Paulet Island & Weddell Sea
This morning had us sailing through Antarctic Sound, also known as Iceberg Alley. The place sure lived up to its name – icebergs bigger than the ship, icebergs shaped like tables (and therefore called Tabular Bergs), icebergs shaped like mushrooms, blue icebergs, white icebergs, ‘dirty’ icebergs (those filled with glacial grind, scraped from the side of the mountains) and any number of variations on the theme of ‘weird and wonderful’ icebergs. It seemed as if the ice would just keep going in the Weddell Sea.
Eventually we made our way to Paulet Island, a volcanic island which was remarkably snow free, was the site of the Swedish Antarctic / Nordenskjöld tragedy. In 1903 the crew and captain of the Antarctic were heading down to Snow Hill to pick Nordenskjöld, when their ship sank, about 40 km from Paulet Island. Twenty-three men ended up spending the winter in a tiny hut (20 x 7 meters / 65 x 23 ft) they had built out of rocks. We could walk right up to the hut and see just how small it was, but it was hard to imagine what it would be like to spend a whole winter trapped inside it.
Our plan had been to sail next to Brown Bluff, however Tom Ritchie our intrepid Expedition Leader was inspired by the ocean to our south, which was filled with icebergs, so off we headed. Within minutes of our new plan being formulated we were surrounded by orca and they were another first for the voyage, as they were Type A– the black and white ‘typical’ coloration orca. They looked phenomenal as they surfaced with huge tabular bergs as their backdrop. There were 13 of them, including three huge adult males and a couple of small calves. As they rose to the surface we could clearly see them below the waters and they came right over to the ship and bowrode. We just couldn’t believe our luck. However, after 30 minutes, given that they were on a mission into the more densely packed ice, the Captain turned the ship and headed south towards an iceberg which seemed to stretch the length of the horizon. By using the radar and the sextant the Captain was able to ascertain that this berg was three miles long, one mile wide and at least 100 feet out of the water (with an additional 800+ foot below). Again, within moments of us arriving, more orca showed up. This time it was Type B orca (the grey and white ones, with big eye patches). There were 26 of them, and at one stage most surfaced together in front of the huge tabular berg, giving us a sense of scale. AMAZING. The sound of so many cameras clicking was like the buzz of crickets on a summer night.
But the photo opportunities didn’t stop there, as we headed into Fridtjof Sound to look for Emperor Penguins. Sure enough, our good luck continued and we found a juvenile penguin on an ice floe, along with Fur seals and a Leopard seal. After such an exciting day we were totally exhausted, but thrilled almost beyond words. It wasn’t hard to imagine that many of us would return – we had been bitten by the Antarctic bug and were hooked! Sign us up for next season!
This morning had us sailing through Antarctic Sound, also known as Iceberg Alley. The place sure lived up to its name – icebergs bigger than the ship, icebergs shaped like tables (and therefore called Tabular Bergs), icebergs shaped like mushrooms, blue icebergs, white icebergs, ‘dirty’ icebergs (those filled with glacial grind, scraped from the side of the mountains) and any number of variations on the theme of ‘weird and wonderful’ icebergs. It seemed as if the ice would just keep going in the Weddell Sea.
Eventually we made our way to Paulet Island, a volcanic island which was remarkably snow free, was the site of the Swedish Antarctic / Nordenskjöld tragedy. In 1903 the crew and captain of the Antarctic were heading down to Snow Hill to pick Nordenskjöld, when their ship sank, about 40 km from Paulet Island. Twenty-three men ended up spending the winter in a tiny hut (20 x 7 meters / 65 x 23 ft) they had built out of rocks. We could walk right up to the hut and see just how small it was, but it was hard to imagine what it would be like to spend a whole winter trapped inside it.
Our plan had been to sail next to Brown Bluff, however Tom Ritchie our intrepid Expedition Leader was inspired by the ocean to our south, which was filled with icebergs, so off we headed. Within minutes of our new plan being formulated we were surrounded by orca and they were another first for the voyage, as they were Type A– the black and white ‘typical’ coloration orca. They looked phenomenal as they surfaced with huge tabular bergs as their backdrop. There were 13 of them, including three huge adult males and a couple of small calves. As they rose to the surface we could clearly see them below the waters and they came right over to the ship and bowrode. We just couldn’t believe our luck. However, after 30 minutes, given that they were on a mission into the more densely packed ice, the Captain turned the ship and headed south towards an iceberg which seemed to stretch the length of the horizon. By using the radar and the sextant the Captain was able to ascertain that this berg was three miles long, one mile wide and at least 100 feet out of the water (with an additional 800+ foot below). Again, within moments of us arriving, more orca showed up. This time it was Type B orca (the grey and white ones, with big eye patches). There were 26 of them, and at one stage most surfaced together in front of the huge tabular berg, giving us a sense of scale. AMAZING. The sound of so many cameras clicking was like the buzz of crickets on a summer night.
But the photo opportunities didn’t stop there, as we headed into Fridtjof Sound to look for Emperor Penguins. Sure enough, our good luck continued and we found a juvenile penguin on an ice floe, along with Fur seals and a Leopard seal. After such an exciting day we were totally exhausted, but thrilled almost beyond words. It wasn’t hard to imagine that many of us would return – we had been bitten by the Antarctic bug and were hooked! Sign us up for next season!
