twangster

Enough about whales!  

I've refrained from posting more whale pictures but rest assured there were many more sightings.

The coastline appeared to be one very long glacial face birthing icebergs hourly.

This recently calved growler was finding its equilibrium rolling before our eyes.

So many interesting icebergs.

The bridge team brought us closer for a better look.

This pair stuck close to each other. 

Earlier today Andrew presented an enrichment talk about Humpback whales.  He mentioned that often when you see a pair of whales with one larger than the other staying close to each other it may be a mother with a calf.  

I'm not certain that is the case with these two but it makes for a nice story so I'm going with it.

As we left the channel the bay was littered with icebergs.

Whale sightings were frequent.

 

A Chilean naval ship.

I've submitted these photos to the Happy Whale project.

https://happywhale.com/

Perhaps it will help to track the migration path of these magnificent creatures.

Each fluke is unique but other characteristics of the hump and other areas are also unique to each individual whale. 

This is a panoramic stitch of ten photos.  The texture and shading of the clouds will forever be burnt into my mind.  This picture does a poor job representing the magic of the scene before us.

A small Argentinian research station near where an Aurora Expeditions ship was putting out its kayakers. 

The end is near.  The end of the Neumayer Channel that is.

Then on queue right where we had been told to expect them, the whales began to appear.

Snow Patrol was performing on deck 9. (a lame reference to a Scottish rock band)

On both sides the glacial faces were fascinating.

I spotted a diagram showing the ship's dimensions on a bridge wing.  It had been updated with the retrofit of the Silver Wind.

Our escort was a final opportunity to say goodbye to the penguins of Antarctica.

 

 

 

I spotted a ship in the distance making the transit before us.

Try as I might these photos are a pathetic attempt to illustrate the magnificence of Antarctica.

Emily our geologist was present to talk about the volcanic origins of the mountains around us.

Around 3pm we seemed to be steering away from the center of the channel towards land.

The entrance to the Neumayer Channel lay ahead.

Some calving action on the port side.

On both sides the sharp edges of glacier faces or those of glaciated snowfields suggested there had been recent action.  It was quite remarkable.

The Neumayer Channel.

After lunch it was getting brighter and the snow had all but stopped.

The wind picked up and it became difficult to spot whales as the mist of their blows was quickly lost in the wind but occasionally I could see some tails in the distance.

Pondering those masted schooners and the early Antarctic explorers while enjoying modern luxuries under heaters while drinking a Chilean beer at The Grill.

The snow was letting up but I could see it covering the satellite antenna dome for the TV system contrasted to the tiny yet powerful modern Starlink antenna beside it.

Despite the snow and light rain the Starlink internet system continued to perform well.

Alas it was time for the Christmas tree to come down.

The ship may need this line at Puerto Williams .

As we sailed out of Wilhelmina Bay and entered the main channel a two masted schooner appeared through the haze.

As the Amazone moved closer it occured to me how relatively small this vessel seemed when pictured among the icebergs.  

At 39m the Amazone is 5m shorter than the three masted Endeavour yet it was easy to imagine the likes of Shackleton, Scott, Byrd and dozens of other early Antarctic explorers plying these same waters in similar sized vessels oh so long ago.

The ship's position for our zodiac tour of Wilhelmenia Bay.

Given the snow storm and weather system moving across Drakes Passage above us we will turn South and cruise the Neumayer Channel for a ship cruise of the area.  This route will take us through another whale hotspot. 

Alas no more zodiac rides.

Information posted for our consumption:

Back on the ship from my balcony I could see the sea ice continuing to form.

Snowball fight!

This seemed like a great time to warm up in the hot tub.

I also checked out the heated pool while I had the chance.

Some 360 camera pictures from our morning zodiac ride in the snow.

Secretly we all were hoping to see whales but with reduced visibility they would have had to surface pretty close to the zodiac and unfortunately that did not happen.

We thought we saw a penguin on an iceberg.

It turned out to be an Antarctic Cormorant.

After 75 minutes or so it was back to the ship.

The glaciers don't look that big from a distance but closer the face of these glaciers proved to be massive.

Closer to shore Sara our zodiac driver pointed out that ice was beginning to form on the surface of the water.

Eventually if conditions allow this to continue pancake ice can form.

Many areas along the face looked like they were ready to calve.

So many interesting iceberg formations.

A quick breakfast before it was my group's turn to be first off today.

Waiting for our "buddy" zodiac to load up we circled around to the port side.

Then off into the snow storm we went.

 

 

We continued on our track while the whale got smaller on the horizon.

As we entered Wilhelmina Bay the snow started. 

The beautiful weather has left us and "normal" Antarctic weather has found us.

The bay is known for whales as it is very deep and our hope today was to see whale action.

At 6:50am as I was waiting for The Restaurant to open for breakfast I was on my balcony when I heard the unmistaken sound of a whale blow and it was close.  

The whale went through a couple of breathing cycles before doing a deep dive.

 

Fun fact during one of the recap briefings. 

Just 0.05% of the past and present world population has been to Antarctica.

Day Sixteen - Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctica

Position report:

Balcony observations:

Light snow.

The Silver Endeavour in the mist.

At the daily recap and briefing the topic was the wind and weather.

We were supposed to head back towards the South Shetland Islands but the swell forecast would all but eliminate the idea of loading zodiacs so the decision was made to stay here in the protection of the Antarctic Sound.  Instead of Half Moon Bay it will be Wilhelmina Bay.  

Wilhelmina Bay is just North of Orne Harbour and it encompasses a large area so we will find out more as we approach in the morning.

Gert had just come back from coordinating our stop on Cuverville Island and upon his return to the ship minutes before this briefing he had been summoned to the bridge. 

The Captain didn't want to begin our Drake Passage transit on the original schedule.  Instead we will pause waiting for the weather to improve.  He has tasked Gert with finding us an area to explore for the afternoon while we wait.  Since Gert had just learned of his new task he had yet to plan where we may go. 

This is the nature of expedition cruising and I didn't hear anyone complain we will remain longer in the Antarctica Peninsula for an extra stop.

Stay tuned.

Just as it was time to leave a penguin blocked our path.

At this intersection of the penguin and redcoat highways penguins have the right of way and we always yield to them so we had wait while it checked us out.

Penguins are always on the go so it didn't take long and we were able to load a zodiac for our cruise back to the ship weaving through the wind blown ice.

A short walk on land but it was very interesting to have some time to watch the penguin drama playing out on and around the nests.