At Sea
National Geographic Endeavour's bow has turned north towards the Southern Tip of South America, leaving in its wake 7 incredible days on the Antarctic Peninsula, full of penguins, whales, snow, and ice. Much of today was spent reflecting on our adventures, and catching up on the sleep we have lost, mainly due to our new addiction to guys in the tuxedos, and the incredible pink light that tends to show at 2am. However, as the saying goes, “you can sleep when you get home.”
We have had many adventures this week in the terrestrial world, but Antarctica holds a unique and diverse community below the ocean's surface as well. An important part of every Lindblad expedition is allowing our guests to get a look at this underwater world – from the comfort of our Lounge. Each Lindblad ship carries an Undersea Specialist, someone who is tasked with filming the benthic communities in the areas in which we travel, create a presentation, and showing the findings of what are often some very unique creatures. Antarctica is no exception. One of the common misconceptions about Antarctica is that because the water is so cold (between -1.8 and 2°C/ 28.8 and 35°F) that nothing lives below the surface. In truth, due to the amount of gases and nutrients which dissolve and thrive in this water, it is one of the most rich and diverse benthic communities on the planet.
Onboard National Geographic Endeavour we use a variety of tools to explore beneath the surface. We have a Splash Cam, essentially a camera mounted onto a pole, held over the side of a Zodiac. We use this for fast moving animals such as seals and penguins, which might be a little wary of something actually in the water with them. Another piece of equipment used while SCUBA diving is an HD camera in an underwater housing. This week just one of the creatures that was captured on our HD cam was a Black Fin Icefish. This is a commercially gathered fish, and is found at depths from 5 – 500 meters (16 – 1700 feet). Many fish in Antarctica, including this one, have special anti-freeze proteins in their blood. These proteins bond with the ice crystals which otherwise might damage delicate tissue. Interestingly enough, these proteins are being synthetically manufactured, and put in many brands of ice cream in order to deter ice crystal development.
Last but certainly not least, we have an ROV or Remotely Operated Vehicle onboard. This small submersible, operated from the surface, can go down well beyond diving depths to almost 150 meters (500 feet). In Antarctica, these depths are relatively unexplored, and are where we find some of the most fascinating creatures - to survive at those pressures, temperatures, and in complete darkness takes a robust animal indeed. This week we had a fantastic finding, a Sea Cucumber which has not been cataloged anywhere in Antarctic marine literature. It is extremely different from the other types of cucumbers which we usually find here; this one is more of the slug morphology, something that is often found in the tropics. Normally in Antarctica the Sea Cucumbers have the “flower” body type - a slug like lower half opening up into a crown of feeding tentacles.
Tonight we will sail through the Antarctic convergence, an area of water where the colder northern-flowing waters of the Antarctic, meet with the warmer waters of the sub-Antarctic. The Antarctic waters sink below those of the sub-Antarctic creating a great deal of mixing and upwelling of nutrients, hence an high area of productivity. Having already past the political boundary of Antarctica at 60° South, this environmental boundary will be our last step out of the Antarctic.
National Geographic Endeavour's bow has turned north towards the Southern Tip of South America, leaving in its wake 7 incredible days on the Antarctic Peninsula, full of penguins, whales, snow, and ice. Much of today was spent reflecting on our adventures, and catching up on the sleep we have lost, mainly due to our new addiction to guys in the tuxedos, and the incredible pink light that tends to show at 2am. However, as the saying goes, “you can sleep when you get home.”
We have had many adventures this week in the terrestrial world, but Antarctica holds a unique and diverse community below the ocean's surface as well. An important part of every Lindblad expedition is allowing our guests to get a look at this underwater world – from the comfort of our Lounge. Each Lindblad ship carries an Undersea Specialist, someone who is tasked with filming the benthic communities in the areas in which we travel, create a presentation, and showing the findings of what are often some very unique creatures. Antarctica is no exception. One of the common misconceptions about Antarctica is that because the water is so cold (between -1.8 and 2°C/ 28.8 and 35°F) that nothing lives below the surface. In truth, due to the amount of gases and nutrients which dissolve and thrive in this water, it is one of the most rich and diverse benthic communities on the planet.
Onboard National Geographic Endeavour we use a variety of tools to explore beneath the surface. We have a Splash Cam, essentially a camera mounted onto a pole, held over the side of a Zodiac. We use this for fast moving animals such as seals and penguins, which might be a little wary of something actually in the water with them. Another piece of equipment used while SCUBA diving is an HD camera in an underwater housing. This week just one of the creatures that was captured on our HD cam was a Black Fin Icefish. This is a commercially gathered fish, and is found at depths from 5 – 500 meters (16 – 1700 feet). Many fish in Antarctica, including this one, have special anti-freeze proteins in their blood. These proteins bond with the ice crystals which otherwise might damage delicate tissue. Interestingly enough, these proteins are being synthetically manufactured, and put in many brands of ice cream in order to deter ice crystal development.
Last but certainly not least, we have an ROV or Remotely Operated Vehicle onboard. This small submersible, operated from the surface, can go down well beyond diving depths to almost 150 meters (500 feet). In Antarctica, these depths are relatively unexplored, and are where we find some of the most fascinating creatures - to survive at those pressures, temperatures, and in complete darkness takes a robust animal indeed. This week we had a fantastic finding, a Sea Cucumber which has not been cataloged anywhere in Antarctic marine literature. It is extremely different from the other types of cucumbers which we usually find here; this one is more of the slug morphology, something that is often found in the tropics. Normally in Antarctica the Sea Cucumbers have the “flower” body type - a slug like lower half opening up into a crown of feeding tentacles.
Tonight we will sail through the Antarctic convergence, an area of water where the colder northern-flowing waters of the Antarctic, meet with the warmer waters of the sub-Antarctic. The Antarctic waters sink below those of the sub-Antarctic creating a great deal of mixing and upwelling of nutrients, hence an high area of productivity. Having already past the political boundary of Antarctica at 60° South, this environmental boundary will be our last step out of the Antarctic.
