2 Dec 25 - Antarctica 25 - Sailing South In The Drake Passage

I decided on an early 05:30 start for the first day at sea in the Drake Passage. Even with this early start I failed to see the sun rise. After a quick cuppa tea I headed up to one of the bridge wings. The seas were remarkably calm for the Drake Passage, with a moderate two and a half metre swell. Ortelius is ninety metres long and she is still a fairly small ship by polar standards. These seas were creating a bit of movement, but it wasn't a problem from my perspective.

The main lounge on deck 6: It was nice and empty as I was one of the first up that morning

Deck 7 is the top deck

The big disadvantage of Ortelius is it is not possible to see forward from the bridge wings: The front of deck 6 has a forward-facing wrap-around walkway, but observers are very exposed to any headwinds on this walkway

Mid-morning in the Drake Passage: That is an impressively calm sea for the Northern end of the Drake Passage

Me watching from the port bridge wing: The photo was taken by one of the other passengers and the copyright remains with them. Unfortunately, I can't remember who took it

There was a reasonable selection of expected Seabirds on this first day at sea.

Black-browed Albatross: This is the nominate melanophris subspecies which breeds in the Antarctic & Subantarctic Islands, including islands off southern Chile, the Falklands, South Georgia, South Sandwich, Crozet, Heard & Kerguelen Islands, Macquarie Island & New Zealand's Antipodes, Snares & Campbell Islands. They range across the Southern Oceans from North of the Antarctic Convergence to the Tropic of Capricorn

Grey-headed Albatross: They breed on Subantarctic Islands off Tierra del Fuego, South Georgia, Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen, Macquarie & Campbell Islands

Grey-headed Albatross: They are easily my favourite Albatross

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: They have a cute body shape

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: The breed on the circumpolar Subantarctic Islands and range throughout the Subantarctic & Antarctic Oceans

Cape Petrel: They are always an attractive Petrel to watch

Cape Petrel: This is the nominate capense subspecies which breeds from South Georgia to Macquarie Island, as well as, the Antarctic coast. A second subspecies breeds in the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands

Wilson's Storm-petrel

What I wasn't expecting to see were two species of Penguins, given we were over a hundred miles from the Southern-most point of mainland South America.

King Penguin: They breed breeds on the Subantarctic islands in Tierra del Fuego, the Falklands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen & Heard islands, as well as, Macquarie Island

Western Rockhopper Penguin: This party of eight Western Rockhopper Penguins were at least a hundred miles from the nearest colony which seems a long way to travel to feed

Western Rockhopper Penguin: A closer crop of the last photo. They breed on the Southern Chilean islands of the Magallanes Province and Cape Horn Archipelago & the Falkland Islands

The overall highlight of the day was a couple Antarctic Minke Whales which passed fairly close to the ship. Unfortunately, they were the only Antarctic Minke Whales I saw during the trip.

Antarctic Minke Whale: They were once thought to be a subspecies of Minke Whales, but these days they are split. They average about nine metres long, but they can grow to over ten metres. Unlike Minke Whales they have grey flippers

Antarctic Minke Whale: They occur across the Antarctic & Subantarctic Oceans and range as far North as Madagascar to North Australia in the Indian Ocean and across the Pacific to Peru & Guiana to North Angola in the South Atlantic

The plan for the cruise was to head far enough South into the Weddell Sea, so that we could use the three helicopters that we had on board to travel the final distance to the Snow Hill Emperor Penguin colony. This is the most-Northerly Emperor Penguin colony in Antarctica. Oceanwide Expeditions had a team of three pilots and their engineers from DAP Helicopters onboard. The three pilots had many decades of flying experience in Chile and Antarctica, including flying for the police and air-sea rescue. I felt we were going to be well looked after on the helicopter rides. In preparation for the helicopter flights, there was a mandatory briefing in the afternoon to get us familiar to the helicopters. This involved showing us how to approach and board the helicopters. It also allowed us to take some photos, as we wouldn't be allowed to do that when the helicopters had their rotors turning later in the cruise.

The three helicopters could carry fourteen passengers between them

Rob Luff in the middle was one of my cabin mates

The instrument panel was compact

It had been a good but long, day on deck, especially as I went back to spend some extra time after the evening meal. Then it was time for bed as I had another early alarm set for our second full day at sea.

31 Jan 23 - The Antarctica Trip - Entering The Outer Part Of The Beagle Channel

Our final day at sea and the seas had moderated compared to the previous couple of days. However, many of the passengers who had disappeared two days earlier in the rough seas and Force Eight gale around the South Shetland Islands, were slow to return to view. Around breakfast time we were still South East of Tierra del Fuego, but by late morning we could see the Chilean coast.

