The swell had certainly increased overnight and was quite lively during breakfast. But I was pleased that the seasickness patches were working well and I had no problems eating or seawatching.
Steve Preddy contemplating how much the sea had got up overnight
The rougher seas breaking on the deck above our cabin: I was glad our cabin's porthole had its steel shutter bolted down
Once on deck, there were some familiar faces that we had been seeing daily over the previous few days.
Cape Petrel: I saw over one hundred and thirty-five seen, compared to the mere two the day before
Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: With a Black-browed Albatross and a couple of Antarctic Fulmars
Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: The Antarctic Fulmar is feeding on something pink or red in the water
Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: We weren't as close as this photo suggests, but still close enough to spook the Light-mantled Sooty Albatross
Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: One final flight photo
Antarctic Fulmar: I saw five during the day, including three which were with the Light-mantled Sooty Albatross
Antarctic Fulmar: This monotypic species is also known as Southern Fulmar. They occur throughout the Antarctic region & they range widely in the Southern Oceans
I'm not sure who took this photo of me as I searched for the next goodie
It was an impressive iceberg
The iceberg had some impressive caves in it
We started to see large Whales. Most had to be left as Fin/Sei Whales as the views where either too brief or too distant to photograph them. However, there were a couple of close Fin Whales which were showing well enough for Expedition Leader Ali to ask the bridge crew to stop the Plancius. One of the great things about the Plancius is she is an ex-Dutch submarine hunter and research ship and was designed to be especially quiet at sea. As a result, the bridge team are very good at being able to slowly approach Whales, without spooking or stressing them. This is something that wouldn't be possible in the larger cruise ships. While this was happening, there was a Tannoy call to inform the other passengers that we had a couple of close Fin Whales. It livened up the day for many of the passengers and along with the icebergs, were the only reasons many had some fresh air on deck.
Fin Whale: It's clearly a Fin Whale or Sei Whale with that large body and prominent dorsal fin. But it's not possible to see the dorsal fin shape on this view. There was the remains of a second blow, which isn't shown in this photo
Fin Whale: When it next surfaced, it was side on to the ship. The dorsal fin is a smooth curve and not too thin and high, which makes it a Fin Whale. Sei Whale have a taller dorsal fin with a prominent kink in the middle of the leading edge
Fin Whale: This is also a Fin Whale, but perhaps it is the second individual as the dorsal fin shape looks less curved
Fin Whale: One of the Fin Whales surfaces, while the other blows strongly
Fin Whale: The second Fin Whale dorsal fin is just visible in the foreground of this photo
Fin Whale: This time I managed to photograph the head with its ridge as it starts to blow
Fin Whale: Another dorsal fin photograph
Fin Whale: Sometimes a Whale surfaces and it's just impossible to identify it, even when it shows are fair bit of body and the dorsal fin
Fin Whale: On the last view, it rolled and its white front flipper appeared above the water. Fin Whales have a white right jaw and white on the flipper and this is thought to be used to confuse and corral Fish, before the Fin Whale lunges through a shoal
Later in the day, we passed this massive iceberg. This was probably one to two miles long.
This was a massive iceberg that passed us on the starboard side
The avian highlight of the day managed to elude all the Birders. While we were all looking at the very large iceberg, the only Antarctic Petrel flew past. Speaking to Marcus Lawson when we got back, he said the ones he saw the previous year had flown high past the ship without lingering. I only realised this had happened when I enlarged the photo of a Seabird flying past in a couple of the iceberg photos.
Antarctic Petrel: Note, the dark head and white breast and belly
Antarctic Petrel: Note, the black trailing edge to the primaries and secondaries, the translucent secondaries and the dark tail. They breed on Antarctic islands & coasts and range across the Southern Oceans
During the afternoon, we passed the Antarctic Provider. This is a modern Krill factory ship which travels between fishing boats in Antarctica and South America carrying Krill. While Whale killing has stopped in Antarctica since the Japanese changed their plans to only kill Whales in their seas, ships are still extracting around one hundred thousand metric tons of Krill every year from Antarctic waters. This is enough Krill to feed over six thousand Blue Whales a year. While the killing of Whales has stopped, the indirect slaughter of Whales by depriving them of food to convert it into fertiliser etc is happening with governments uninterested in reducing this Krill capture.
I was looking forward to the morning when we should reach the location on Elephant Island where Shackleton's crew spent several months waiting to be rescued.
