Tag: antarctica

Today the alarm went up, Orcas! They quickly deployed the zodiacs next to Enterprise Island and we raced across the water. There was a vortex of birds and underneath we saw fins. There were several Orcas feeding and the birds were trying to get the extra bits. You would just see these black fins slicing through the water in tight circles. Then the Orcas moved off and we redeployed in their path. They came so close! At one point one came within a meter of Matty and me, it was very hard to resist trying to touch it! At one point humpbacks also started popping up right next to the zodiac but all we had eyes for were the killer whales. These Orcas were the Type B Small sub species and are Antarctica natives. They are identifiable by the thin yellow sheen they have from diatoms growing on their skin. This was only the second time our guide had seen them on zodiac, first time this close, and we were their first expedition from our ship in 2 years! We were in awe, several of the guides and passengers cried. After that we visited a cool ship wreck and saw a Cormorant colony. It was an incredible morning.

That afternoon we visited Hydrurga Rocks to see a chinstrap colony. Snow was coming down heavy, occasionally sideways. One of the guides pointed a seal out to me that I’m still convinced was a rock, ha. The penguins were just having a grand ol time, tobaganing on their stomachs and doing their silly waddles. They are the most charming creatures! When the chinstraps walk they also bob their heads like they’re walking to music. We sat in the snow on one of the hill tops and were rewarded with many a curious penguin. One came up and studied Matty from less than a meter away for 2 minutes. You could see it thinking, “what the hell is that?!?!”. I also got a curious one and it was so hard, mentally painful, not to just grab one for a hug!

This morning we visited Spert Island, a craggy basalt formation surrounded by ice bergs. It was a “sporty” location with lots of ice to dodge, big swells, and a ton of wind. We saw a few chinstrap penguins but the main draw was the beautiful sea arches. I didn’t get very many good photos, hopefully Matt did. We then swang over to the leeward side of the island and got some beautiful cliffs, architectural ice, and lots of seals. We learned about black ice (clear ice) and fished some out for the bar that night. That afternoon we entered Cierva Cove, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The sea was covered in ice so thickly it felt like you could hop between the chunks all the way to shore. There is a large glacier calving constantly into the cove creating the winter wonderland conditions. While zodiac cruising the call went out, humpbacks. We went to where they were spotted and were in the middle of whale and ice amphitheatre. Everywhere we looked we could see whales, they were logging which means half sleeping and looking like logs. While in this half sleep they still swim and dive. Our guide took us in front of them and we were rewarded with a very close encounter, catching us all by surprise because she had swum past us without our knowing and came up right on the other side of the zodiac. Spectacular. After whale watching, we saw monolithic ice bergs, a leopard and crab eater seal, and of course penguins.

Today we visited the currently largest iceberg in the world, A-68A. It is about 100km long and larger than Delaware. It broke off from the Larson C shelf a few years ago and was hanging out. It is a tabular ice burg that stretched from horizon to horizon. At first I thought it wasn’t very tall until I saw tiny fish jumping out of the water under it and realized they were penguins and it was HUGE. It was so large the mind cannot comprehend. It is at least 100ft above the water, 500 below. We motored for a few hours watching its’ majesty flow by. At one point it was the whole horizon. That afternoon we had a zodiac ride to Eden rocks. Never saw the rocks but saw beautiful sea ice with wildlife wandering around. The sky was grey with a teal stripe at the horizon, the ice bergs their full glowing blue, and their foot under the water a neon blue splash of color. It felt surreal, like we were living in a painting. Magical. We saw lots of penguin and a seal out for a lounge. Suddenly we had to flee, the sea ice had picked up speed and we’d be trapped in the cove if we didn’t leave immediately. Mad dash by all the zodiacs to the ship and we made it out! Later that night we were all called up to the back deck in our gear. They had hung a giant orange buoy to symbolize the sun. Then the ship geologist gave four champagne toasts: to the sun, to the Earth, the Earth’s tilt, and finally penguins! After that the music kicked on, it started snowing, and we all just danced. I have never experienced anything like that, the energy was great, we had a wonderful group of friends, snow, and the dance. Eventually we had to go in because the snow was so thick and they didn’t want us to fall off, and the party picked up again in the lounge. Matt and I danced till 1(yes Matt!!!) and that was our Solstice.

Today was breathtaking. Spectacular. In the word(words?) of Dan, unbefuckingleivable!!!

