After dinner tonight several of us went down to Hut Point to check on the Skua nest. We were not disappointed. The viable egg has hatched and the little feather ball was out for a little walk about. It’s about the size of a tennis ball and is really cute when it decides to stretch its stubby little wings when it walks. We even got a chance to watch mom vomit up so nasty looking stuff for the chick to eat which it did with great vigor. (I know it looked as nasty as it sounds) The whole event lasted about fifteen minutes and culminated with the little guy tucking himself back under mom’s warm feathers for a little nap. We noticed that not far away someone had set up a camera and was taking stop action pictures of the nest. A solar collector was set up nearby to power the camera. The best thing was it was another spectacular day in Antarctica.

After the nest visit I headed over to the galley to listen to a friends travel log on a 13 month trip to Pakistan, Afghanistan and China. Thirteen months…don’t these people have a life? The stories, as always, were terrific and the pictures even more spectacular.