Grey Phalarope: This Grey Phalarope well out to sea from the Tierra del Fuego coastline wasn't on my expected species to see on the trip list. They Winter all along the full length of the South American Pacific coast, but there are a few eBird records that have occurred off the Tierra del Fuego & Falklands coast

Southern Giant Petrel: No real surprise that we started to see Southern Giant Petrels given they are a common species in the Beagle Channel

The Southern-most part of Chilean Tierra del Fuego: The outermost part of the Beagle Channel can be seen in the right hand side of the photo

A closer view of the Southern-most part of Chilean Tierra del Fuego

The Argentinian Tierra del Fuego coast

By early afternoon, we could see the outer part of the Beagle Channel. The seas continued to moderate now we were closer to land, until finally the water became calm in the Beagle Channel. But it was to take the rest of the afternoon and early evening until we were in sight of the port of Ushuaia. There was a good selection of Whales, as we entered the very outer part of the Beagle Channel.

Antarctic Minke Whale: The distinctive thin dorsal fin of an Antarctic Minke Whale. Unfortunately, this was the only photo I managed to take of this individual

Antarctic Minke Whale: More of the body of a second, and more distant, Antarctic Minke Whale

Antarctic Minke Whale: The uncropped photo showing how distant the second Antarctic Minke Whale was from the Plancius. It is just visible in the middle of this photo and close to the coastline

Sei Whale: A Sei Whale also put in a brief appearance, showing its distinctive crooked dorsal fin

The real Whale stars were a couple of Fin Whales which put on a good show as they kept resurfacing closer to the Plancius. It's a pity the other two species seen weren't as close.

Fin Whale: The first Fin Whale on the surface with its blow still visible

Fin Whales: A second individual popped up

Fin Whale: The first individual

Fin Whale: A close up showing the classic dorsal fin shape of the first individual

Fin Whales: A close up of the more angular and irregularly-shaped dorsal fin of the second individual, as the second individual appears and starts to blow

Fin Whales: Showing the full height of the blow

Fin Whales: A good view of the head ridge and the blow-hole

Fin Whales

Fin Whale: Close up of the left-hand individual with the classic dorsal fin shape

Fin Whale: Close up of the right-hand individual showing the unusual dorsal fin shape, which, if this individual was seen on its own could suggest to be a Sei Whale

Fin Whale: A final view of the individual with the classic dorsal fin

There were also some Birds in the outer part of the Beagle Channel.

Southern Giant Petrel

Imperial Shag: As we passed the Chilean parts of Tierra del Fuego we started to see the first parties of Imperial Shags

Imperial Shag

Black-browed Albatross: Unfortunately, this flock of Black-browed Albatrosses were sitting on the water in the direction we started to pass into the outer Beagle Channel

We still had a few hours to travel along the Beagle Channel and I will save that for the final Blog Post.

My Birding cabin mate, Steve Preddy: Catching up on lost sleep after the Whales, whilst ensuring he was ready if there was a final interesting shout from the top deck

28 Jan 24 - The Antarctica Trip - Cruising In Antarctica

After our morning's landing on Devil Island, we carried on sailing South along the East side of James Ross Island. This is the largest island in the James Ross Island group and it is about forty-six miles in length. Vega Island and Devil Island lie to the North of James Ross Island and there are a couple of other large islands, Seymour Island and Snow Hill Island, to the South East. It looks like all of these islands were once part of a much larger island, but higher sea levels have now created a number of distinct islands.

A map of our travels in Antarctica: We visited Elephant Island on 26 Jan, Paulet Island and Brown Bluff on 27 Jan and Devil Island and this afternoon's cruise off James Ross Island on 28 Jan. The plan was for a final zodiac cruise in the South Shetland Islands on 29 Jan, but the sea conditions we far too rough to allow the zodiacs to be launched.

After a quick lunch, I was back on one of the bridge wings checking every ice floe in the hope of an Emperor Penguin. But we didn't sail closer than about sixty miles to the nearest colony and it wasn't that likely that we would see one on this trip. Without a definite plan to target Emperor Penguins in Antarctica and the favourable sea and weather conditions when you get there, a lot of luck is needed to bump into one. So, I wasn't surprised when we didn't see one. But there were regular ice floes with parties of Adelie Penguins and the occasional Gentoo Penguin on them, as well as, low numbers of a number of the other species we had seen on our Antarctica landings either on the ice, sea or flying by.

Cruising South

By mid-afternoon, the Plancius hove to in a large calm bay and lowered the zodiacs into the sea. This was as far South as we were to go. We had James Ross Island to our starboard side and I could see a building on the island ahead, which was the Argentinian Marambio Base on Seymour Island, or Marambio Island as the Argentinians call it.

Seymour Island is a high and apparently flat-topped island: There is a building on the top

A harsh crop of one of the Argentinian Marambio Base buildings

This was as far South as we would go: we were about sixty-four degrees South, so still a long way from the South Pole. The Southern most point of the Weddell Sea is about seventy-seven degrees South. The ship stopped so we could launch the zodiacs. As the ship was getting ready to launch the zodiacs, we spotted an Antarctic Minke Whale from the bridge wing. I had seen a couple earlier in the trip around Elephant Island, but this was the first opportunity to get some photos.

