Icebergs and Whales Everywhere | East Antarctica

Sunday to Monday, 14-22 January 2024
Day 53-61 of 110ish

The rest of the steam to our first research area near Casey Station in East Antarctica was uneventful.

The Light At The End Of Yachtmasters

Tom and I worked through the remainder of RYA Yachtmasters in our downtime and got some life admin jobs done. Yachtmasters is nearly done….FINALLY!

Tom has to pass the last exercise and then the theory will be complete. Wow! What a mountain to climb; however we are at a false summit. Tom lost steam with it and now it’s postponed again. So close!

Whales All Around

We thoroughly enjoyed the steam.

We started seeing pods of whales everywhere nearby the boat but not right next to it. Frannie told me to focus on the horizon and I will see the whales. And, you know what, he was absolutely correct. It took a couple minutes of looking at the horizon and then there they were.

Spouts. Spouts every time I looked at the horizon!

It was so heartening to see whales every time I looked out the porthole. That’s a memory that will stay with me.

Outside of the Japanese whaling boats lurking around, the whales are safe here. Saying that, the new rage is krill fishing so now there are big trawlers stealing their dinner and throwing off the ecological balance in the Antarctic for some stupid human marketing trick. Grrrr!

Icebergs Everywhere

We saw hundreds of icebergs of all shapes and sizes, some glacial, most calved from the ice shelf, and Tangi and OJ even got to see one flip over. They got the dream! 

Future forward, I didn’t see an iceberg flip but I did see it calve off a huge chunk and all of us were on our tippy toes wondering if it was going to flip. Alas, it didn’t, but it certainly got a new waterline!

What Midnight???

The guys on night watch were even getting to take in some sunrises and sunsets that were about four hours apart as we are now in the higher latitudes.

One special day we even woke up to one. It’s special because I’ve found that most days in Antarctica are overcast so a clear sky is a blessing. I’ve now got my fingers crossed for a clear sky at night so I can catch the Aurora Australis.