Monday, January 25, 2016

2 Sea Days en route to South Georgia Islands

December 23 -  Sea day en route to South Georgia

It was nice to sleep in a bit today by about an hour or so. However, we did lose an hour of sleep since we set the clocks back to match the time while in Antarctica. They have strict rules on where and when you have landings, so it maximized our time.
As we sailed towards South Georgia the ship started a pool to see who could guess the time and date of the first iceberg sighted that is at least half the size of the ship.

 I'm King of the World!
 OK, I'm done being king of the world

 where the zodiacs are stowed when not in use

view out of our porthole
This time the call for whales was for Orcas. Only we later found out they weren’t just any Orca, but an Orca type D which are extremely rare. I don’t remember if they said there have only been like 14 sightings or photos, but anyone getting a good shot could make it into the journals. While one person got a shot that was good enough to identify it, it may or may not make it into any scientific journals.
“Type A Orcas are the kind most of us are used to picturing -- enormous, black and white, with white eye patches; type B are a bit smaller, and more gray on their darker portions than black; and type C is the smallest orca, also more grayish than black, with white eye patches slanted at an angle to the body.”
We had great views of them, but of course photos were hard to come by.
 Orca Whales



whale blows
We also saw our first Wandering Albatrosses today. You may notice a pink area around the neck in some of the photos. "The pink staining on the necks of Wandering Albatrosses has been explained as due to "the birds snorting or sneezing explosively while in flight to expel fluid from their nasal tubes.  The exhaled liquid is a mixture of a saline secretion from the salt glands (that all seabirds have) and stomach oil stained pink (or orange) from the birds' diet."
The Wandering Albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird, typically ranging from 8 feet 3 inches to 11 feet 6 inches, with a mean span of 10 feet 2 inches. That's an impressive bird!
 Wandering Albatross
 Wandering Albatross
 Wandering Albatross
 Wandering Albatross
 Wandering Albatross
 Great Shearwater
Southern Giant Petrel
Southern Giant Petrel (shared photo)
During these two days, we also crossed the Antarctic Convergence – the area in the ocean where cold water from Antarctica meets the relatively warmer water of the South Atlantic. It is an important boundary, both because the mixing of the two masses of water causes nutrients to well up that support a great concentration of life, and because the convergence marks a boundary that many species of birds and sea animals do not cross. From a biological/ecosystem perspective, the Convergence marks the boundary of Antarctica, because south of the Convergence, the very cold sea water (it was 0-2 degrees Celsius constantly from this point on) influences the climate and the lives of the birds and animals that are hardy enough to live there.
The ocean was a bit more turbulent as we crossed the convergence.
When not out on deck we attended the lectures. Will, the geologist on board was exuberant and had a good sense of humor, often poking fun of himself as he realized for most people on the ship they weren’t all that interested in the subject, but of course it was interesting and nice to have him explain what we were seeing.
He started today's lecture with the question, "What are the 3 main types of rock?" Of course the 10 year olds hand went up and others chimed in to name sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. Will said “well, that’s wrong; it’s Classic, Hard & Punk.” Ha ha.
Here is today's program:
07:00 - 08:00 A Continental Breakfast is served in the Main Lounge
08:00 - 09:00 Breakfast is served in the Dining Room
09:30 Please join our Historian, Hadleigh, for his presentation “Lifting the Veil - The Quest for Terra Australis Incognita” in the Main Lounge
11:15 Our Rockstar Geologist, Will, will be in the Main Lounge giving his presentation, “Mighty Mountains and Explosive Volcanic Island Chains - The Evolution of the Scotia Sea & Formation of the Antarctic Continent”
12:30 Lunch is served in the Dining Room
14:30 Please join Sam, for her presentation, “An Introduction to Polar Photography” in the Main Lounge
16:00 Our Ornithologist, Mark, will be in the Main Lounge giving his presentation, “Albatrosses of the Southern Ocean”
18:30 Please join the Expedition Staff for a Re-cap & Briefing
19:30 Dinner is served in the Dining Room
21:15 Evening entertainment in the Main Lounge will feature Jazz Night
“The 3 great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach. I have heard them all, and of the 3 most elemental voices, that of the ocean is the most awesome, beautiful and varied.” - Henry Beston
 
