January 15th,our last day in Antarctica started off early at 0615 with a wake up call over the PA system that there was a group of humpback whales bubble feeding off the bow of the ship so get dressed and grab your camera. What a sight. For the next hour we watched at close range as the whales blew bubbles from below to force the krill into a group and then came up and fed on them. It was an amazing behaviour to behold and cameras were clicking as fast as shutter speed would allow. It really would be almost impossible not to take home some good photographic memories from this trip. After gathering lasting memories of this event we moved on and left them to their breakfast as we carried on to Portal Point. Today the weather was cooperating with us and at Portal Point we were able to make a Continental landing. Though we had landed on a few islands that are part of Antarctica it was emotional to actually step foot on our seventh continent! We hiked up the snowy hill and had a wonderful view of the surrounding beauty. This was followed by a zodiac tour amongst the icebergs and along the coastline making for a perfect morning. Arriving back on ship it was announced that any brave, or foolish souls, depending on how you look at it who wanted to do the Polar Plunge the time was now. Eric was game so I graciously volunteered to be his photographer. He says when he hit the water which was minus .5 degrees he thought for a fleeting second that he might be able to swim in it but then he felt his chest start to tighten and was out quickly as was everyone else where they were given a shot of vodka and a warm towel. During lunch we head to Brabant Island for a wonderful afternoon covered in the next post due to the number of pictures I want to include on this epic day.
Bubbles bein created by the whales below to force the fish to the surface
Humpbacks mouth
Unbelievable views
The holes on the whales back are their nostrils, commonly referred to as their blow holes
Each whale has a distinctive tail print just like a finger print
The humpback has the longest fluke of all whales
This whale really smacked the water a few times with his tale
Cruising along
Icebergs in the morning fog
A lone whale amongst the icebergs
The sun started to peak through enough that we could make a landing
This photo speaks for itself. Truly a special hike
I wish I could even begin to put into words the incredible beauty of all we have seen these last few days
The reflections add even more
As the icebergs roll they take on whole new dimensions
The icebergs make our ship look like a bath toy
In Eric goes. Notice they do have a defibrillator in the second zodiac and the ships doctor is sitting beside it. Luckily it was not put to use.
Running for warmth (and vodka)
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