Antarctic Minke Whale: They average eight to nine metres in length, with the largest individuals reaching close to eleven metres. This compares to an average of about eight to nine metres for a Minke Whale

Antarctic Minke Whale: They have a tall and falcate dorsal fin compared to the other species of Rorqual Whale. They have grey flippers, whereas, Minke Whales have distinctive white bands on their flippers

Antarctic Minke Whale: Antarctic Minke Whales were split from the Minke Whales of the North Atlantic in the late 90s

Antarctic Minke Whale: DNA studies have shown that Antarctic Minke Whales are more closely related to Bryde's Whales and Sei Whales, than Minke Whales

Antarctic Minke Whale: They occur widely in coastal and offshore Antarctic waters. Most disperse North in the Antarctic Winter to breeding grounds off Australia, South Africa and Brazil. It is thought, that some may even over-winter in Antarctica

When the Antarctic Minke Whale stopped showing, I left the bridge wing and headed back to the cabin to get ready for the zodiac cruise.

We set off following the zodiacs that were ahead of us

There were plenty of ice floes for the final zodiac cruise

Occasionally, we saw a nice bluish iceberg

There were several Leopard Seals on the icebergs. They looked at us, but weren't worried about us. Their only real worry is if a Type B (Large) Orca pops its head out of the water to check them out. While this group of Seal-eating Orcas prefer Weddell Seals, these Orca can spend more effort to wash the larger and stronger Leopard Seals off an ice floe for food for the pod. In a recent BBC documentary, these Orca were able to wash a Weddell Seal off after three or four synchronises attacks, which resulted in strong enough waves washing onto the ice floes to break up the floe and wash a Weddell Seal off it. However, the researchers found it took about four times as many waves to dislodge a stronger Leopard Seal. But we were clearly no threat to the Leopard Seals, who either ignored us or just watched us. We were all hoping for one to yawn and reveal the big mouth of teeth, but unfortunately, none of the ones I saw obliged.

Leopard Seal: Two sleeping individuals

Leopard Seal: Note, the heavy built head and neck which reminds me of a large Monitor Lizard

Leopard Seal: Another view of the heavy built head and neck, as well as, a large grinning gape

Leopard Seal: Leopard Seals have a very broad head which must make them a formidable predator in the water

Leopard Seal: They have a thick-set body with dark spotting

Leopard Seal: Note, the large flippers

Leopard Seal: All these photos apart from the first photo are of the same individual. We were waiting for it to yawn, but unfortunately, it didn't

Leopard Seal: This individual is starting to moult which it does starting with the head

Leopard Seal: Another very sleepy Leopard Seal

There were also two Weddell Seals on the ice floes, which provided a nice comparison between these two species. It's a pity that we didn't see any Ross Sea Seals or Crabeater Seals on this trip, as both look nice to see.

Weddell Seal: Note, the much lighter-built head, the short snout and smaller mouth without the charismatic smiling look of a Leopard Seal

Weddell Seal: A clearer profile photo. Weddell Seals have a lot of pale spotting on a lighter grey background

Weddell Seal: They have a much cuter face compared to a Leopard Seal

Weddell Seal: This individual has decided we aren't a threat and is looking sleepy

Weddell Seal

Weddell Seal: This is the same individual. By the time we had reached the other side of the ice floe, the Weddell Seal was trying to get back to sleep

Weddell Seal: A second individual with a Leopard Seal in the background. Despite Leopard Seals sometimes killing Weddell Seals for food, they seem comfortable sharing the same ice floes. Maybe, if there are plenty of Fish and Penguins, Leopard Seals prefer to chase those species, rather than Weddell Seals

Weddell Seal: A close up of the head & shoulders

Weddell Seal: With a Leopard Seal in the background

Additionally, there were a few Adelie Penguins around the ice floes.

Adelie Penguin: This is now my favourite Adelie Penguin photo, as I just love photos with nice coloured water backgrounds

Adelie Penguins

Adelie Penguin

Adelie Penguin: The last close Antarctic Adelie Penguin

After the zodiac trip I was back on deck till it was dark, barring time for the evening meal. It was my last chance of an Emperor Penguin, but it wasn't to be. Still it was a nice evening as we cruised North in the still and sheltered Antarctic conditions. There were plenty of Adelie Penguins and a few Gentoo Penguins on the icebergs. This included one high iceberg with about fifty Penguins on it and a Leopard Seal patrolling the edge of the iceberg. Unfortunately, too far for a worthwhile photo. But just as the Type B (Large) Orca go hunting Leopard Seals when they can't catch their preferred Weddell Seals, the Leopard Seals go hunting the Penguins and other species. It's all part of the complex food chain in Antarctica.