The wake up call gently awoke the passengers at 7:00 a.m. The vista offered panoramic views from the first second on deck. The quiet and stillness had a voice of its own. As the sun beamed brightly down, it gave a sensation that permeated all of your senses. Everywhere you looked, there was a reflection. In the dark waters, the icebergs that floating by now had twin friends below them. Glass from the ship’s windows sprung to life as you could clearly make out watery details that were shimmering hundreds of feet above your head. The ship’s tranquility lead to auditory sensations unlike any felt so far. The penguins were crooning in the distance. An occasional booming would announce to the planet that a new piece of glacial ice had calved and was sliding into the ocean. It was almost as if the penguins were cooing over a newborn baby to say to the newly calved ice, “Good morning, welcome to our world!” All of this was wrapped up with the whooshing sounds of hidden waves cleaning the shorelines like Earth’s brooms sweeping a watery brush.
Our landing site was Neko Harbour—where a lazy baby elephant seal was in a deep, zombie-like sleep. Penguins were hopping and skipping to their own song all around this torpid animal. The pup showed complete disinterest, occasionally flipping his rubbery feet covered in fur—stretching his toes. This slight movement always brought us excitement thinking that our giant friend would provide some action to record. That wasn’t a part of his plan as he settled down, ignoring the landing parties, the penguins marching about, and the arctic birds soaring overhead.
The hike up the mountain offered impressive views. As the light changed from bright sunlight to a cottony haze, shadows came to life. The march to the summit brought us past two gentoo colonies. There was the familiar sound of the penguins singing a chorus of cries with the approach of a skua or snowy sheathbill. Even though we were being safely guided along our way, the snow was soft and wet.
For the first time all season, guests were treated to kayak a second time! The bright sky reflected off the inky waters while the melt water dripped slowly from the ever-changing growlers and bergy bits. Some kayakers were treated to the first whale sighting of the day as a blue-grey minke whale flirted swimming under and around the excited guests.
The afternoon brought us to the Gerlache Strait. The waters were calm this afternoon as we explored the cavernous shoreline looking at the nooks and crannies searching for life. Weddell seals were found in another hypnotic sleep; the deep purr of the Zodiac engines did little to disturb their slumber. We toured some more and found playful chinstrap penguins. The personalities of these three amigos made us all laugh as they behaved like supermodels on a photo shoot. Slipping and sliding, they were certainly in command of us, the humans, forcing the crane of our cameras to capture their brilliance in the afternoon light.
After lunch, renowned scientist Dr. Joe McConnell provided a riveting perspective on what ice cores tell us about the changing polar environment and the effects of aerosols. Dr. McConnell painted a picture demonstrating the measure in which he studies the historical fingerprints record of past atmospheric conditions for the past 70,000 years.
Dinner came to an abrupt halt! There was an announcement over the speaker system, “There are humpback whales on the bow!!!!” In a moment the air bubbles peculated to the glass-like surface. Whale tails broke through the water to announce that they were there! There were three lob-tailing appendages providing us with the joy and wonder of how animals behave in the wild. Water was splashing and spewing when the whales would flop creating droplets of water across the air. With flippers nearly one-third of their body length, they splashed mightily on a feast of tons of krill, capping off nature’s most mystical and vibrant hour!
