The ship was projected to be going through the Lemaire Channel in the early morning. Sheridan had sold us on the beauty of this area. It was a narrower area lined with tall glaciers. Jerry and I chose to walk the track on the upper deck while maneuvering through the Channel at 7am. Other passengers were congregating on the other outside decks to soak in the beauty. Water’s Edge, the outside space on the 5th deck has a heated seat which made viewing comfortable.
Two Minke Whales were playing in the water alongside the
ship. They are playful like dolphin – in
and out of the water, clearing their blowhole and flapping their fins. Due to the amount of ice and icebergs, it
took at least an hour to maneuver through the Channel.
When we arrived at our designated landing space, there was
too much ice against the shore preventing a safe landing. We would be enjoying cruises in the Zodiac
around the Iceberg Graveyard. This was a
bay where the current would push icebergs then trap them in the bay to “die”,
aka melt. The sizes, shapes and colors
of the icebergs are amazing. Photos
cannot fully capture the majestic scene.
One needs to see it in person to fully appreciate the views.
A Leopard Seal followed our Zodiac for some time. The bubbles of the Zodiac motor attracted
it. The seal would swim from one side to
the other. The water was clear enough to
watch it swim below the water line then pop up.
We came upon a Crabeater Seal resting on an iceberg. The Leopard Seal was very attentive, bouncing
out of the water and sizing it up. The
mouth of the Leopard Seal opens 270 degrees to help capture its’ prey. The Crabeater Seal was chattering a bit in
hopes of scaring off the Leopard Seal. The
Leopard Seal determined that this Crabeater Seal was too large, so it lived to
see another day.
Fun fact - Crabeater Seals do not eat crabs. Its’ name comes from its species name
“carcinophaga” which means crab eater. They
eat krill. They have lobe shaped teeth
which allows them to filter the krill.
Though we realize that there is a circle of life all around us, we were
glad not to witness it on the Zodiac ride.
Many of the Marine life eat krill. Healthy penguin poo after eating krill will
be pink on the ground and snow. When the
penguins are stressed, their poo is yellow and green.
Bad Joke – Which country is the largest consumer of
krill? Wales. 🐋😆
Our afternoon landing was at Petermann Island. There was a small research hut on the island
owned by the Argentine government; it was not open the day of our visit. We were excited to see a different type of
penguin – Adelie penguin. The penguin
were named for Adelie Land which had been named for Adle Dumont d’Urville who
was married to French Explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville who discovered the
penguin in 1840. The Adelie penguin has
a full black head with a white ring around its black iris. It has a shorter breeding season than the
Gentoo and Chinstrap. The young are
mature enough at 50-60 days to go out to sea.
There were Gentoo penguin on Petermann Island, too. Due to global warming, the Gentoo are moving
into areas which are warming where previously other penguin breeds such as the
Adelie only lived. This is pushing the
Adelie into other areas for breeding and finding food.
A cross was erected on Petermann Island in memory of three
members of the British Antarctic Survey who died in 1982 while crossing the sea
from Petermann Island to Faraday Station.
Also found on this Island were Sku seabirds. These brown birds are known to hang around
penguin colonies to eat penguin eggs and penguin chicks.
After dinner, we enjoyed a musical selection by Michael
Shapiro, the Cruise Director. He had
interesting, heart felt and at times, amusing stories of why the songs were
significant to him. Before singing
“Annie’s Song” by John Denver, Michael told us about the time that he met John
Denver. John had been drinking. Michael told him how beautiful he found
“Annie’s Song” to be. The song was name
after John’s wife, Annie. Drunk John
told Michael that “the bitch was divorcing him and suing him for a lot of
money”.
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