Big Waves and Surprise Whales
Day 3 – 19th Jan, Drake passage day 1
Our day was off to a rocky start, having officially entered the famous Drake Passage during the night, which meant that by the time we woke up, we found ourselves in the midst of choppy weather and large waves. The increasing rocking motion of the ship was so noticeable that some of us even felt it in our sleep, awoken by the movement early in the morning.
As a result of this, many people in our team were sadly down due to sea sickness (even those of us who did take sea sickness medication and aren’t usually sea sick), but this didn’t stop us from carrying out some seabird surveys outside among the large waves and strong winds, which made the surveying all the more fun. During these surveys, one group observed on deck for 2 hours, surveying for a period of 10 minutes every 30 minutes, during which the recorder noted down any seabirds sighted by the observers, along with some other information such as distance from the ship and species. Since this was our first day surveying, we started off with a few practice surveys to warm up our bird identification skills which I personally greatly appreciated.
Our seabird survey fun was momentarily put on hold so that we could attend the mandatory IAATO talk by the enthusiastic Hurtigruten expedition leader to remind us of the rules to follow once in Antartica to preserve the polar environment and its wildlife. Unfortunately, few of our team were able to listen to the briefing the whole way through, since half of us had to leave the room due sea sickness, while the other half was drowsy from the sea sickness medication.
The ones of us who felt up to it then went back on deck for more seabird surveys. We managed to spot several different bird species, including black browed albatrosses, wandering albatross, and many blue petrels. The latter were so numerous that we quickly got the hang of, and became experts in, blue petrel identification with all the practice.
Birds in the Drake today; Blue Petrel (left) with it’s black cap and a Giant Petrel (right) trying to eat a penguin it has found at sea! (by Kelly)
Lunch time was quite a special experience, with the few of us making it to the restaurant then witnessing another passenger from a different group being sick at the table, yet he was determined to keep eating under the eyes of the distressed waiters, who were wondering out loud as to why the man was still there.
The day had been relatively calm in terms of sightings, until Kelly and I had the immense luck of being on deck at just the right time to see a group of about 20 long-finned pilot whales, including at least one mother-calf pair, popped up right in front of our vessel. The sighting lasted only 20 seconds before the whales swiftly disappeared beneath the waves, and we did not spot them again. There was no time to call anyone else to the deck for a look, but Kelly got photographic evidence (so no ‘mystery whales’ this time). This was, without a doubt, the emotional highlight of the day, almost seeming like a reward for surviving the first day in the rocky Drake Passage.
After dinner, we had a short team briefing, after which most of us happily (and quickly) went back to our cabins for bed at the end of a strenuous, but exciting day.
written by Camille (center)
