The ship's plan for the day was supposed to begin with a sailing through the Lemaire Channel at 8am, followed by more scenic cruising in Errera Channel at 12pm. Finally, a visit to Charlotte Bay at 4pm would end the day's exploration. Sounded like a good plan, until Captain Mercer came on the speaker and announced that Lemaire Channel was totally blocked by ice floes, and we could not possibly transit it. Drats….we recall that Lemaire Channel was one of the highlights of our first sailing here in 2010 on the Prinsendam.
Lemaire Channel is 6.8 miles long and 5249 feet wide. It is located between Booth Island and the Antarctic Peninsula. This steep passage is the most photographed one with the nickname of "Kodak Gap", for the cameras that traditionally used real rolls of film. Remember that? Oddly enough, this channel was named after Charles Lemaire, who never set foot on this continent. Unfortunately, we will not be seeing this impressive scenery today.
Instead, a tender boat was dropped with some photographers to take photos of the ship as we sat there outside the entrance to the channel. We did see kelp gulls weighing 2.6 pounds with a wingspan of 53 inches. They have a diet of limpets, which are mollusks eaten whole. The shells are regurgitated. This gull remains in the Antarctic during the winter and will not migrate north.
Some of the smaller birds we saw were Antarctic terns, the most common tern seen here. They are small, weighing only 1/3 of a pound, and have a wingspan of 30 inches. The oldest banded Arctic tern was 26 years old, and the estimated flight distance in its lifetime was 620,000 miles. These birds have the longest migration on earth, from pole to pole.
We also spotted Wilson's storm petrels, a small bird weighing 1 ounce, the size of a sparrow. Their wingspan is 15 inches, and the predators are skuas and kelp gulls. With a wingspan of 50 inches, the South polar skua has the edge on these small birds.
After a few runs around the Amsterdam, the tender boat was loaded and secured, and we were off to our next destination of Errera Channel at 10:30am. Perfect time to go to breakfast.
Even though we were supposed to be at the second spot at noon, it turned out to be earlier. But this time the weather was bone-chilling with winds of 20 knots or more and the temperature of 32 degrees. For the first time, we spotted leopard seals laying on the ice bergs. The males are 10 feet and weigh 660 pounds. These are the most dangerous seals, and they do prey upon the seals and penguins, in particular, their young chicks.
Two expedition vessels passed us going the opposite way. One was Hapag-Lloyd's Hanseatic Inspiration, and the other was Quark Expeditions, the Ocean Adventurer. Since we have been unable to get online to research the statistics on these vessels, we have no info. Suffice it to say, they were much smaller than us, and probably able to get into areas that we do not fit.
We had more bird sightings here than whales. We only saw one humpback in the distance. But we did have the good luck of seeing snow petrels, which are 13.8 inches long and weigh ½ to 1 pound. They breed further south than any bird species on the world, and nest in rock crevices on the bare mountain cliffs. They are the only all white petrel in the world. And our narrator mentioned that it was rare to see them.
While we were moving slowly though brash ice, we could hear the loud snap, crackle, and pop of the melting ice. It was like being in a sea of Alka-Seltzer. Soon we spotted Gentoo penguins, which number 317,000 breeding pairs in all of Antarctica. They can dive to depths of 495 feet, and are the least aggressive of the penguins. Both sexes will incubate and rear the chicks. They will travel about 2 ½ miles from their nests to eat krill.
While passing by some very steep ice-covered cliffs, we witnessed some avalanches sending ice down the face of the mountain. Although in the last couple of days while sailing in these passages, we could hear the explosions of cracking ice, but did not see any calving. Nothing like you see in Alaska. It is much colder here, so the ice does not melt at the same rate.
At one point while at the end of this bay, the winds about blew us off of the deck. It was so cutting, one of us had to go inside from the bow to get out of the freezing, painful temperatures. We cannot begin to imagine what winter can be like here, especially in a storm. It was time to take a break for lunch in the Lido. We realized that it was important to drink liquids, since it is easy to become dehydrated here.
The final scenic sailing was at 4:30pm with a visit to Charlotte Bay. This was a large open body of water, protected from the winds, with medium-sized mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was a great spot to see humpback whales eating, which is what they do best this time of year. Besides individual sightings, we also saw groups of two or three possibly bubble netting and surface feeding. Many of them were diving, and the cameras of the passengers were going off constantly. By the time we left at 6pm, it began to lightly snow, much to the delight of the crew, many of whom have never seen snow. Happy with all of the shots we got, it was time to get ready for a cocktail party at 6:30pm.
This party was hosted by our travel agency, and our total number of guests was around 245 people. Some we knew, most we did not. We took our places at the stand-up tables, and were soon joined by Shiv, Roland, and Christel, who was still in her "woolies" from being outside taking pictures. It had been nice to see all of them pop outside with their cameras or cell phones to snap some shots of this incredible part of the world.
Our dinner for five was good, as always. A complete turkey dinner was very satisfying and unexpected. Usually tastes better when it is not Thanksgiving. The fellows, Greg and Heo, went to a special champagne dinner in the Canaletto this evening.
Here are a few more facts about Antarctica. The largest glacier in the world is Lambert Glacier, located in East Antarctica. It is 60 miles wide and over 250 miles long. Now that's what we call a glacier. Antarctica is the only home in the world for the Emperor penguins, which breed during the winter. They are further inland, so we will not see them here. The first Antarctica wedding took place in February 1978 at Argentina's Esperanza Station. Happy 42nd anniversary! Lastly, the first tourist ship left for Antarctica in the 1960's. We are betting it was not the Love Boat……
One more day of scenic sailing will complete this portion of the trip. It has been fascinating, but oh so cold.
Bill & Mary Ann
