Seals of the Antarctica Peninsula

We ran into several types of seals, all engaged in the same general behavior - lounging. Saw one swimming, the rest lying belly up in the snow/ice. According to the ship's naturalists, it was quite warm for them, so they were likely trying to cool off. The first type we ran across were Weddell seals:

The more exciting encounters were with Leopard seals, the top of the antarctic food chain (even above Orcas). Pretty fierce predators, although there's only one documented case of them attacking a human. Nevertheless, one look at their teeth shows how easily you could become dinner. That said, we drove the zodiacs right up to their icefloats, several times. They would raise their heads in a "I could eat you if I chose, but am full at the moment" sort of way.

We also came across Crabeater seals doing what? Loafing. One thing I found surprising about our seal encounters, no large colonies such as those we saw with penguins. I expected to see them covering a shoreline at one point, but never more than 6 at a time. The final picture is from Nathalie Michel.

Penguin Power

I knew penguins were cute, but never realized how interesting they could be. I loved watching them, tried to get many of their behaviors on film. Once I figure out how to use iMovie, I'll post little video clips. Here are some of the fun/cute penguin pictures from the MANY I took:

Chinstrap penguins -- it's pretty obvious how they got their name. We came across them on our first landing, at Half Moon Bay in the South Shetland Islands. Totally unafraid of us, they mingled with our group with ease.


Gentoo Penguins -- these little guys abound, we ran into them at several places along the Antarctic Peninsula (Neko Harbor, Paradise Bay, and Port Lockroy). Babies of various ages were plentiful. The pink coloration you see in most of these pictures - guano. The color comes from eating krill, and since penguins don't have a sense of smell, they don't seem to mind the fact that it's all over them, their nests, etc.


Adelie Penguins -- we ran into these little fellas at Peterman Island. Apparently there are over 9 million breeding pairs of Adelies in Antarctica. These two pictures are from Nathalie Michel.


Guano Scale -- our various stops fell along a "guano scale", with some ranking quite high. The first little guy below was apparently used for target practice, the second fellow apparently didn't eat any krill, and the final shot of gentoo colonies around a whale skeleton clearly had plenty o' krill on the menu.

Whales of Antarctica

There were lots and lots of interesting aspects to this trip, but by far the high point was our encounter with a baby humpback whale.

At least 4 times we came across whales, mostly humpbacks, and one time a pair of Orcas. They would swim around the boat a few times, I got plenty of "Pacific Life" insurance-like tail pictures as a result.


But in the end they were anti-climatic thanks to a mother-son pair of humpbacks who played near the boat for some time. The mother was very patient as junior breached again and again in a "look what I can do Mom" sort of way. It was quite the show. And so here is my best picture of the trip (click on the image to see a larger view):

Colors of Antarctica

Here are some of the unexpected colors found in Antarctica.

Impressions

It is GREAT to be back home, but I also miss the adventure as well. Some overall impressions of the trip in no particular order --

* 20 hours of sunlight a day is wonderful -- never caused me the slightest trouble sleeping, kept my blinds open all the time. You can see everything, take pictures anytime. It struck me as a bit odd yesterday when it was dark at 5...and not pleasantly so.

* I love being on a ship -- we had 60 foot waves coming back thru the Drake passage, I loved it! Sat for hours looking at the waves break over the bow, never a moment's fear. The waves were bad enough one night to break some beds from the wall and toss some folks from their beds. Many people were seasick, I was like a kid in a candy store. Loved it! Can't imagine what it must've been like to make that passage in hammocks.

* Antarctica bore no resemblance to what I expected -- which was a bit disappointing I hate to admit. It was in the 40s and 50s most of the time, indeed quite hot in a big parka. Came back here to a high of 7°F and finally needed the coat.

* Antarctica is quite colorful -- as will be seen in pictures to come. Most of the wildlife was some variant of black, white, or brown, but the rocks, lichen, penguin poop, buildings, and icebergs were unexpectedly vibrant.

* Penguins are adorable -- despite the fact that they are often covered in pink guano (from eating krill) and they stink, I was mesmerized by their behaviors and often stood watching them for long periods of time. Moving pebbles one rock at a time to build nests, intricate mating rituals, complete lack of fear of us, patience and attentiveness to their young, and grace & speed in the water and seemingly utter clutziness on land -- they're almost as much fun as primates ;-)

* The water is breathtakingly blue and clear -- It's almost like being adrift on Tidybowl, the water is at times so blue. Not the nicest image I realize for Mother Nature, but a quite accurate description of the sea and icebergs. And we could often look below the Zodiac and see penguins swimming underwater (flying is perhaps a more appropos descriptor).

* Laws protecting the continent seem utterly without teeth -- and they need teeth. While most ship obey the IATTO rules, there doesn't seem to be much to punish them if they don't.

* "Sacrifice the peninsula to save the continent" -- after our first outing, I was struck by the imprint we left. Quite minimal for 150 people to be honest, and most of our walking was on rock, but I was still overwhelmed by the fact that we were disturbing a vast wilderness. That evening at dinner I sat with Steve Strand (an emeritus prof from UCLA who was one of the first to dive under the ice shelf to study the wildlife in the early 80s, I remember quite vividly learning of his work while an undergrad) -- so I figured here was a guy with a vested interest. I asked his view about our clear impact - he made the above comment with quite some conviction. He pointed out that the continent is quite large, and if having tourists come to the peninsula is the price needed to teach people of global warming and the importance of saving the region, then so be it. By the end of the trip, I was in agreement.