Day3 - South Shetland Island's Cecilia Island and Barrentios Island
The smooth sailing from Ushuaia meant the ship arrived on the 3rd afternoon of our sailing day. My first sighting of land in Antarctica was rather different from the perceived landscape of Antarctica, of snow and ice. Anyway...
Cecilia Island
It is one of the southern-most ice-free islands amongst the South Shetlands Islands. The weather was bitterly cold and slight foggy; the island is rocky and rather barren, brownish. However, the sight of the numerous penguins along the shore and some in the water was amazing and it more than compensated for the lack of wintery colors.
I walked along the red-flag marked trail, keen to take a closer look at the penguins, although we were cautioned and recommended to keep a 5m space between ourselves and them.
The resident penguins on the islands are the gentoo, chinstrip and adelie penguins. The most common and attractive-looking penguins are the gentoo with their bright orange-red bills and white eye patch that also seemed like a 'scarf' across their head.
The chinstrap penguins were cute too with a seeming 'strap' of colour under their 'chin' but they were fewer in numbers.
< I was so taken in by the gentoo, I did not have any photos of the Adelie penguins! :| >
The penguins are scattered all over the islands, each up to their own various activities; standing in deep thought, playing and waddling with one another, on the ground or caring for the young.
A few of the young were fed by their parents <enjoy while it last... ;)> 
Although we only spent about one hour on Cecilia Island, my fingers and toes were numb from the biting cold, and my phone would occasionally freeze and shut down spontaneously.
Soon, it was time to go to the Barrientos Island by the zodiac.
Barrientos Island
Barrientos is across from the Cecilia Island, and it was of similar geographic nature - windsweep, quite barren and rocky with low outcrop/hill. There were even more penguins on Barrientos Island, who were equally sociable and unafraid of humans.
The penguins were dispersed around the landscape, going about their own business. :)
<It make me wonder how did such a social and lovable animal came to live in such an inhospitable natural habitat?!>
I walked the trail that led to the top of a small hill which provided a sweeping view of the landscape.
As the wind blew, my phone (and I) began freezing with more frequency. When our time was up, I walked back to the zodiac waiting area, scrubbed the sole of my boots on the pebble beach to get rid of dirt and then boarded the zodiac.
The zodiac zipped back to the ship, and once back on the ship, I scrubbed and cleaned my boots again before changing back to my sandal.
At last, I landed on an island in Antarctica!
<After the landing, I started reading about the penguins... I resolved to spend some time reading about the species of birds in Antarctica as well since they were so ever-present and populous.> 
Attire
Top: polartec fleece jacket, a sleeveless uniqlo ultra-light down vest, and a Gortex outer coat, on top of an existing Heat-tech layer and sweater, thermal hat, and finally the life jacket.
Bottom: Wore a pair of water-proof pants (shell?) on top of the heat-tech 'Extra Warm' layer and a pair of weather-resistant softshell pant, thermal socks, then the assigned rubber boots. I had an extra pair of gloves and a warm scarf in the small backpack).>
Not 'frozen' but 'freezing' cold...
Location of Cecilia and Barrientos Islands
Previous day:
The next day
Some links:
Wikipedia: Barrientos_IslandWikipedia: Penguins