Aitcho Island, Antarctica
After rocketing across a fine Drake Passage, National Geographic Endeavour was this morning off of the South Shetland Archipelago in the northern region of the Antarctic Peninsula. “That wasn’t so bad”, was the word on the decks as we approached the English Strait, a passage located about midway in the chain of islands. We had a mandatory briefing on proper behavior ashore in Antarctica followed by a penguin presentation by yours truly, and we were ready for action.
Our afternoon landing was on a small, green island in the Barrientos Group called Aitcho, named for the British Hydrographic Office, or H.O. - a mere notation on old charts of the area. Here was an excellent introduction to Antarctica with splendid scenery and wildlife. We watched both Gentoo and chinstrap penguins going about their busy lives as we walked among whale bones scattered along rocky beaches.
Perhaps the “biggest” event of the day, however, was our encounter with several humpback whales in the late afternoon. These presumably friendly leviathans came quite close to the ship, even passing under the bow at one point! Richard was able to snap the underside of the tail fin, or fluke, a kind of fingerprint unique to each whale. We will send in our sightings to The Antarctic Humpback Whale Catalogue, College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine and see if we get any matches from other sightings in other areas. Hopefully our small sighting can turn into some big news!
After rocketing across a fine Drake Passage, National Geographic Endeavour was this morning off of the South Shetland Archipelago in the northern region of the Antarctic Peninsula. “That wasn’t so bad”, was the word on the decks as we approached the English Strait, a passage located about midway in the chain of islands. We had a mandatory briefing on proper behavior ashore in Antarctica followed by a penguin presentation by yours truly, and we were ready for action.
Our afternoon landing was on a small, green island in the Barrientos Group called Aitcho, named for the British Hydrographic Office, or H.O. - a mere notation on old charts of the area. Here was an excellent introduction to Antarctica with splendid scenery and wildlife. We watched both Gentoo and chinstrap penguins going about their busy lives as we walked among whale bones scattered along rocky beaches.
Perhaps the “biggest” event of the day, however, was our encounter with several humpback whales in the late afternoon. These presumably friendly leviathans came quite close to the ship, even passing under the bow at one point! Richard was able to snap the underside of the tail fin, or fluke, a kind of fingerprint unique to each whale. We will send in our sightings to The Antarctic Humpback Whale Catalogue, College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine and see if we get any matches from other sightings in other areas. Hopefully our small sighting can turn into some big news!
