Whales, seals and the Antarctic Continent
20th March, Antarctic Peninsula.
TODAY WE TOOK OUR FIRST STEPS ON THE ANTARCTIC CONTINENT!!! (I wish I could write this whole entry in capital letters)
Although according to Lars we have already been in Antarctica for a day if we take into account the crossing of the Antarctic convergence zone where the sea temperature drops, or reaching 60°S. As the first light arrived in the morning most of us were already wrapped up and watching the first visible icebergs appear out of the mist. Even just as light was approaching we began to spot Antarctica’s beautiful beasts – A group of Antarctic Terns held the promise of today by flocking at the bow of the boat. Antarctic fur seals were leaping out of the water followed by the dorsal fin of a humpback who then fluked in front of the boat; the perfect start to an incredible day!
The sightings began to come in thick and fast, which was a challenge for the marine mammal observers, and which would only get more hectic as the day wore on. It was difficult to tear ourselves away to grab breakfast as no one wanted to miss a minute of action up on the bridge! Our first official stop was at Portal Point, where we joined the rest of the “Penguin” group to depart the Plancius at the zodiac landing. And this was where we first set foot on the Antarctic continent, with a red carpet (or blue cloth) laid out for our glamorous arrival and views of young male Antarctic fur seals fighting and playing on the snow. We got the perfect demonstration of Sonja’s firm teacher-esque tone to put one of the more curious and persistent seals in his place after he tried to get a little too close for comfort to the people on the landing.
Exploring the snow-covered banks of the point we got incredible views of seals and birds among the sea ice, including some comical gentoo penguins waddling and tripping about with their flippers outstretched, occasionally being chased by rogue seals making pathetic noises. A cruise in the surrounding waters of Charlotte’s Bay allowed us to get views of the incredible ice formations and some close encounters with crabeater seals – a couple of the zodiacs were approached by two super curious seals who investigated our zodiac- this must have seemed to them like a strange iceberg populated by the only Antarctic land animal other than the Antarctic midge.
After this the marine mammal sightings really were hectic, with icebergs topped and surrounded by two…no four…no fifteen crabeater seals (or were there some Antarctic fur seals there too?) with a couple of minke whales and more and more humpbacks! Teasing the frantic surveyors, most of these were “lounging”, including the sleepy humpbacks who were just chilling at the surface of the water…or teasing the photographers by diving not quite deep enough to fluke and show their magnificent tails. Luckily we got a good view of that later when we jumped (carefully!) back into the zodiacs to hang out with the humpbacks! It was hard to believe this wasn’t a dream when surrounded by six huge whales in a tiny zodiac with huge glaciers rumbling and bright blue icebergs glowing around you! But of course we had other hard work to do too – collecting valuable environmental data and listening for underwater noise such as whale vocalisations on the hydrophone! The report of a tagged whale meant that of course the ‘scientists’ had to attend to photograph the whale (sporting a flash yellow D-tag – which are built by one of the senior scientists back home at SMRU in St Andrews!!) and thus we got a bit have a bit more whale time! It’s safe to say that I had a huge grin pasted on my face for the whole day.
Emma
