Humpback Whales Cavorting And Penguins Jumping Off Icebergs

It’s difficult to imagine a better day than today. Sunny and calm waters – a relief after 3+ days of rolling seasickness seas. Tabular icebergs. Everywhere. Humpback whales ahead! Quick, climb the ladder up to the top deck (8^th) for the 360° view. There’s a pair over there, wait, another pair behind us and five more ahead mingling in a wild mix of whitewater, flukes, fins, pleated throats, and barnacle-laced heads poking out of the water. The water is so clear we can see the white flippers at least 50 feet deep allowing us to watch them come to the surface, frantically clicking shutters the entire time. We slowly follow each group of whales around in meandering curves through the tabular icebergs, clearly not disturbing them because they keep swimming towards us while we idle. At one point, I can see a whale is getting ready to surface immediately to the port side of the bow. I shout down to all of the photographers pointing their cameras 100 meters off at another whale that this one is about to blow right below them. Cameras down. Whoops of excitement circulate on all decks. After a visit to the port side, the whale swims under the bow, white flippers visible first as it appears on the starboard side, and up it comes again to give the other half of its enthusiastic audience an amazing view. I think I said amazing 100 times yesterday.

Next up: off in the distance, a pod of Orcas is spotted. We head towards them, past more Humpbacks. We spot a male Orca, with his very tall dorsal fin, going along one side of the brash ice, and a pod of eight Orcas with smaller fins (females and younger whales most likely) on the other side. These are the lightest colored Orcas (or Killer Whales) I’ve ever seen, kind of a peachy beige color with the same patterning of the Orcas I’m used to in the San Juan Islands of Washington. Today I learn from a poster in our lecture room that there are no fewer than 12 types of Killer Whales. The type we saw is likely the Pack Ice Killer Whale and the lighter color is partially due to a growth of diatoms that can soften the black with the diatoms’ coloration.

After all of the excitement of the whales, people ran back to their rooms to trade out spent batteries, full storage cards, and get more lenses. We were all caught by surprise by the whales right as we finished breakfast and we were shooting pictures and videos right up to lunch four hours later. The next subject of our attention and affection was Adelie Penguins on icebergs. Binoculars up to scan every single iceberg, not only for Adelies to swerve the ship towards, but for the elusive Emperor Penguin. It’s not unusual to spend an entire day scanning for the first Emperor Penguin but we spot one within an hour, continuing our remarkable streak of good luck (making every landing so far is quite rare). The Emperor is nearly twice as big as the conveniently situated Adelie right next to it on a big iceberg. We circle around to them so everyone can get a good look. The Emperor is this year’s young, lacking the colors found on adults, but beautiful in a palette of grays and blacks surrounding a bright white belly.

To round out this already perfect day, we go for a late afternoon Zodiac cruise around the icebergs floating next to a huge Adelie Penguin colony at Paulet Island, off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. I haven’t set foot on land yet, but the cruise provides a chance to observe penguins away from the colony as they porpoise through the water, to and from their offshore loafing bergs. I’m getting better at figuring out the best exposure settings and shooting frames continuously through action sequences. Even though it’s 26°F with a brisk breeze and decent chop, I’m warm as I kneel, sit, and stand (briefly!) to get the best looks at each scene. Tomorrow I hope to go ashore and see the colony we can smell so well from the ship.