We awoke to the sounds of the scrunching, scraping, and crashing of ice. This raucous invitation to the Antarctic world was followed by a gentle stillness on this warm morning, as our ship came to a stop in the fast ice of Wilhelmina Bay. Fast ice is formed over the darker, colder winter months when the ocean itself freezes in a thick sheet that is “held fast” to the shore. We disembarked the ship for a hike (and for some, a run) on this ice that extended shoreward from our ship toward magnificent glaciers and mountains.
Back on the ship for lunch, a lively pod of humpback whales was spotted taking full advantage of the abundance of krill in the bay. These whales consume as much of them as possible during the Antarctic summer before they migrate back to the warmer waters closer to the equator. The krill in turn are consuming diatoms, which eat sunlight, so the extended daylight gives krill ample time to gorge.
Early in the afternoon, excitement (and some trepidation) accompanied a polar plunge into the sub-zero waters of the Antarctic. Being sea water it was able to reach a beyond brisk -1 degrees Celsius or 29 degrees Fahrenheit and is almost as cold as water can get in its liquid state. For many, this was followed by an immediate sprint to the sauna.
Last for the day was beautiful Cuverville Island, home to one of the largest colonies of gentoo penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula. Penguins were observed bathing, walking on networked “highways,” and keeping eggs warm and protected from hovering brown skuas. Shortly before our departure, two Adélie penguins were spotted amidst the gentoos; that made four different penguin species sighted so far for this expedition!
