Seals, Penguins, and Orcas….Oh My

Many people have asked me “what do you do when you are in Antarctica?”  And it is a fair question.  But it is the same answer as going on a cruise to the Caribbean or to the Mediterranean.  You see beauty.  Icebergs, glaciers, pure waters, birds, gorgeous vistas, mountains  But the main attraction is the wildlife.  Seals, penguins, orcas, and smaller sea birds.

WATCH OUT FOR PENGUIN POO

Many of the islands we visited had penguins dispersed in colonies. We saw thousands of pairs of chinstrap and gentoo penguins. The penguins were in early mating season so there were no baby penguins, however the snow in these colonies was relatively white since it is still the beginning of the summer season.  We learned that later in the season when baby penguins hatch and the penguins have habited the colony for many months, that the snow melts and the land is covered in penguin poop (guano).  And expeditions later in the season (February and March) are walking through layers of penguin poop instead of white snow.  But the penguins build their nests in higher locations so the water melt doesn’t come down and wash away the nest.

HUMANS YIELD TO PENGUINS

The colonies form “penguin highways” which are flat paths in the snow to use their short legs to easily get to their colony from the sea.  They search for food about three times a day so they are very active. The humans had to give right of way to the penguins while we were on land with them.  They were very close to us and if a penguin was coming close, we had to pause and wait for the penguin to pass.  So it was incredible to sit down in the snow and watch the penguins waddle by me.  It was incredible to just look out over the island and see thousands of penguins.  You could hear their mating noises as well as their chatter with other penguins (especially when others would get too close to their nests).  We also saw some seals laying on shore and on some icebergs.  We didn’t see too many seals but we mainly saw Weddell seas which are pretty cute.

HUNDREDS OF KILLER WHALES AROUND THE SHIP

We hadn’t really seen a lot of whales on the trip since it was still early summer and many of the whales were on their way down to Antarctica from the north.  One afternoon we were on the look out for whales as we cruised up the coast and sure enough, a school of orcas was spotted a mile away.  The captain slowed down the ship as the whales were moving directly towards us.  Everyone rushed out to the upper decks and there they were.  So amazing to see killer whales in their natural habitat.  They were in schools of 20-30 whales but there were about 10 schools that passed by the ship over the course of an hour.  The sun was out and you could clearly see them come by the ship. They were beautiful and graceful.  It was an incredible experience.

Take a look at the video I put together below….

This is part 4 of a multi-part series about my adventure to the southernmost continent.