Neko harbor is at the eastern end of Andvord bay. It is named for a Swedish factory whaling ship that often operated here.
Getting to Neko harbor from Almirante Brown, we saw several icebergs and beautiful mountains.
Neko harbor has a large colony of Gentoo penguins.
I saw a couple of penguins courting. Gentoo penguins (and several others) build their nest out of pebbles, so the male gives the female pebbles as gifts. In the fourth picture, he is holding a pebble in his beak.
Penguins hold back their flippers when they walk. Although they waddle and look funny, they actually walk very well (and sometimes slide) on snow, which can be rather tricky. On their 7cm-long legs they can climb surfaces that are quite challenging for me.
Wherever there are penguins nesting, there are Skua, which look a bit like large seagulls, and when they can, feed off penguin eggs, chicks, and dead penguins.
I also saw other birds.
And seals.
Neko harbor is surrounded by mountains and steep glaciers.
Sometimes part of a glacier would fall off as an avalanche. It was a little too fast for me to take good pictures, but these are the tail ends of two avalanches.
I slept one night at Neko harbor. Night is not a good description, since as far as I can tell, it never really got dark. We slept in bivuac (waterproof) sleeping bags, with warm sleeping bags inside, in a shallow depression we made in the snow. Still, it was quite cold.
Penguins visited our campsite.
The sunrise was glorious.
