The Drake Passage
During the night, what little night there was, we crossed the Antarctic Convergence, passing from warmer Sub Antarctic to colder Antarctic water. The temperature of the sea dropped from +6 to +1 degree C over a distance of only 40 miles. We have entered Antarctica. The high productivity of the cold but nutrient-rich water of Antarctica was attested by the abundance of seabirds around our ship – hordes of pintado petrels and southern fulmars incessantly circling the ship, tiny Wilson’s storm-petrels dancing over the water, graceful black-browed albatross and giant petrels soaring effortlessly on the wind. Soon we encountered more evidence of biological productivity – a group of fin whales. These are the second largest (after only blue whales), the sleekest, and swiftest of the baleen whales. The waters that surround Antarctica once teemed with giant whales – blues, fins, Sei, humpbacks, and southern right whales – but they were reduced to a mere vestige of their former abundance by 20th Century whalers, mostly operating from giant floating factories producing whale oil for soap and margarine. Now, a sighting of whales is a moment to cherish, and so we did, bundled against the Antarctic wind.
In the early afternoon came more evidence of our approach to Antarctica – the first iceberg was seen floating in the distance. Soon thereafter we began to see penguins swimming through and over the waves. Antarctica, indeed. And then, emerging from a fog bank before us, we saw the South Shetland Islands, north of the Antarctic Peninsula. Our passage through the South Shetlands via English Strait was escorted by a mother and calf humpback whale, the calf leaping, rolling, and waving its fins and flukes as if to welcome us to Antarctica. We waved back, and then continued on to the adventures that await us.
During the night, what little night there was, we crossed the Antarctic Convergence, passing from warmer Sub Antarctic to colder Antarctic water. The temperature of the sea dropped from +6 to +1 degree C over a distance of only 40 miles. We have entered Antarctica. The high productivity of the cold but nutrient-rich water of Antarctica was attested by the abundance of seabirds around our ship – hordes of pintado petrels and southern fulmars incessantly circling the ship, tiny Wilson’s storm-petrels dancing over the water, graceful black-browed albatross and giant petrels soaring effortlessly on the wind. Soon we encountered more evidence of biological productivity – a group of fin whales. These are the second largest (after only blue whales), the sleekest, and swiftest of the baleen whales. The waters that surround Antarctica once teemed with giant whales – blues, fins, Sei, humpbacks, and southern right whales – but they were reduced to a mere vestige of their former abundance by 20th Century whalers, mostly operating from giant floating factories producing whale oil for soap and margarine. Now, a sighting of whales is a moment to cherish, and so we did, bundled against the Antarctic wind.
In the early afternoon came more evidence of our approach to Antarctica – the first iceberg was seen floating in the distance. Soon thereafter we began to see penguins swimming through and over the waves. Antarctica, indeed. And then, emerging from a fog bank before us, we saw the South Shetland Islands, north of the Antarctic Peninsula. Our passage through the South Shetlands via English Strait was escorted by a mother and calf humpback whale, the calf leaping, rolling, and waving its fins and flukes as if to welcome us to Antarctica. We waved back, and then continued on to the adventures that await us.
