DAY FOUR (Part 3) - 02 16 2013 - Icebergs and Escorts

After hanging out with the Gentoo Penguins in Neko Harbour and getting all of the ice out of our clothes from the slide down the mountain, we headed out towards Petermann Island.  As we passed through Paradise Bay, we caught a glimpse of what we believe is Almirante Brown Base (named after Admiral Guillermo Brown, the father of the Argentine Navy).  The base burned down in 1984, but was rebuilt.  It is only occupied during the summer.

Almirante Brown Base

On the way, we got to see some pretty massive and unique icebergs.   Like clouds, some of the shapes looked like different objects.  Can you spot the lion or the mushroom?

Vegetable?

What's that look like? Roar!

As you can see, icebergs come in all shapes and sizes.  As we all know from the Titanic, icebergs can pose a serious hazard to ships.  As a result, the U.S. National Ice Center was formed to monitor icebergs and warn ships.  The National Ice Center uses satellite data to monitor icebergs near Antarctica.  However, it only tracks icebergs larger than 5,400 square feet.  Often times, it's the smaller icebergs that pose the biggest problems to ships because they are harder to spot.

Icebergs being tracked by the U.S. National Ice Center

We also had a number of animals escort us to the next stop.  The first was a pod of ORCAS! (also known as "Killer Whales").  Most people consider killer whales to be, well, whales.  However, they are actually part of the dolphin family.  They are considered apex predators.  In other words, they are on the top of the food chain and have no predators of their own.  In fact, there was a recent national geographic video about a orca taking out a great white shark! (see that video by clicking here)

Unfortunately, I only got a few shots of one before I lost track of them.  I'm really glad I brought my zoom lens, otherwise I wouldn't have even gotten these shots.  They were on the move... maybe on the hunt!

The next animal to escort us to our destination was a group of whales.  I think they were Minke Whales, but not sure.  They were certainly baleen whales because they had two blow holes (see picture below).  The whales decided to nestle up against the ship, so we got some pretty good shots.  Unfortunately, they didn't breach (shoot out of the water).  Seeing a whale breach is a truly awe-inspiring thing!

Baleen whales have two blow holes

Bye for now... watch out for those killer whales!

As we approached the LeMaire Channel and Pittermann Island, we saw some pretty magnificent ice shelves, caves and even a waterfall.

Ice caves

Waterfall

Close up of the waterfall

As we arrived at our destination, we some strange movement in the water.  What could they be?  

If you guessed penguins, you were right! We were kindly escorted by some Gentoo Penguins.  Their slowness on land is certainly made up for in the water.  They are fast!

When penguins leap out of the water it is called porpoising 

 

The Gentoo's took us to Petermann Island - our next stop for the day!

DAY FOUR (Part 1) - 02 16 2013 - Andvord Bay (64°50’S 62°33’W)

We woke up the next morning having entered Andvord Bay, deep in the Antarctic Peninsula. The Bay is located at the following coordinates 64°50’S 62°33’W. The Bay is quite stunning, surrounded by mountains and alpine glaciers.  The mountains rose up sharply on either side of our ship before disappearing in the fog that was gently floating above.  The gloominess made it difficult to photograph.  Hopefully, the pictures below can give you an idea of the enormity and breadth of the bay.

The bay itself was filled with icebergs.  This was our first real iceberg sighting.  Needless to say, it was amazing.  The icebergs came in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors.  I'm sure you've heard the saying "that's just the tip of the iceberg."  This saying comes from the fact that the icebergs that we see on the surface typically only show 10% of their entire area.  The remaining 90% is underwater!  The largest icebergs are tracked by the U.S. National Ice Center.  Click here to see what they are currently tracking.

The color of the icebergs is also amazing, some being white, grey or even blue.  The color is a result of the way in which the iceberg captures and diffuses light.  Some icebergs, created from older glaciers, have been under enormous pressure for eons.  This compression eliminates air and reflective surfaces within the ice.  So when the light hits these older icebergs, the longer visible wavelengths of light (red or green) are absorbed due to the lack of reflective surface.  The blue wavelengths are able to escape, thereby turning the iceberg "blue".  I'm sure the process is much much more complicated...

We also got a glimpse of our first Minke Whale!  It surfaced just a few yards from the ship, it's large back surfacing for a few seconds before sinking beneath the frigid waters. It continued to pop up here and there before we lost track of it.

Our First Glimpse of a Minke Whale

Minke Whales are the smallest and most abundant of the baleen whales.  Generally, they grow to about 25 - 30 feet and weigh 6 -7 tons.  We learned in one of the classes aboard the ship that the baleen is a filter system inside of the whale's mouth.  It looks like the teeth of a comb.  When the whale feeds, it opens it's mouth underwater to take in Krill (it's primary food source).  It then pushes the water out, but the baleen keeps the Krill inside it's mouth.  FYI - Krill is somewhat similar to shrimp and is a food source of a wide variety of antarctic wildlife, including whales, seals and penguins.  

At the end of Andvord Bay lay our destination, Neko Harbour.  The ship anchored a few hundred yards from shore and we began gathering all of our stuff to take ashore.