South Shetland Islands
Our transit south continued through last night and brought us across the distinctive boundary known as the Antarctic convergence. North of this boundary sea surface temperatures remain around 5 degrees Celsius (about 41 degrees Fahrenheit). South of the convergence much colder surface waters that originate near the continent itself prevail and sea surface temperatures average between 1 and 2 degrees Celsius (between 33 and 35 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s cold water! When you are south of the convergence you are in the Antarctic ecosystem proper and, as if to prove the point, new species of ocean nomads circled our ship including: white-chinned petrel, Wilson’s storm petrel and southern fulmar. Fog blanketed our view much of the time, lifting and clearing periodically.
The sense of change, the feeling of being in a different world was felt by all on board and the bridge was full of guests eagerly greeting each new nautical mile with wide eyes. It was so that the blows of humpback whales were sighted well ahead of the ship and the announcement went out over the P.A. We slowed as we got nearer and Captain Skog maneuvered the Endeavour carefully in the presence of what turned out to be four adult and sub-adult humpback whales. The whales continued their activity, which we assumed to be feeding on krill, and carried on with repeated dives first on our starboard side, then port, then starboard, then port. The views of their black and white bodies through the frigid, blue water was as breathtaking as their explosive surfacing. Here we see the paired blowholes (common to all baleen whales), rostrum and lower jaw of one of the humpbacks. The rostrum is ornamented with tubercles – wart like structures bearing one hair in their center and thought to be used as sensory organs. Old time whalers called these tubercles “stove bolts”, as though the whale was constructed of metal.
Our humpback encounter was vastly different than many ship-whale encounters in the early to mid-1900’s. Shore-based whaling opened in the Southern Ocean in 1910 and continued until the late 1920’s when pelagic whaling – the use of floating factory ships and deployable catcher boats, took over. Between 1911 and 1927 over five thousand humpback whales in the South Shetland Islands area were killed, mainly from a shore station on Deception Island. Almost half of this number was killed in the first year alone.
These facts are a sobering reminder that the biotic resources of the Antarctic area attracted early attention as much as the thrill of exploration and the desire to expand scientific knowledge. Today we felt the enchantment of the Southern Ocean in a new way as these four whales hovered and dove next to us, showing no fear at all.
Our transit south continued through last night and brought us across the distinctive boundary known as the Antarctic convergence. North of this boundary sea surface temperatures remain around 5 degrees Celsius (about 41 degrees Fahrenheit). South of the convergence much colder surface waters that originate near the continent itself prevail and sea surface temperatures average between 1 and 2 degrees Celsius (between 33 and 35 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s cold water! When you are south of the convergence you are in the Antarctic ecosystem proper and, as if to prove the point, new species of ocean nomads circled our ship including: white-chinned petrel, Wilson’s storm petrel and southern fulmar. Fog blanketed our view much of the time, lifting and clearing periodically.
The sense of change, the feeling of being in a different world was felt by all on board and the bridge was full of guests eagerly greeting each new nautical mile with wide eyes. It was so that the blows of humpback whales were sighted well ahead of the ship and the announcement went out over the P.A. We slowed as we got nearer and Captain Skog maneuvered the Endeavour carefully in the presence of what turned out to be four adult and sub-adult humpback whales. The whales continued their activity, which we assumed to be feeding on krill, and carried on with repeated dives first on our starboard side, then port, then starboard, then port. The views of their black and white bodies through the frigid, blue water was as breathtaking as their explosive surfacing. Here we see the paired blowholes (common to all baleen whales), rostrum and lower jaw of one of the humpbacks. The rostrum is ornamented with tubercles – wart like structures bearing one hair in their center and thought to be used as sensory organs. Old time whalers called these tubercles “stove bolts”, as though the whale was constructed of metal.
Our humpback encounter was vastly different than many ship-whale encounters in the early to mid-1900’s. Shore-based whaling opened in the Southern Ocean in 1910 and continued until the late 1920’s when pelagic whaling – the use of floating factory ships and deployable catcher boats, took over. Between 1911 and 1927 over five thousand humpback whales in the South Shetland Islands area were killed, mainly from a shore station on Deception Island. Almost half of this number was killed in the first year alone.
These facts are a sobering reminder that the biotic resources of the Antarctic area attracted early attention as much as the thrill of exploration and the desire to expand scientific knowledge. Today we felt the enchantment of the Southern Ocean in a new way as these four whales hovered and dove next to us, showing no fear at all.
