Ice, Ice Baby
OK, so today will be more of a series of photographs than much more. But I promise not to share more than a few of the 300+ I took!
My day began when I noticed that, when I woke at 5am, there was light beneath the curtains and in spite of my Hero being sound asleep beside me, my curiousity made me take a sneaky look outside.
As I did, I saw a whale breach and the classic tail shot was there before my eyes. In the space of the time I had gasped and reached for my camera, let alone turn it on and get my 5am brain to get its act together to grab a quick snap, it had gone to the deep and wasn’t going to reappear for quite some time, not even likely in the same place.
The sights that lay there right outside our window were magical. Breathtaking. That had been quite the introduction to Antarctica.
But should I wake him? I thought hard about that as I put on a couple of extra layers of clothes and tried as quietly as I could, to open our verandah doors and sneak outside without opening the curtains any more than necessary.
But of course, I knew that, if the boot had been on the other foot, I’d have felt cheated to miss out on all of this, so I gently woke my sleeping Hero and said there was something rather special outside he wouldn’t want to miss.
Thankfully, he was pleased that he wouldn’t miss out on such sights.
For, however early it was, we had arrived in an altogether fabulous place.
And the sights there, just outside our window and to be seen from our own verandah were marvellous
Not only that, but now and again, we saw something extraordinary. Like a humpback whale. (Not that I always managed to capture it on camera, needless to say)
For breakfast, we went down to the coffee shop, where we stepped outside from time to time to check we weren’t missing out on anything.
A small flurry of excitement went around when someone mentioned that the activity in the water nearby was a raft of penguins “porpoising”, ie almost bouncing in and out of the water as they fed.
We looked out and spotted them immediately….but did I get a photo?
After breakfast, we were invited to join a group on the forward deck, normally closed to all but staff. This privilege had been granted to a small number of us and we felt honoured to be amongst those enjoying hot chocolate whilst having the best view in the house.
Not only that, but the expedition team were there too, to point out interesting features and draw our attention to things such as the penguin colony we were passing. The Gentoo penguins were the same bunch as we’d seen porpoising earlier as they fed, but here they were standing on a small area of flat land, covered mostly with their poo and making quite a racket. Robin, expedition leader, advised that we should feel thankful the wind was in the right direction for the aroma could have been somewhat intrusive.
The whole time we were sailing in this part of the Antarctic Peninsula, we were passing beautiful icebergs and, having become enamoured with them in Greenland a couple of years ago I couldn’t resist taking one or two pictures of those which captured my imagination the most.
From time to time, someone would spot a whale or another group of penguins. Each time, I’d grab my camera and try to capture that image. Was I successful? See above for the answer.
After an hour or so, our lovely privileged position was beginning to get very cold. The front of the ship is fine but when it picks up speed, the wind chill becomes a challenge. We soon found ourselves to be last amongst the most intrepid stalwarts and headed downstairs and indoors to warm up a little.
But just a minute, was that a penguin? Or a whale?
There was always that small doubt that, the minute one turned one’s head, the star of the show would put in an appearance…
Plus of course, there were always the captivating icebergs!
We decided it must be lunchtime, so headed for a table with a grand view to enjoy a plate of hot pasta and salad with a glass of something interesting, to watch as the landscape passed by.
Was that a whale or a flight of penguins? Well, yes, it was…but of course, I didn’t snap a picture quickly enougn!
As we sailed into the Neumayer Channel we learned about “brash ice”, these remains of crumbled iceberg or glacier, perfectly safe for us to sail though, according to our “ice pilot”, who has been with us since shortly after we left Ushuaia. She advises the Captain when it is safe to proceed through some of these ice-strewn waters and what’s ok and, most importantly, what’s not.
Aha! Another raft of gentoo penguins was there just alongside, porpoising through the water at breakneck speed and this time, I managed to press the shutter button on my camera in time! Hooray!
And another iceberg. Magnificent, though unlike in Greenland, I didn’t hear this one creaking or groaning, but simply watched it as we sailed silently past.
More whales were sighted. Humpbacks. But though i saw them, the evidence is only in my minds eye.
Until…one popped up alongside!
He - or she - proceeded to put on the full show, as if by request!
Our expedition team were keen to share all their spots, including a couple of Weddel seals on an iceberg.
Though for me, it’s always the icebergs themselves which are captivating.
This afternoon the waters were so still in Paradise Bay, we were thankful that Splendor is such a quiet ship that sails so effortlessly through the water with barely a ripple.
It was starting to get cold and the sunshine from earlier in the day was now focused on one or two small areas.
But we hung on in there for who knows, that humpback whale might be about to do a prize performance right there in the next five minutes!
Well, if it did, we missed it. We were cold and came inside to get ready for dinner. We have another two days here in Antarctica and need to exercise some patience!
And dinner - and a G&T calls!!
