Thursday, January 26, 2012

The Antarctic Peninsula - day 2

Majestic Cape Renard at the mouth of the Le Maire Channel

This day should be told backwards because the ending was just as remarkable as the beginning and the middle.  There is no way words can describe this day.  As we sailed in the Le Maire Channel (C, they call it The Kodak Channel.) the first word that popped in my head was MAJESTIC.  The exquisite snow-covered mountains rose out of the water on both sides of the ship.  We were going through a narrow passage.  Breathtakingly beautiful almost describes what we saw.  As we ended the channel, the water was hardening around the ice and we saw an iceberg with maybe six crabeater seals.  We stopped and looked at them for awhile as they posed and flipped for us.  A large group of gentoo penguins porpoised through the water heading for safe ground.  There must have been 25 in the group all together, so there may have been a predator near by.  One lone gentoo was behind the pace.  Hope it made it safely to the group.  Then we turned around and headed toward Hidden Bay.

Our group was out second this morning and we had Shoshanah as our zodiac driver.  We just love her because she is game for almost anything.  Breydan was our guide and pointed the way we should go.  Our zodiac found the first group of crabeaters this morning resting on a big iceberg.  We watched them for awhile then went closer to land and shallow water.  There we saw another crabeater swimming through the water.  Being so shallow, we could get a really good look at it.  After we round around the area looking at different icebergs, how they tilt and show there former waterline and admire the gorgeous blue color underneath.

crabeater  seal in Neck Harbour

After lunch we were first out for our ride around Neko Harbour.  All the mountains were covered with a thick layer of snow and many on the clouds rested on the mountains so you couldn’t see the tops.  When I returned to the ship, I told Betty they looked like huge wedding cakes with white cotton candy on top.  We had a lovely ride around the harbor, but only saw one penguin and one crabeater seal.  There were many icebergs and one had a hole in it so we could see the zodiac on the other side.  Lots of picture taking…..  Near the end of our ride, Peter, our driver, asked our indulgence to sit perfectly still, with no picture taking and hat removal or putting on.  We sat for over 2 minutes and took in the wonders of the place.  It was still calm with the blue, blue water, the icebergs and the snowy mountains.  Peter told us Antarctica isn’t the Silver Explorer or the food or the staff and crew or the other passengers.  This was Antarctica.  This is what we had come for.  It was truly a special moment that meant a lot to all of us.  I know I loved it and had a smile on my face.

Gentoo family

Our last stop of the day has  a spot by a glacier with a large gentoo colony.  This was the place to take a slide down the hillside.  I thought this would be a lot  of fun and was game.  We had a nice walk around the colony where this time the chicks were a lot younger than we had seen on South Georgia and there were two chicks in each nest.  Mom or Dad had two mouths to feed, but usually only one makes it, especially this late in the season.  We continued our trudge up the hill as we say the slope areas where people had down the slide down to the bottom, from the baby slope to the much more advanced ones.  I continued up the mountain determined to at least take the baby slope.  Did I tell you that earlier in the day when the work Majestic popped in my head that the Arrowsmith song, I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing had also popped in my head? 

Well, as I climbed higher and higher, my feet kept going deeper in the snow and I was losing my footing a lot.  Finally I got to the point that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make it to the top.  I had done what I could do and today just wasn’t the day I was going to take that slide.  I wasn’t disappointed because I don’t hike up tall mountains in the snow at home. What made me think I could do it in Antarctica?  I turned around and started back down the hill, with other friends close by.  It was a good climb and I had a magnificent view of Neko Harbour, calving glaciers, rolling icebergs and the Silver Explorer in the beautiful blue water.  That was pretty darn special for me.

Now for the end…..  After a delightful dinner with Betty, Linda and Chris, Robin, our fearless leader, announces that we had humpbacks and orcas on the bow and come  forward to view this.  Well, about half the dining room got up and almost ran to the bridge and forward on the ship.  This was one of the best shows we’ve had.  Three humpbacks and two orcas performed the most marvelous show for us.  Humping, tails up and even one very special breaching.  All the camera were on fast speed and we could hear all those shutters opening and closing at fast speed,  On the port side, at 12:00 then on starboard.  All this going on with those snow covered mountains all around.  I can write all this but never give justice to the spectacular images I have burned in my brain.  So I will leave you here for today…..