New Year’s Eve in Antarctica began early and ended late, and not only because of the long hours of daylight at this far southern destination.
Heading south through spectacularly scenic Gerlache Strait, south wind blowing, we encountered whales. A lot of whales. Killer whales were spotted first, then humpbacks. Captain Griffiths maneuvered our ship for over an hour to provide us with extraordinary views. It was magical. Dozens of humpbacks, actively feeding, lunging through balls of krill, repeatedly surfaced near National Geographic Orion. The killer whales showed no interest in the humpbacks and the humpbacks seemed to ignore the killer whales. Many researchers believe that what we call killer whales, or Orcinus orca, are actually multiple species. The whales that we spotted had markings of those killer whales that are fish eaters, thus no interest in the humpbacks.
Through breakfast we continued south towards Couverville Island, our destination for the morning. The wind laid down as we approached our anchorage, giving us excellent conditions for our explorations ashore and by Zodiac. Gentoo penguins, in large numbers, nest on Couverville. Taking care to avoid the penguin highways between the nesting colonies and the ocean, we encountered endless opportunities to observe the penguins and to be observed by them. Many adults still incubating eggs, some with tiny chicks, barely able to raise their heads, the birds were well into the short breeding season. Inevitable spats among neighbors and thievery of valuable nesting pebbles was ongoing.
In the water, penguins were bathing, cleaning up from the messy business of the breeding areas. Because of the shallow waters surrounding the island, this is a great area to find stranded icebergs. We took advantage of this, exploring by Zodiac. Icebergs are an ever-changing gallery of stunning shapes, patterns and colors. Photographers captured and documented the beauty. Others took in the magnificence with their eyes. Whatever our mode, Antarctica is becoming deeply internalized in all of us.
By the afternoon, National Geographic Orion, our floating home, was at anchor off of the Danco Coast where our fleet of kayaks was made ready. Icebergs, Gentoo penguins and Weddell seals made the scene. The beauty of self-propulsion gave each of us the opportunity to find our favorite place and our own unique perspectives. The seals seemed to completely ignore us as they basked on the emergent rocks. The gentoos were busy bathing and popping out of the water, on to growlers, and back into the water. Some even followed us, clearly curious about our yellow boats.
With the evening, we enjoyed Captain’s Welcome Aboard cocktail party, followed by yet another fabulous meal. After dinner we made our way through famously scenic Lemaire Channel, about seven miles long and one mile wide of scenery beyond description. Being New Year’s Eve, the day extended well into night as we shared stories and sang and danced out 2014 and welcomed in 2015 in perhaps the most amazing place in the world.
