From winter to Spring and back in a few days

My trip to Peninsular Antarctica

 

November 2022

 

 by Ravi Chandra Gundakaram

I hope you have read the ‘Introduction’ before coming to this post!

The ship ‘Ocean Endeavour’ that took us to Antarctica and back. It is seen here docked at the pier in Ushuaia. This photograph was clicked while waiting to board the ship. Zodiacs (more about them in a while) in black are to the right (and slightly below) the funnel, whereas the lifeboats (with orange tops) can be seen on the left.

The cabin on the ship 'Ocean Endeavour' that was home to me for the duration of the trip. This is an 'inside' cabin, meaning there is no porthole or window. Inside cabins are less expensive than other cabin types.

Moving away from the pier, at the start of the voyage! The city of Ushuaia can be seen touching the water, and the Martial glacier is at the back. On the first evening of the voyage, the ship sails through the calm waters of the Beagle Channel before entering the open seas by way of the Drake Passage.

The Antarctic convergence is where the warmers waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans meet the colder waters of the Southern Ocean. Due to this, the region is rich in nutrients and a lot of marine life thrives there. The flying birds typically are seen only up to the Convergence, and not much further south below the convergence.

Birds following in the ship’s wake.

More birds! The albatross has a huge wingspan and in general, these birds are big in size.

Early view of an outlying Antarctic island. It is always a thrill to spot land for the first time, which happened late in the evening. There was even a fun contest on the ship, to predict the time when the Antarctic landmass would be first sighted! 

Zodiacs are sturdy motorized boats with an open top. The ship stays at a good distance from the land, and the zodiacs are used for cruising the Antarctic waters closer to the islands, and also for shore landings. Each zodiac accommodates up to ten people, five on one side, facing five on the other side.

 

Seen at the centre of this photograph is a zodiac, of course only with the driver.

Seated on a zodiac, and wading through the sea ice close to shore. Two more loaded zodiacs are seen in the middle of this photograph.

A colony of penguins, seen from a distance.

Penguins on Danco island. This photograph was clicked after landing on the said island.

That’s Yours Truly (facing the camera) on Danco island, all wrapped up for the cold! The two thick straps over the shoulders and buckled above the waist are from the life jacket.

The marine biologists on the Ocean Endeavour told us that the 2022 winter was exceptionally harsh, dumping record amounts of snow in Antarctica. The penguins mate in late October or early November, after which they build their nests close to the shore on rocks that are exposed after the ice melts. However, the thick ice cover was still there even into the third week of November. There was a genuine concern that due to being unable to build nests, there might be a steep dip in the number of chicks hatched, and hence in the penguin population this year.

Cuties in their habitat!

It seemed that the seals don’t do much more than sleep! If you are lucky, one of them might just yawn, and if you are luckier still (not me!), you can click a photograph of the said act. That brings me to give some advice on photographing wildlife in Antarctica. Leave it to the pros (surely am not one of them) with their professional equipment (lenses with wide apertures, large zoom, high shutter speeds, and what not!) and just enjoy the sights!

A leopard seal resting on the ice. 

Normally, we are asked to be still so that a a few curious penguins may approach us. But this year, things were different; due to the avian (bird) flu, the instructions were just the opposite: if a penguin approaches you, slowly back off, making sure of course that you don't step on another behind you, or, yuck, on penguin poop. Guano, as it is known, smells bad if you are close by but it also has a scientific utility: people imaging penguin colonies from space actually look for patches of purple, which are the 'leftovers' by the numerous penguins in each colony!

Penguins on the move!

Above is a short video of penguins walking.

A skua on an ice floe, one of the birds that we love to hate! Why is that? Because they steal penguin eggs and chicks (and eat the loot of course!) while mommy and daddy penguin can do nothing but watch, sadly..

On an outing, we spotted a whale (identified as Minke) close to our zodiac, the fin of which can be seen at the centre of this photograph. It seemed quite curious and kept going around, taking a dive and surfacing, here and there. After a few minutes, I didn’t see it and asked aloud, “Where is it?” Someone in a nearby zodiac make a ‘shhh’ sign and repeatedly pointed below with his forefinger. That’s when I realized that the whale had gone UNDER our zodiac and come up from the other side! I have never had a closer encounter with a whale, that too in its habitat! It was a wonderful experience.  A fellow expeditioner who was on an adjacent zodiac actually managed to film the whale go under!

A minke whale that kept circling our zodiac. The tip of the fin can be seen near the centre of the photograph.

We had four to five whale sightings over the course of our voyage. Marine biologists on the expedition team back on the ship told us that this is uncommon, and at this time of the year, one hardly gets to see any whales since they are still somewhere north of the Antarctic waters. Of course the whales follow food and due to changes in the climate, ‘food’ was travelling south earlier than usual this year.

The whale, up and close!

Above is a short video of another whale in Antarctic waters.

This photograph was clicked from peninsular Antarctica proper! Zodiacs can be seen in the water, and a few people on the land.

A portion close to the shore where there the ice had mostly melted. These penguins will hopefully build nests!

We should have been around the peninsula for a day and a half more. But there was a storm coming, due to which we had to cut our trip short and head back to Ushuaia. The return trip across the Drake passage was really rough. The ship was tossed side to side; there was broken cutlery in the kitchen and dining area, and several people had to throw up due to nausea. Waves were over ten feet high, and were hitting the ship from all sides. It was really a very rough journey back to Ushuaia. I tried to stay in the cabin but kept sliding from the top of the bed to the bottom, and again to the top. This went on for over a full day, and things got calmer only when we re-entered the Beagle channel.

That brings us dear reader to the end of a lovely trip!