Antarctic Reflections – Favourite Moments part 2

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Tuesday 18 June 2019

Favourite moments 2019 continued….

(photo by Tiffany Goh)

Tiffany: “27th March, my best day in Antarctica. Got covered in humpback whale snot in the morning [see Christy’s entry posted earlier] and in the evening, a pod of killer whales swam so close to our ship!”

(photo by Will Cresswell)

Will:” My favourite moment – well there are so many [and as a birder there had to be an albatross involved!] but: Sharing the joy of seeing all those whales with the rest of the group, and particularly those humpbacks by the zodiac [see Christy’s entry posted earlier].”

(photo by Maeva Terrapon)

Maeva: “”While I could pick every single minute of this journey as a life-changing and never-to-forget moment, one specific encounter stood out. While most of the team was on a science cruise, 3 of us went on land to visit a Gentoo’s penguin colony, as the zodiac cannot hold us all. Many penguins were there, playing around together or coming closer to investigate us. However, among them, a Weddell seal was casually sleeping, blending in the landscape. I had never seen a Weddell seal from such a close distance before – they are so beautiful! Instead of walking to the top of the penguin’s colony, I decided to sit in the snow and observe this Weddell seal, who was sleeping like a rock without accounting for all the noisy penguins around. The only noise that made the seal move was the loud cracking/collapse of the ice in the glacier next to us. After looking up and realizing it was not a threat, the seal would stretch its body and go back to sleep until the next crack. I stayed there for an hour, despite the snow starting to fall heavily. I believe this is what Antarctica is all about: taking the time to observe wild animals in their environment without disturbing them and enjoying these rare moments when they allow us to be part of their surroundings.”

(photo by Lucy Houghton)

Lucy: “My two favourite moments were 1) sitting a top of the snow dome at Stony Point where the 5 minutes silence were simply breathtaking. The only sounds to interrupt this moments were penguin squawks and ice cracking. And 2) towards the end of the trip just as we were entering the Beagle Channel there were groups of Dusky dolphins swimming fast towards the ship from all sides so they could join in the bowriding.”

(photo by Lucy Houghton)

(photo by Isha)

Isha: “I could not possibly pick one moment in Antarctica as a favourite. However, spotting the Andean Condor (the only animal left on my zoological bucket list) just as we were heading to the airport was definitely a serendipitous highlight.”

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