Antarctic Sound & The Weddell Sea
The view was captivating looking through the dining room window at breakfast this morning. So appealing that it was all we could do to hurry though breakfast and get geared up for our first continental landing on the Antarctic Peninsula. Having navigated around the northeastern tip of the continent and through Antarctic Sound, we anchored in a spot called Brown Bluff, and scenery could not be more serene.
The cliffs of this volcanic rock were stained a deep reddish-brown, left bare by centuries of katabatic winds blasting down the slopes. Our welcoming committee was a group of Adélie penguins, traversing across the shoreline, heading back to their nests amongst the rest of a colony in excess of 10,000 pairs. Some gentoos could be found laying on their nests, comfortably huddled in close proximity to each other, along with a lone Weddell seal or two. Surrounded by enormous glaciers and snow-capped mountains, it was impossible to not sit and reflect at the canvas that had unfolded before us. As thousands of Adélie penguins occupied their nests on one side of us, glaciers that spanned across the horizon were engaged in their own behaviors, as slow as they might be. Kelp gulls and Cape petrels could be found flying overhead, while throngs of penguins paraded across the shoreline, in a less than perfect procession before venturing into the black ocean in search for food. On our way back to the ship, we were able navigate through some grease ice, which is the first evidence of a freezing ocean.
Eventually it would be our time to venture as well, and after cruising a short distance south further into the Weddell Sea, the National Geographic Endeavour was stopped by an abundance of pack ice. So we marveled at the tabular bergs through the pack ice in the distance and eventually made our way back up the Antarctic Sound toward Gourdin Island.
With all of our Zodiacs dropped, we eagerly embarked and headed toward some grounded tabular bergs, marveling at the enormity of what sat before us. Towering above us at more than 60 feet from the surface of the water, these perfectly manicured structures bore the evidence of hundreds of polar winters with their varied layers of iridescent blue ice stacked on top of each other. Then we cruised around Gourdin Island, where we were able to spot chinstrap, gentoo, and Adélie penguins all nesting in the same general vicinity. The day was full of wildlife and wonder, and we sailed into the evening wondering what would come next.
The view was captivating looking through the dining room window at breakfast this morning. So appealing that it was all we could do to hurry though breakfast and get geared up for our first continental landing on the Antarctic Peninsula. Having navigated around the northeastern tip of the continent and through Antarctic Sound, we anchored in a spot called Brown Bluff, and scenery could not be more serene.
The cliffs of this volcanic rock were stained a deep reddish-brown, left bare by centuries of katabatic winds blasting down the slopes. Our welcoming committee was a group of Adélie penguins, traversing across the shoreline, heading back to their nests amongst the rest of a colony in excess of 10,000 pairs. Some gentoos could be found laying on their nests, comfortably huddled in close proximity to each other, along with a lone Weddell seal or two. Surrounded by enormous glaciers and snow-capped mountains, it was impossible to not sit and reflect at the canvas that had unfolded before us. As thousands of Adélie penguins occupied their nests on one side of us, glaciers that spanned across the horizon were engaged in their own behaviors, as slow as they might be. Kelp gulls and Cape petrels could be found flying overhead, while throngs of penguins paraded across the shoreline, in a less than perfect procession before venturing into the black ocean in search for food. On our way back to the ship, we were able navigate through some grease ice, which is the first evidence of a freezing ocean.
Eventually it would be our time to venture as well, and after cruising a short distance south further into the Weddell Sea, the National Geographic Endeavour was stopped by an abundance of pack ice. So we marveled at the tabular bergs through the pack ice in the distance and eventually made our way back up the Antarctic Sound toward Gourdin Island.
With all of our Zodiacs dropped, we eagerly embarked and headed toward some grounded tabular bergs, marveling at the enormity of what sat before us. Towering above us at more than 60 feet from the surface of the water, these perfectly manicured structures bore the evidence of hundreds of polar winters with their varied layers of iridescent blue ice stacked on top of each other. Then we cruised around Gourdin Island, where we were able to spot chinstrap, gentoo, and Adélie penguins all nesting in the same general vicinity. The day was full of wildlife and wonder, and we sailed into the evening wondering what would come next.
