The Western Antarctic Peninsula
During the evening the National Geographic Endeavour crossed the Bransfield Strait and entered the region of the Gerlache Strait. We were in an area first explored and its geographic features named by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897 – 99. Led by Adrian de Gerlache, it was the first expedition to overwinter in the Antarctic. Just as guests were gathering in the lounge for morning stretches we came upon two humpback whales engaged in their own morning stretches. Perhaps it was an adult female and her yearling calf, recently returned from their winter spent in warm tropical Pacific waters somewhere between Colombia and Costa Rica. They seemed happy to be back where the food is abundant. They were engaged in what we might call exuberant behavior: breaching (particularly the smaller whale), tail-lobbing, and rolling while slapping the water with their long pectoral fins with an audible smack! Our ship’s sonar showed a swarm of krill near the surface of the water, and the whales interrupted their surface behavior with shallow dives. Perhaps their whale-tummies were full and they were celebrating the abundance of food after their long winter fast.
We continued on through the Errera Channel and entered Paradise Harbor. If this is Paradise, then that is a cold and icy, but very beautiful place! We boarded Zodiacs navigate through the ice, admiring blue-eyed shags (Antarctic cormorants) breeding on a steep rock wall, and gentoo penguins around the buildings of the unoccupied Argentine research station Almirante Brown. The penguins gave us quite a show with their comings and goings from the rocks below the colony. The outgoing penguins, upon entering the water, engaged in vigorous washing of their plumage, which needed it! Some of us watched an iceberg become unstable and then roll over before our eyes, and then we understood why our Zodiac drivers keep their distance.
In search of a hole in the wet and windy weather, we found Neko Harbor off of Anvord Bay, a deep fjord that cuts into the Antarctic Continent. Here gentoo penguins nest around a refuge hut that was placed here to provide shelter and provisions for any Antarctic travelers who might find themselves in need. (At the same time it provides a convenient place to paint the national flag, in this case of Argentina, to emphasize territorial claims to Antarctica.) The penguins were mostly standing in pairs at their snow-covered nest sites, waiting for the snow to melt so they could get on with breeding. The Antarctic summer is short, and in extreme years the delay caused by excessive snow can lead to total colony failure. The main attraction of this site, though, turned out to be a climb up the steep slope behind the hut followed by a breathtaking slide back down again on parka and waterproof pants, with style points awarded for the landings. Thus, we began our day with the exuberance of whales and ended it with the exuberance of our shipmates.
During the evening the National Geographic Endeavour crossed the Bransfield Strait and entered the region of the Gerlache Strait. We were in an area first explored and its geographic features named by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897 – 99. Led by Adrian de Gerlache, it was the first expedition to overwinter in the Antarctic. Just as guests were gathering in the lounge for morning stretches we came upon two humpback whales engaged in their own morning stretches. Perhaps it was an adult female and her yearling calf, recently returned from their winter spent in warm tropical Pacific waters somewhere between Colombia and Costa Rica. They seemed happy to be back where the food is abundant. They were engaged in what we might call exuberant behavior: breaching (particularly the smaller whale), tail-lobbing, and rolling while slapping the water with their long pectoral fins with an audible smack! Our ship’s sonar showed a swarm of krill near the surface of the water, and the whales interrupted their surface behavior with shallow dives. Perhaps their whale-tummies were full and they were celebrating the abundance of food after their long winter fast.
We continued on through the Errera Channel and entered Paradise Harbor. If this is Paradise, then that is a cold and icy, but very beautiful place! We boarded Zodiacs navigate through the ice, admiring blue-eyed shags (Antarctic cormorants) breeding on a steep rock wall, and gentoo penguins around the buildings of the unoccupied Argentine research station Almirante Brown. The penguins gave us quite a show with their comings and goings from the rocks below the colony. The outgoing penguins, upon entering the water, engaged in vigorous washing of their plumage, which needed it! Some of us watched an iceberg become unstable and then roll over before our eyes, and then we understood why our Zodiac drivers keep their distance.
In search of a hole in the wet and windy weather, we found Neko Harbor off of Anvord Bay, a deep fjord that cuts into the Antarctic Continent. Here gentoo penguins nest around a refuge hut that was placed here to provide shelter and provisions for any Antarctic travelers who might find themselves in need. (At the same time it provides a convenient place to paint the national flag, in this case of Argentina, to emphasize territorial claims to Antarctica.) The penguins were mostly standing in pairs at their snow-covered nest sites, waiting for the snow to melt so they could get on with breeding. The Antarctic summer is short, and in extreme years the delay caused by excessive snow can lead to total colony failure. The main attraction of this site, though, turned out to be a climb up the steep slope behind the hut followed by a breathtaking slide back down again on parka and waterproof pants, with style points awarded for the landings. Thus, we began our day with the exuberance of whales and ended it with the exuberance of our shipmates.
