Whales And The Magical Antarctic Night Sky | East Antarctica

Thursday-Monday, 15-28 February 2024
Day 85-98 of 110ish

Having a whale of a time! 

New Whale Species

In the last couple days I’ve had the immense pleasure of adding a couple whale species to the list of whales I’ve observed. It’s very exciting! 

My first Antarctic Minke spotting was right next to the boat. I actually thought it was a dolphin because it looked and behaved like a dolphin being small and quick. Luckily I got a cool photo which confirmed that it was, in fact, a Minke whale. What luck!

We’ve also been seeing humpbacks…even caught a far off glimpse of one breaching! Upon reviewing the photos, it also appears that the humpbacks have calves. Bless! 

Then one morning I saw a big version of a Minke which turned out to be either a Sei or Bryde’s whale. Apparently they are basically indistinguishable from a distance. You only know once you count its throat grooves or ridges between nose and blowhole! Nevertheless, awesome to spot!

Trouble On The Horizon

But uh oh…trouble loomed. Connor, on the bridge, spotted a pod of orcas. This could be a game changer for the Antarctic Aurora’s fishing mission :/

There are three different kinds of orcas and if it’s the wrong species (the fish eating species), we might have to go home early.

Apparently, being such an intelligent predator, they will follow the boat even to 100nm in order to feed off the sushi train! And when they feed, unlike a sperm whale that will only take a few fish, the orcas strip the line! So it’s not worth the fuel or effort to fish with them around :/

Though I love seeing orcas, I’ll wait for another day! Perhaps on the steam home 🙂 [Fast forward…the orcas didn’t follow us so we escaped this time!]

Frannie Quit!

And if there’s nothing happening outside, then there’s something happening inside. Today Frannie quit!

For reasons unknown at the moment, Fran gave his notice. He’s not sure what he’s going to do next but it won’t be working for Australia Longline! He’d like to sail the world but his wife isn’t particularly interested. It will be neat to see what the future holds for this kind, lovable character. 

Venus Up To Its Tricks Again

On another cool Antarctica note, we experienced another special polar treat. We got to see the moon with Venus as its companion.

It’s a rare day to see the night sky here. It’s usually overcast so this was a beautiful treat to behold.

This morning Venus is playing games. Today it’s low on the horizon and shifting between red and white. At first we thought it was a boat…again!! 😛 

The Aurora Spotting Auroras

And on a second cool Antarctica note, I finally got to spot the Aurora Australis. That was a long time coming!

It seems to cloud up at night but this night, the clouds were slow to fill in and I noticed. I’m always paying attention. Plus most of my shift is at night these days so it’s easy to keep an eye out.

So I snuck up to the deck, even before the sunset completely dimmed (this takes hours), and immediately heard the sound of whales below me.

What an amazing surprise!

Then I looked up at the sunset lit horizon and further up was the aurora. Are you kidding me?

If this isn’t absolutely magical, I don’t know what is! So out the camera came.

I suppose this is the reward for working at night!

Plus we’ve also had a full moon which is quite big and rusty coloured on the horizon. Simply stunning night sky!

The Countdown Is On

We continue to see whales (mostly Tom because now I’m sleeping when it’s light and working in the darkness) nearly every day and get graced with the odd snow shower which reminds me of home. 

We now only have about 10 more days of fishing left before we head back to Tassie. Not long now! The countdown is on.

Soon we will be doing stock take and doing a deep clean to get the boat ready for the next crew. No rest for the weary and wicked!

In the meantime, the sunsets and sunrises continue to take our breath away.