On Tuesday, November 17, winterers and summer workers bound for Kerguelen disembarked by helicopter to Port-aux-Français (PAF). Together with the other winterers from Amsterdam, we watched them take off one after the other.
Depending on the weather, we might be able to disembark tomorrow and the day after. But nothing is guaranteed, so we said goodbye to our friends as if we won't see them again for a year!
The weather is very changeable, in two minutes you go from a blue sky blue to a snowstorm ...
Wednesday, November 18, we were authorized to disembark at PAF for the day. Yay!
At 7.45 am, we gathered in corridor G of the boat, the one which leads directly to the helicopter hangar. We are all excited like little children (well especially me…)!
Imminent departure !
My first helicopter flight; quite an experience! It was very short (less than a minute flight between the boat and the base), we had a view over almost the entire Gulf of Morbihan, it was impressive. It was all grey and windy, and it was snowing when we landed at PAF (yes, it's summer here). We were greeted by the agents of the TAAF nature reserve, as well as some of our VSC friends who were already at work on the DZ (they were opening and closing the doors of the helicopter). We were taken to the main building, "Totoche", where a small snack awaited us (delicious cookies) as well as a welcome message from the district leader. We saw our VSC friends, and the atmosphere was really very nice!
Then it was off for a quick tour of the base.
The base is large and very spread out. There are several concrete roads, and the staff use cars to get around. It’s quite amazing! The road signs are a little different here ...
There are elephant seals everywhere!
Baby elephant seals, called "candies" (apparently because they are so easily eaten by killer whales ... ) are so cute !!
On the other hand, adult elephant seals, especially males, are much less cute. We don't really want to approach them ...
After lunch we spotted King penguins in the bay. They are beautiful!
Cohabitation with elephant seals seems to work well.
In the early afternoon, we hiked to the Gentoo penguin colony. We walked along the coast, under a beautiful sun.
We met our penguin friends again!
We had to watch where we walked as there were elephant seals everywhere!
They blend very well with the rocks.
After an hour's walk, we arrived at the Gentoo penguin colony!
We continued along the beach, where elephant seals and penguins live together peacefully ...
Return to base, and return to the Marion for 6 p.m. If time allows, we'll go back to PAF tomorrow: D
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