With the smoother seas later in the day, we arrived early enough for a twilight zodiac cruise after dinner. We were going into the Antarctic Ocean! Our photography group was the last to depart, in an attempt to give us the most dramatic light possible. Unfortunately mother nature had other ideas. The skies were overcast, so there wasn’t much light to work with. Still, we navigated around numerous icebergs and the Melchior Islands.
We spent just over an hour cruising around. We took numerous pictures of birds, seals, and ice formations. It was an amazing introduction to Antarctica. It is difficult to describe the feeling you get from this place. Awe, wonder, joy, peace… All wrapped up in one powerful emotional blanket.
On Wednesday morning we were out for another zodiac cruise, this time through the Pelletier Channel. Our group was first off the boat. The wind was kicking up, so the water was pretty rough. Not dangerous, but enough to cover all of us in sea spray from time to time. It also made photography extremely challenging. Try holding a zoom lens steady on a bird or penguin 50 yards away in a small boat that’s rocking up and down in 2 foot swells!
There was plenty of amazing scenery. We saw several birds, and then our first penguins of the trip! There were several relatively small groups of Gentoo penguins in the rocks on either side of the channel. We’re definitely in Antarctica.
They say the motto of an expedition-style cruise is to stay flexible. The afternoon brought our first disappointment of the trip. We were scheduled for an afternoon excursion to land for the first time. Our destination was Demoy Point, where we expected to find a huge colony of Gentoos. Unfortunately, the expedition leader had to call off the excursion due to windy conditions that were both stirring up the water and pinning a bunch of ice in the bay where we were supposed to go ashore.
We kept cruising through the channel, unsure of where we were headed next. With the nasty weather, everyone was in a bit of a down mood. The energy came rushing back when some Mienke whales suddenly started breaching off of our port side. These are relatively small whales, but impressive nonetheless.
Next we sat down for the expedition leader’s briefing. The weather is supposed to be better tomorrow, and he’s identified a couple of targets for a possible landing and zodiac cruise combination – weather permitting, of course. We were all wondering just when this weather would break, and then suddenly, it did.
As we were eating dinner, the clouds parted in just the right way, and suddenly both sides of the channel were bursting with incredible scenes. The photography group started buzzing, and rushed to finish dinner. Before we made it to our cameras, someone yelled “whale!” A mother humpback and her calf were swimming right past the boat. That pretty much set the group on fire.
We spent the next couple of hours gawking at scenery so beautiful it leaves you stunned. We were snapping pictures everywhere, even the pros among us. This is the Antarctica we all hoped to discover on this trip. It is not the desolate wasteland that so many people think. It is the most beautiful type of alien landscape and teaming with life. If you glance through the photo gallery below, I’m sure you will agree, but trust me when I say that the pros came away with images far more representative than mine.
