An Epic End to 2024
The last day of the year graced the students with smooth sailing through the Drake Passage into Antarctic waters! The imperious waves of the infamous crossing between South America and Antarctica were gentle, although some of the team were still struggling with overcoming their sea sickness. We had crossed into Antarctic waters during the night with a few staying up to witness the vessel creeping past 60° latitude (which marks the political boundary of Antarctic waters).. Political borders look very much invisible in the great expanse that surrounds them, but the iconic Cape petrel, which also signals Antarctic waters (acorrding to Sonja) duly appeared to greet the students during their first seabird monitoring shift. Alongside the petrels, the marine mammal team spotted fin whales, humpback whales, and even a large group of strap-toothed beaked whales. What a welcome!
A bit later we encountered a rare optical phenomenon: a glory, which encircled those on the ship in a white halo that seemed to float over the sea. Glories are composed of concentric rings caused by the interaction of the sun with water droplets and form around the observer’s shadow. A glory is an individual experience as each halo is only visible to the observer themselves around their own shadow (but not their neighbours).
Soon after, we spotted the towering snow-capped peaks of Smith Island in the South Shetland Islands through some low lying fo. This sight brought forth the realization that reaching Antarctica was indeed now a reality for the passengers.
The majestic sight was accompanied by the first icebergs who looked like silent guards as our ship cruised by.
But this wondrous place seemed to want to showcase even more of its beauty to us newcomers. When more excitement didn’t seem possible, Justin, an animal behaviour student on our team, spotted killer whales! One after another, the orca started appearing, The observers dutifully contained their excitement to record all the details. Word reached the expedition team and the officers on the bridge who stopped the ship. Soon there were killer whales streaming past our ship on both sides. Several mother-calf pairs even came close to the hull to inspect our ship with its exctatic onlookers. All passengers were able to marvel at these highly social and intelligent creatures going by them as the team on survey remained level-headed and made sure a proper recording was conducted (earning praise from staff for professional observer behaviour 😉).
The crew on board has been nothing short of amazing with their contagious positive personalities. At dinner that night, they surprised Betsy and her table mates with a cake for her birthday, along with lots of singing. The celebrations continued into the night as the team partied on deck 10 and rang in the new year together.
Written by Betsy
What beautiful creatures! The strap toothed whale's skull morphology is incredible. I had to look into it. Hard to believe they can use such a structure for echolocation. It's amazing what has been created through evolution. Orcas are similarly breathtaking with their advanced social behaviours and hunting tactics. Was there a noticeable change in temperature as you crossed the Polar front into the ACC?