23 Jan 2018

SHO: Antarctic Wildlife at its best

Today has been particularly special for our expedition. We have cruised for several hours along the ice edge and in the process have enjoyed large numbers of whales. These have included humpbacks, many minke and orca, also a huge blue whale. In addition there have been numerous Adelie penguins, crabeater seals and flying birds, such as the beautiful Snow petrel and Wilson’s Storm petrel, both of which were catching small ice fish, and the Antarctic Fulmar. The weather has been beautiful and sea calm in this very special environment.

Because of difficult ice conditions and having been unable to land in Commonwealth Bay, we continued our expedition in an east direction and Tuesday 23rd provided a further unique day in Antarctic wildlife. We were woken at 6 30 and saw four blue whales around the ship. More was to come however. The first of three superb icebergs with blue caves along the water line was seen before lunch. Then an hour later, two pair of humpback whales and a pod of orca provided a further photographic opportunity. This was followed by a further iceberg with an estimated 4000-6000 Antarctic petrels siting on the top where they were perhaps molting.

This has been an outstanding experience with Antarctic wildlife at its best.