At Sea
You can come to the Antarctic and not see very much. Oh sure, there are razor mountains rising from the sea, miles-long icebergs drifting past, coastal valleys where a hundred thousand noisy penguins nest together, glaciers and icefalls, elephant seals and leopard seals, bright pink light at 2am and a few other things like that. But 99% of the life of the Antarctic lies hidden from view, just a few feet away, under the surface of the freezing and frozen ocean.
Walking the beaches below the penguin colonies can give you an idea of what you are missing. Windrows of dried, shredded kelp lie here and there, but where did it come from? It’s hard to see any in the water, even in the clear shallows. Hundreds of limpet shells are scattered among the cobbles, the remains of gulls’ dinners. The gulls must have plucked them off the rocks at low tide, when we can spot a few living ones too. Once in a while you might find a sea urchin test (shell) or the remains of a brittle star. This rather whets our appetite. What else is lurking down there? It’s clear that something is going on here that is not fully apparent from the surface.
This is why I love my job! Pull on a couple of hundred pounds of scuba gear and throw yourself out of a Zodiac here and you are instantly transported to a different world. In contrast to the land of the Antarctic, where penguins and seals huddle in a few oases of life sprinkled into thousands of square miles of stark ice and rock, Antarctic seas are absolutely packed with living creatures of all kinds. Sea stars, sea urchins and sea slugs, weird fish, huge sponges and winged snails, comb jellies like living light shows, kelp bearing leaves sixty feet long, brilliant sunset-colored anemones; the variety and beauty are astounding. To film this in HD and share it with fellow travelers on the National Geographic Endeavour is a privilege and a lot of fun. It never fails to amaze.
And this is just the first layer of the hidden world. Drop in the little ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle), sit in comfort in a Zodiac and maneuver it down to 400 or 500 feet below the surface and another very different realm of the southern ocean is waiting. This is a region of eternal darkness, never brighter than dim twilight and often pitch black. The strange animals that live here must be adapted to living on the slow rain of nutrients falling from the brighter world above. Feather stars spread their arms like a basket to catch the bounty. Sponges slowly and simply filter out their share. Nearby, sea squirts cover a rocky buttress with a miniature forest of animals and a pale icefish patrols, looking for dinner.
Some of the very best of the Antarctic is hidden beneath the surface, but Yogi Berra said it best: “You can see a lot, just by looking!”
You can come to the Antarctic and not see very much. Oh sure, there are razor mountains rising from the sea, miles-long icebergs drifting past, coastal valleys where a hundred thousand noisy penguins nest together, glaciers and icefalls, elephant seals and leopard seals, bright pink light at 2am and a few other things like that. But 99% of the life of the Antarctic lies hidden from view, just a few feet away, under the surface of the freezing and frozen ocean.
Walking the beaches below the penguin colonies can give you an idea of what you are missing. Windrows of dried, shredded kelp lie here and there, but where did it come from? It’s hard to see any in the water, even in the clear shallows. Hundreds of limpet shells are scattered among the cobbles, the remains of gulls’ dinners. The gulls must have plucked them off the rocks at low tide, when we can spot a few living ones too. Once in a while you might find a sea urchin test (shell) or the remains of a brittle star. This rather whets our appetite. What else is lurking down there? It’s clear that something is going on here that is not fully apparent from the surface.
This is why I love my job! Pull on a couple of hundred pounds of scuba gear and throw yourself out of a Zodiac here and you are instantly transported to a different world. In contrast to the land of the Antarctic, where penguins and seals huddle in a few oases of life sprinkled into thousands of square miles of stark ice and rock, Antarctic seas are absolutely packed with living creatures of all kinds. Sea stars, sea urchins and sea slugs, weird fish, huge sponges and winged snails, comb jellies like living light shows, kelp bearing leaves sixty feet long, brilliant sunset-colored anemones; the variety and beauty are astounding. To film this in HD and share it with fellow travelers on the National Geographic Endeavour is a privilege and a lot of fun. It never fails to amaze.
And this is just the first layer of the hidden world. Drop in the little ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle), sit in comfort in a Zodiac and maneuver it down to 400 or 500 feet below the surface and another very different realm of the southern ocean is waiting. This is a region of eternal darkness, never brighter than dim twilight and often pitch black. The strange animals that live here must be adapted to living on the slow rain of nutrients falling from the brighter world above. Feather stars spread their arms like a basket to catch the bounty. Sponges slowly and simply filter out their share. Nearby, sea squirts cover a rocky buttress with a miniature forest of animals and a pale icefish patrols, looking for dinner.
Some of the very best of the Antarctic is hidden beneath the surface, but Yogi Berra said it best: “You can see a lot, just by looking!”
