After a night of slow-speed sailing south, crossing the Drake Channel
(the first of two crossings this sailing) with large roller waves and
additional rocking caused by the wind, but overall pretty calm,
morning broke to us not just in the Antarctic Treaty Zone, but in
Antarctica itself! Of course, this far south morning comes early
this time of year, with sunrise around 4:20AM.
We were approaching Elephant Island, known by whalers for the
Elephant Seals it has harbored in the past. Perhaps more famously,
it is the island where Earnest Shackleton's men wintered over while
he went for help after his expedition was stranded.
As we get closer, we see mountains emerging from the mist, then the
first tabular icebergs, then "bergy bits" floating near the ship, and
finally Valentine Cove on Elephant Island and large icebergs near the ship!
Tabular icebergs are named for the table-tops they resemble. Broken
off not from glaciers but from the ice pack farther south as it
breaks up and brought north by the prevailing currents:
(For some reason I cannot upload these tonight - I'll try to get them up tomorrow - but tomorrow is supposed to be packed with other icebergs and may just post new ones instead.)
Bergy bits (I know that sounds funny, but it's their actual,
technical name) are the small pieces of ice which are constantly
eroding from the various ice bergs.
Ice bergs such as this are broken off of the face of tidal glaciers
which reach to the ocean.
A couple views of Elephant Island and Valentine Cove: 
The ice bergs are constantly eroding, by wind and waves, even
creating caves such as in this one: 
Does this all look barren? Did I forget to mention...
PENGUINS?! Shame on me! Yes, right from the ship we were able to
observe Chinstrap Penguins, both resting on the surface, but also
jumping, either being chased by seals (which could not be seen at
this height) or just fishing: 
From the time the sun rose, we were surrounded by birds, including
several varieties of albatross, but also by flocks of Antarctic Petrels and many others. You'll have to forgive me as I'm not much of a birder (unless their wings are actually flippers), but bird lovers will be in paradise here.
Running commentary from the bridge was given by the naturalist,
historian and ice captain, pointing out whales seen spouting near and
far, interesting features of various ice bergs, the island or other
bits we might want to observe. We sailed extremely slowly for good
views, spending about 3 hours around Elephant Island
itself. Temperatures are just below freezing, and as we left
Elephant Island, the mists rolled back in and we had a bit of a snow
storm. I was out starting at about 6:30AM and didn't come in until
about 10. Not too cold, but when you have your fingers out of your
mittens to take pictures, and are gripping a metal camera, having
chemical hand warmers in the mitten fingers makes it much more
comfortable (I use glove/mittens which have half-fingered gloves
inside a mitten top, and the top can be folded back so I can use the
fingers individually for photography.)
Good ear muffs are a bonus, as is some sort of hood. Mine is fleece
with a scarf attached, and kept my head nice and warm. A coat with
wind breaking properties is perfect, and all I had on my feet were
fleece-lined Crocs.
We're on our way now to Esperanza Station and the Antarctic Straits
on our way to the Antarctic Peninsula, and should have more pictures
tomorrow if I have time to post. This area is known as "Iceberg Alley". I'll continue to keep you
updated! While we are not permitted to make landings from a ship of
this side, the scenery here is amazing, and it's a wonderful way to
see this incredible region.
Labels: Antarctica, chinstrap penguins, icebergs, Live from Star Princess, Penguins
