09: Rec Boating - Amsler Island

One of the most amazing things about Palmer (especially when compared to McMurdo or South Pole) is the possibility for Recreational Boating or Rec Boating as they call it around here. While still following all of the proper procedures and protocols, we can gather a group of folks and take boats out into the local boating area to explore. Many of the nearby islands are partially or fully restricted, but many are accessible for walkabouts. It can also be nice to just go for a lil zip around in the boat.

On this lovely day in question, we gathered ourselves and set out for Amsler Island. You can see it from station, it's just across the way on the other side of Arthur Harbor, and it's the home of Old Palmer Station!

We gathered on the Boathouse deck to go over our plan, talk about safety, load up, and then get the boats in the water!

And we were on our way!

We had arrived at Amsler Island!

It can take a while to get the anchors set and get all the people and stuff off the boats, from there we were free to hike around and explore as long as we stayed on this side of the island (see map above) and kept our distance from the wild life.

You can still see some of the blocky foundations and footings of Old Palmer Station.

First things first: SLEDDING!

Gorgeous views of the glacier, tiny little plants, and big ass Elephant Seals!

If you look real close, you can see New Palmer Station from here!

The Elephant Seals are galumphing all over the place, leaving their tell-tale tracks in the snow.

They are much more graceful and stealthy in the water.

The rotting carcass of a seal and the massive footprint of a Giant Petrel...

We scrambled up the ridge and looked down on a large seal colony: all-told there were probably 50 of them including almost a dozen lil pups! Sometimes it's hard to differentiate them from rocks, so look closely. 👀

We hung out up there for a while, taking it all in, and we ended up seeing not one but two fully erect Elephant Seal penises. What a wacky world!

Look at that big guy up on his hind legs! Haha.

It's a little hard to tell in these next 2 shots, but I loved seeing the teeny tiny Gentoo Penguin waddling around amongst the giants.

We had a great crew out there that day! Just as we were about ready to start heading back, the sun came out for a truly gorgeous return to the boats.

And we got one more solid look at the view from Old Palmer Station. Not too shabby!

Gooooood times!