Penguins and Seals and Whales ,Oh My!

Two nights ago our supper on board ship was interrupted by an announcement that there were whales all around us. Most of us went rushing outside, cameras in hand, and none of us were disappointed. We were in the middle of a pod of Humpback whales that were working together hunting krill. Their strategy is to swim in a narrowing spiral, herding the krill into a tighter and denser group, and then dive straight down with their mouths open, filling up with some good eatin’. Later, as winter approaches, they will migrate north to the equator, and then back down to Antarctica in the spring. But for now, they were here. The channel we were in looked like a field of geysers as the whales spouted. Some would roll on their side waving with their fins, and finally dive, their great tails dripping water before they sank out of view.

Yesterday we landed on the Antarctic mainland in the morning ,at Prospect Point, and the day was superb. We were just north of the Antarctic Circle, the sun was out, and the sky was a deep blue. Adelie penguins came out to greet us, and mighty icebergs were all around. There is really no way to accurately convey the experience. Imagine the Rocky Mountains almost completely covered with thick blue glaciers coming down to the sea. Except for the chattering of humans, the only sound was the occasional thunderous crack as building-size glacial chunks broke off and fell into the water, becoming icebergs. These would be be sculpted and smoothed by the wind and currents, slowly drifting northward toward warmer waters to melt.

We got a closer view of the icebergs that evening as we went out in the rubber Zodiac rafts for a closer look. The sea is so clear here, clear enough to see the undersides of the bergs. As blue as the sky, they proved to be frozen freshwater, as all glaciers are. Down near the Antarctic Circle the sea is beginning to freeze, and the bergs are becoming welded together by the pancake ice. Pancake ice is frozen sea water, much colder than frozen fresh water, and we were breaking through an icy field as the pack ice began to surround our ship. Still fresh enough to get through fairly easily, in a few weeks time the ice in these waters would be too thick for boats.

I woke up this morning and the channel was free of pack ice, but icebergs still abounded. We had gone further north and it was warmer, just above freezing. We went to Peterman Island, where there was a large colony of Gentoo Penguins. We returned to the ship, and after luch went on the Zodiacs to Pleneau Bay, a twisty waterway between glaciers and mountains. We saw several crabeater seals, the most common seal on Earth, numbering in the millions. We were also fortunate enough to come upon a Leopard seal basking on a small ice flow. They are the main predator in southern waters, and eat penguins, other seals, krill, fish, and have been known to kill humans. Later we saw more fur seals and a lone Weddell seal before returning to the ship.

Tomorrow we plan to visit Port Lockroy, a British base, and part of the Antarctic Heritage Trust. More on that later.