S 52.16.77/W 43.43.33 Southern Ocean
A day at sea! We are now cruising away from one paradise, South Georgia, and heading towards another, the Falkland Islands – “only” about 700 nm away. We are still below the convergence, which is perhaps the best borderline to define Antarctica.
The Antarctic convergence is a banded zone where the colder, oxygen rich and less salty water from the south meets and sinks below the warmer sub-Antarctic water. This convergence zone is very sharp and significant and within a few hours sailing, the water temperature changes from +1Co to about +5Co, as you sail north.
This is also known to be a very nutrient rich zone and both sea birds and whales gather in the area to feed. So of course you always hope to spot something large.
The oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface and it is always a challenge to spot a marine mammal at sea . Today our first officer with his sharp eyes became our hero. At about 0735 he spotted some killer whales in front of the ship and soon was the announcement made: “Orcas on our port side!”
It was a oceanic pod with about 50 animals. As we watched them for an hour, we saw them break up into several smaller groups, 5-15 animals. These “wanderers” can best be described as “sea hawks” with very opportunistic feeding patterns. Large whales are killed, and they are also known to approach fishing vessels and pluck the fish of the hooks as lines are winched up!
As you see on the picture, these wandering Orcas are easily recognized by not being black, but more of a blackish brown base color. The “white” spot on the back is more light grey and the white “eye spot” is small.
After some amazing navigation by the bridge officers in the big swell of the Southern Ocean, we got some very close encounters on these “sea monsters.” A great way to start a new day!
It was then time for us to continue our sail towards Port Stanley. As the day moved on, we had several lectures, and for the first time on this voyage since we left Puerto Madryn on November 16, we were also able feel the Southern Ocean as a westerly low was approaching. Some of us found this a very joyful and maybe an important part of the Shackleton experience; others did not at all appreciate the ship movement. Yes, ocean motion is usually the case as you endeavor to this part of the world and during our voyage we have been increasingly spoiled by luck and good weather. Maybe now it was time to pay back for all this luck?
A day at sea! We are now cruising away from one paradise, South Georgia, and heading towards another, the Falkland Islands – “only” about 700 nm away. We are still below the convergence, which is perhaps the best borderline to define Antarctica.
The Antarctic convergence is a banded zone where the colder, oxygen rich and less salty water from the south meets and sinks below the warmer sub-Antarctic water. This convergence zone is very sharp and significant and within a few hours sailing, the water temperature changes from +1Co to about +5Co, as you sail north.
This is also known to be a very nutrient rich zone and both sea birds and whales gather in the area to feed. So of course you always hope to spot something large.
The oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface and it is always a challenge to spot a marine mammal at sea . Today our first officer with his sharp eyes became our hero. At about 0735 he spotted some killer whales in front of the ship and soon was the announcement made: “Orcas on our port side!”
It was a oceanic pod with about 50 animals. As we watched them for an hour, we saw them break up into several smaller groups, 5-15 animals. These “wanderers” can best be described as “sea hawks” with very opportunistic feeding patterns. Large whales are killed, and they are also known to approach fishing vessels and pluck the fish of the hooks as lines are winched up!
As you see on the picture, these wandering Orcas are easily recognized by not being black, but more of a blackish brown base color. The “white” spot on the back is more light grey and the white “eye spot” is small.
After some amazing navigation by the bridge officers in the big swell of the Southern Ocean, we got some very close encounters on these “sea monsters.” A great way to start a new day!
It was then time for us to continue our sail towards Port Stanley. As the day moved on, we had several lectures, and for the first time on this voyage since we left Puerto Madryn on November 16, we were also able feel the Southern Ocean as a westerly low was approaching. Some of us found this a very joyful and maybe an important part of the Shackleton experience; others did not at all appreciate the ship movement. Yes, ocean motion is usually the case as you endeavor to this part of the world and during our voyage we have been increasingly spoiled by luck and good weather. Maybe now it was time to pay back for all this luck?
