Antartica, the 7th Continent Day 4 - 6

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For my past travels, I've always been more of a landscape rather than wildlife person. Wildlife can be quite difficult to see and even more difficult to capture. Whereas landscape is static, and changes during and over years. You can return again and again and nature will always offer you something slightly different. It wasn't until my trip to Antarctica did I appreciate the significance of wildlife, the challenges they face just to survive, and how important each and every part of them are to our ecosystem even if we can't see them. ^[1]

Day 4

Following on my last post, when we came back from our morning walk, the expedition leader announced they had spotted a pod of whales in the water. Whales migrate down south to the Antarctica in summer for food ^[1]. We were at the beginning of the migration season, and weren't expecting to see a lot of whales, so everyone was very excited with the news.

After lunch, I went up to the top deck for a spot of whale watching. The crew were loading the zodiacs for our afternoon outing. It was interesting to see how hi-tech everything was. A robotic arm, controlled by a crew member with a PS like console did the job. Once it landed in water, the expedition team would get on and go scout the area for our next outing. The team in the two zodiacs definitely have the best job, and had already come across some whales on their way out.

 
This afternoon was zodiac cruising, no landing. In a way, it was more leisurely, we just sat inside the zodiac and cruised around in the wet and snow. And boy!! Did we hit gold! It didn't take long for the first whale sighting. They came, quietly, hiding beneath the water. We couldn't see them at first, just the ripples here and there, like they were teasing us with their presence. We waited patiently and quietly.

Then suddenly, the squeal, and the blow! It was unbelievable and magical. A couple of times they were very close to our zodiac, so close that I could feel their movement. I was so mesmerized that I forgot to feel worried, not that I had to because I knew the expedition team would never put us in danger.

I have some footage in my video, it still feels so surreal when I watch it back now.

After the amazing encounter with the whales, we cruised out to a place called Recess Cove. These rides are bumpy, yet exhilarating. And at the same time a contrast with the feathery snow gently sliding down on me. When you're on a zodiac, it feels like you're travelling quite a long distance. In reality, we haven't traveled that far. All our surroundings are in different shades of bluey white, from the hazy sky, icebergs, sea, drift ice. It makes one lose the sense of direction. Every stop we make, every angle we turn, we see something different. The quietness, stillness, something I won't forget.

Day 5

The next morning, we cruised to Melchior Island and passed by Base Melchior. This is a small base station owned by the Argentines. They have 13 stations in Antarctica, outranked only by Chile by 1. Melchior is a seasonal station operating in the summer only, and the crew was expected to arrive in a few weeks time.

We didn't do any landing, and just cruised around admiring more icebergs, or rather bergy bits. That's the proper name for smaller icebergs around the size of a house. And did you know, the even smaller ones, around the size of a car are called growlers? It's amazing what you learn during your travels. These are two of my favorite bergy bits. Nature is the best architect.

Our cruise at the Orne Harbour in the afternoon was the only time that we had bad weather. It was cold and wet, but I loved it!!!

By the time we returned on board, the weather had cleared up and turned beautiful again. That was very important for some of our fellow cruisers tonight.

Normally, the ship travels during night time to get us to our next destination the next day. Today, we would stay here, opposite Argentine's Almirante Brown station. That's the little brown building you can see about a quarter in from the right. Now, pan across to the white patch of snow on the right of the black cliff. Do you see some little dots? Those are 20+ of our fellow cruisers, and they're going to camp out here for the night!! I know, it's crazy, in sub freezing conditions! For some, this a lifetime opportunity to say you have camped in Antarctica. Not many can make this claim. But this bragging right come with a hefty price tag - USD750!!! Next morning, those who did it said it was an amazing experience!

Day 6

Words cannot describe how beautiful Antarctica is, and I think even wordsmiths may struggle when they see the Lemaire Channel. During early season like when we visited, there are often ice blocking the passage, and we were warned we may have to turn back if it was impassable. That didn't dampen everyone's mood because the approach was enough to mesmerise us. The sky was beautiful blue, the water serene calm. The two had become one.

I've packed this post with so many photos because I just can't stop myself, and there's also a video. My journey will continue in my next post where we have the most fun packed day including a very exhilirating zodiac cruise and where I (who can't swim) do a polar plunge!!

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1. After my Antarctica trip, I feel I have the responsibility to pass on an important message because I know as a community, we can do more for this world : Krill are small shrimp-like creatures and are "the primary food source for whales, penguins and seals in Antarctica, and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by eating carbon-rich algae near the surface and excreting it when they sink to lower, colder waters, helping to mitigate climate change. " source. They are used in many products such as fish oil supplements, pet food, and fishing bait. This is unnecessary, and there are alternatives to krill that can be used. Wildlife depend on krill to survive and climate change is already disrupting the food web for them. Krill commercialisation accelerates this process. Please stop this by not buying any products that contain krill. ↩ ↩