Penguins and seals and orcas OH MY!
A great day for wildlife observing.
Adelie penguins surfing! (Photo by Alix Post)
I woke up to the sound of something banging the side of the ship. The captain and the scientists mentioned we anticipated seeing ice by 9am. I looked out my port hole and saw large chunks of ice floating. Being a newbie to polar conditions I ran out of my room, threw on a float coat and headed to the stern to takes some shots. It was 7:30am. The weather was clear the sky was blue and the water was calm. But all the time I wondered, was this as much ice as I would see? Boy it is amazing how things can change in a few short hours. Right on cue at 9 am we entered a sea of ice. It was by far the most amazing sight I have ever seen. (Wait for tomorrow's blog!)
Prime habitat for penguins and seals. Can you see the 3 crab eater seals resting?
It was if I entered a different world. In a way I did. I spent the majority of my free time on the bow of the ship and the bridge. Those are the best locations for wildlife observation. I must have taken hundreds of photos and several videos in that time. I picked a few for this journal. Believe me there will be many, many more!
A crabby crab eater seal snarls his disapproval from the port side. Actually crab eaters don't actually eat crabs. Instead they prefer krill.
Later on in the day we began to break form the pack ice into pockets of open water. There we observed Minke whales and Orcas. The amount of wildlife we saw during our time brief ice breaking was amazing. I anticipate there will be more days like this! Tomorrow the scientists hope to reach the research site at the Mertz glacier. Keep following along! Homework: How many species of penguins inhabit Antarctica?
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