Sunrise: 04:10 Sunset: 20:39
December 24 - Christmas Eve at Sea - Shag Rocks
Today, we had a Bio Check as required by South Georgia. We had to have all of our gear checked for any seeds or contaminants that we may have brought back on our clothing from the Falklands before we can disembark in South Georgia. They had us wash our boots again and they checked all pockets, velcro on all clothing, inside of backpacks and gloves etc. They had vacuum cleaners there to help remove anything that might have been missed.
We spent as much time out on deck as we could in between lectures and the Bio-check. We saw our first penguins floating by on an iceberg. (small icebergs are known as "bergy bits" We saw a lot of Antarctic Prions flying around the ship. We also saw more Whales. and some playful seals. 



 Humpback Whales

 a seal flying through the water
 playful seal


 Gentoo penguins porpoising past the ship (shared photo)
Wilson's Storm Petrel 
 Wilson's Storm Petrel 
White-chinned Petrel
 Antarctic Prions
 Antarctic Prions
 Antarctic Prions
 Antarctic Prions
Antarctic Prions
We approached Shag Rocks, which were beautiful and full of Shags nesting on just about every inch of them. We also started seeing more icebergs. Though, I think the winner of the iceberg contest was seen yesterday.
 Approaching Shag Rocks




 nesting Antarctic Shags covered most of the rocks




 beautiful blue ice of the iceberg

 lone penguin floating on the ice

 out on deck with the iceberg behind me
 
Tonight they offered a traditional Christmas dinner (as well as other choices) and then we met in the lounge for bananas foster and singing along to Christmas carols that the staff sang. At some point someone started a Conga line around the lounge.
 chef with a turkey

 Olga & me
 Victoria
 our cabin steward Mark is on the left

 Shane and me looking all "festive"


 
We left after that since we had early morning excursions and full day excursions in South Georgia for the next 4 days.
Here is today's program:
Approaching South Georgia – Sea Day
07:00 - 08:00 A Continental Breakfast is served in the Main Lounge
08:00 - 09:00 Breakfast is served in the Dining Room
09:15 Please join pinniped specialist, Mikolaj, for his presentation, “Dogs of Sea: Seals of South Georgia” in the Main Lounge
11:00 Our Ornithologist, Mark, will be in the Main Lounge giving his presentation, “Penguins of the Southern Ocean”
12:00 Lunch is served in the Dining Room
13:45 Please join Shane for an introduction to South Georgia and a review of our mandatory IAATO requirements.
A mandatory Bio-security Cleaning Procedure will take place after this presentation - everyone will be called by cabin to come to the Main Lounge. Please listen for announcements.
16:00 Please join historian, Hadleigh, in the Main Lounge for his presentation, “The Weddell Sea Party: The Story of Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition”
18:30 Please join the Expedition Staff for a Re-cap & Briefing
19:30 Dinner is served in the Dining Room
21:00 A Special Dessert will be served in the Main Lounge
“There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory.” -Sir Francis Drake 1587 

Sunrise: 04:34 Sunset: 22:13
We eagerly awaited Christmas morning and the wonders South Georgia would bring. It is known as "the Galapagos of the South" because of it's sheer numbers of wildlife.
You may have noticed that the further south we go, the shorter the nights become. Really just a couple hours of "almost darkness".
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

2 comments:

  1. So fun to see your wildlife pictures. I got an education on whales. I didn't realize there were different classes of whales in a subcategory. Those icebergs were beautiful, Steve and I enjoyed seeing icebergs in Alaska last year. The floating ones you saw were much larger. It looks like your outerwear came in handy. Can't wait to read and see more.

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  2. Thanks for following along. Yes, most of what we saw was much larger than Alaska. (and we LOVED Alaska)Both places have a way of reminding you how "small and insignificant" we are. Yes, we got an education as well on whales...who knew?

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