We started the morning before everyone else with a panicked visit to the gift shop, our waterproof pants were decidedly not. After, sigh of relief, getting a pair each we went out on our first zodiac excursion to Kinne’s Cove. We motored around lots of floating sea ice. Depending on what I’m not sure, but some pieces would glow softly blue, it was surreal. Then we went to a small rocky island and saw our first up close penguins. There were many Adelie penguins and a singular Gentoo penguin. The Adelie are adorable with a black beak and a white ring around their eyes. The Gentoos have an orange beak with white splotches on their head, they also are a little bigger. We enjoyed penguin antics for awhile, amazing! They have such personality! It was fun watching them get into groups anxiously trying to get up the nerve to go in the ocean, where the leopard seals lurk. Once the first one went, it became an avalanche of penguins. We returned to the ship for a lunch and a warm up, then it was off to the continent. Brown Bluff was where we landed next by zodiac, on the Antarctica continent. The cliffs we’re formed by underwater volcanos giving it it’s brown color as well as continental plate dynamics. From there we could walk to the South Pole if we wanted to and had the dumb luck of the early pioneers, well at least until Darwin won. There were giant cliffs and a small Gentoo breeding colony. A few had chicks just days old and they would sit on them, completely covering them and protecting them from the cold. Walking down the beach, we then saw the Adelie colony, it was huge. Or so we thought, then we looked farther, and farther, and farther, it just kept going! Tens of thousands of penguins, so so many! We started by sitting on the beach by some penguins. We stayed very still and got rewarded with a walk by! We did this a few times and got quite a few curious penguins wondering why there were giant neon yellow blobs on their beach. We then explored the edge of the colony and the Adelie had hatched their young earlier so we saw many a dark gray youngster. They lay two eggs and if lucky, both make it to fledgling without being eating by a Skua, a predator bird. The little ones were adorable, fluffy and needy, mom or dad feeding them when they finally got loud enough. After that we went on a zodiac excursion, morning around icebergs and watching penguin antics on them. They are so funny when walking on ice, slipping and sliding. It was just so fun to watch, we really loved it. That night we came back and found out because of heavy ice, we would not be making it below the Antarctica circle but instead would be going to the east side of the Antarctica peninsula for a few days, a rare treat. We then hung out with our new best friends and watched the most glorious sunset of my life, it lasted 3 hours, the landscape painted in oranges and pinks with the ever present glowing blue ice bergs. Words cannot describe

We started our journey from Santiago down to Antarctica yesterday. We didn’t really have time for anything in the morning other than to go to the airport. It turns out the reason for the previous day’s flight schedule drama was that they needed a bigger plane for all of the passengers, so wound up on a 787 which was only about 2/3rds full. That was a nice surprise, we hadn’t flown on one before. I enjoyed the electronic dimming windows instead of the usual sliding shades. It was somewhat incongruous landing such a big plane in the small airport serving Punta Arenas.

The town, and unsurprisingly the region of Patagonia was beautiful. It was chilly and rainy, which was a nice change from Santiago. There were wild flowers everywhere and lush hills right against the ocean. Honestly the town wouldn’t have looked out of place on the northern California coast. Unfortunately we didn’t get a lot of time there. After we got to the hotel we had enough time to make some calls before we dropped out of connectivity for a week. Then we had equipment distribution, weigh ins, briefings and a group dinner for the cruise.

The next morning it was finally time to get to Antarctica. After lots of time on group logistics we made it to the airport for more group logistics. Oh and our plane was painted like a penguin! The plane was a strange narrow body jet with 4 engines and only about 100 seats, but they only fly with 70 people or so since they need to be light weight to land on the airstrip on King George island. We had to get all of our gear on in the plane because as soon as we stepped off we would be outside in Antarctica. This meant trying to get everyone dressed in a bunch of bulky gear in a cramped plane and then standing around in a hot plane with a bunch of cold weather gear while we waited to get out. Once we were out though… It was shocking, an immediate blast of frigid, clear air and spectacular views of glaciers. The airstrip is in a Chilean military base which we weren’t allowed to take pictures of. We had to walk across the base, and next to a Russian base it turns out, to get to the zodiacs waiting to take us to the ship.

We had a very “sporty” ride on the zodiac where we all got pretty soaked from splashes. During the ride, Jack and I discovered that our water proof pants, weren’t. So we are going to have to do something about that.

The rest of the day was a nice dinner and more briefings. It was also our best shot at seeing an Aurora Australialus but after staying up until 11:30pm, it’s clear it doesn’t get anything like dark enough to see it because it was barely dusk then, so we gave up and went to bed.