbye cruel world!

An amazing view to wake up to every morning.

I was walking down the hallway near our cabin when I spied a photo on the wall. It was an Adele penguin in the Japanese style of art called, “sumi”. Nice photo. I can do this! I kept this thought during our 90 minutes on land, looking for a situation where a penguin would be isolated on snow or ice. With just a couple of moments to spare, a penguin left the colony for a walk on the penguin highway. While he was on the on-ramp, I capture the photo below.

A little art.

The gentoo are quite fun to watch. We are only given about 90 minutes per day to watch these creatures, not even close to enough time. Stay tuned for what tomorrow may bring.