The Scenery Changes To Whales and Icebergs | East Antarctica

Thursday to Friday, 11-12 January 2024
Day 50-51 of 110ish

Ugh!

Where’s My Ross Sea Lake Gone?

The weather has deteriorated and we’re out of the Ross Sea.

A double whammy!

It’s like living on a hobby horse. The boat is punching into waves and hobby horsing over 3-4m swell as we round around out of the shelter of the Ross Sea. It’s making my transition to gentleman’s hours rougher than I had hoped.

My stomach is uneasy and my sleeping is all out of whack. I’m really not liking this one bit. Thankfully after the second day, the worst day, I had a big sleep and came right.

The Promised Land

Friday was the day of whales and icebergs!!!!!

It was a great day that way. The icebergs were close and they all seemed to be surrounded by whales. One theory that was floating around was that the nutrients in the melting icebergs attract krill. Who knows but I do know that it was easy to spot humpback whales next to icebergs.

Humpback To Port

Plus we motored right past a 2-year old ice patch. This patch was out of the ordinary. It was almost like flotsam or jetsam. The currents swirled and brought this patch of ice bits together in a vast sea of few ice chunks.

And guess what else was out of the ordinary. This ice patch had 2 or 3 humpback whales along the perimeter…one of which swam right next to the boat.

I was absolutely beside myself. You could see individual barnacles on this gentle giants body. It’s eyes. It’s colouring. I was overjoyed! How cool was that!