Treasures of the Ross Sea

Greetings All,
Well we made it back through the pack ice in record time. The ice had dispersed while we were in the Ross Sea and we had a wide escape route. Before we left the pack ice entirely, we stopped to do a zodiac cruise. Slipping through the ice at zodiac level is a much different experience that crashing through in a 4000 ton ship.

We headed toward a brown blob on the ice. As we approached we could see it was a Crabeater seal taking a nap. Crabeater Seals don't actually eat crabs. They eat krill which like a crab is a crustacean. I guess Crabeater sounds better that Krilleater. They can weigh up to 400 kg and can dive to depths of 250 meters. The global population is estimated to be 15 million. They are the world's most numerous large mammal after humans. She was heavily scarred on one side. No doubt she had a close call with a Leopard Seal or Killer Whale.

Speaking of Leopard Seals we found one sleeping soundly on an ice floe. He lifted his head wearily to check us out. It's a good thing we aren't on the menu.

Leopard Seals are one of Antarctica's top predators. They hunt penguins and other seals. Males are actually smaller than females. The global population is estimated to be around 220,000. They can live up to 26 years and can wander as far north as the Great Barrier Reef.

As we headed back toward the Orion, our Zodiac driver spotted a whale! We were able to get within 50 meters before the whale would porpoise and disappear under the surface.

 
We followed him to the open water where we we treated to several views of his tail fluke.

As we returned to the ship, passengers had crowded onto the deck to photograph us and the whale. We talked to Olive, the expedition's whale expert and she told us it was a Humpback Whale. She was interested in Marc's photos of the underside of the whale's tail. They can be use to identify the whale. Olive will compare Marc's photos with a database to see if this whale has been identified.

Humpback whales are filter feeders. They sift great quantities of krill out of the water with a sieve-like structure called a baleen. They can consume up to 2 tons of krill per day and can weigh as much as 40 tons! There are around 16,000 Humpback whales. The ones we are seeing migrate 5000 km each year from their feeding grounds in the Ross Sea to the warm tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef where they mate and calf.

With all these great mammal sightings it was easy to forget about the seabirds. They were doing their best to get noticed. The Cape Petrels were bobbing on the surface of the water and flying around the ship.

The Southern Giant Petrels were present in both forms, the more common brown form and the less seen white form. They too were flying around the ship and landing on the water.

The Albatrosses had also returned. We were seeing Light-mantled Sooty Albatross and Black-browed Albatross of which Marc got a great photo.

As we head north out of the Ross Sea we feel so prvileged to have seen such a remote and pristine place.

The world's oceans are under ever increasing threats such as overfishing, pollution and oil exploration. The Ross Sea is the planet's last undisturbed large body of water. Unfortunately, we learned today that this is changing. New Zealand has started a commercial fishery here. They are fishing for Antarctic Toothfish. We know it as Chilean Sea Bass. Please do not eat Chilean Sea Bass from the Ross Sea. Take my word for it - this place is a natural wonder and one of the last largely unexploited places on the globe. Let's keep it this way. The penguins, seals, whales and the myriad of ocean dwellers will thank you.
We hope all is well back home.
Peggy and Marc

To the Southern End of the Earth

Greetings All,
We were able to crash through the last of the pack ice and enter the Ross Sea! We picked up speed and cruised at 14 knots toward Ross Island. The Ross Sea is full of historic sites from the Heroic-Era of exploration from 1895-1917.  During that time 4 major expeditions were launched in the quest of getting to the South Pole. Wooden huts from each of these expeditions were built to serve as bases of exploration. We hoped to visit two of theses huts, Scott's Terra Nova Hut at Cape Evans and Shackleton's Hut at Cape Royds. The map below slows the location of these huts and other historic sites in the Ross Sea region.

When we awoke yesterday morning and looked out our cabin window we finally had our first look at land. Beaufort Island, a craggy snow-covered hunk of rock just north of Ross Island loomed ahead.

Finally Ross Island came into view and we know we are close to our first objective, Scott's Hut. Anticipation mounts on the ship as we are all eager to get onto land and into Scott's Hut. Suddenly, there it is on windswept Cape Evans on the southern end of the Earth! You can't sail much farther south than this.

We were fortunate to be in the first group to enter the hut. It was like stepping back into time. We had to remove our boots so as to not bring any salt into the hut. The Antarctic Heritage Trust is taking good care of the huts to preserve them for future generations. My eyes adjusted to the darkness and a kitchen complete with stores of food and cooking utensils comes into view.

A large wooden table where Scott and his men ate their meals is in the center of the room. Bunks are around periphery and a makeshift lab with test tubes and other paraphernalia where scientific research was conducted is on the other end of the hut.

Towards the back is Scott's bunk.

On a small table next to his bunk, an Emperor penguin was laying.

Scott built this hut during his 1910 - 1913 British Antarctic Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole. It was his second attempt. His first was with Ernest Shackleton in 1901-1904 but the team failed to reach the South Pole. They only made it as far as 82 degrees, 17 minutes south before turning back. This time Scott was determined to make it but now it had become a race. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was also making his bid. We could only stay in the hut for 15 minutes so we left to visit the adjoining stables. That's right, Scott brought 10 Manchurian ponies to pull sledges. The ponies were ill equipped to haul the sledges through deep snow and all perished or were shot for food. Their feed bags and shoes still hung on the wall.

On one end of the stables was a crate of penguin eggs

and a pile of Weddell Seal blubber. The blubber was used for heating and cooking oil and food for the men and dogs.

Amazingly a bicycle was hanging on the wall of one of the stalls.

Why Scott would bring a bicycle to Antarctica is a mystery to me. On the other end of the stables there was the skeleton of one of the 23 dogs brought down to haul sledges. I'll spare you the photograph. All this effort to reach the South Pole paid off but a little too late. Scott reached the pole on January 17, 1912 but found that Amundsen had already been there more than a month earlier!  This was a crushing blow to Scott.  Bad weather set in and Scott and the rest of his polar party perish on the Polar Plateau just 17 km shy of the next depot. Wow, what an amazing piece of history and here we are in Scott's hut pretty much as he left it 100 years ago!

We left the hut and walked to the top of Wind Vane Hill where a cross had been erected as a memorial to the three members of Shackleton's Ross Sea party who perished in a blizzard in 1916 and to Spencer-Smith who died on the Ross Barrier also in 1916.

The wind was blowing at 40 knots so we did't linger long but the view of Cape Evans was spectacular.

 Marc took this photo of me next to Scott's hut.  With the wind chill it was about -5 degrees ferenheit.

We walked around a bit looking for Penguins. There were a few Adelies and a flock of Skuas but otherwise all was quiet on the Cape.

We spent 2 and a half hours on the Cape and my feet were freezing. It was time to return to the Orion.

We cruised past Cape Royds where Shackleton's hut is located but the conditions were too rough to land. We'll have to be satisfied with a view of his hut from the ship.

Shackleton built his hut during his 1907-1909 British Antarctic Nimrod Expedition. Shackleton failed to reach the pole and turned back just 97 nautical miles short of his goal. A decision that cost him the pole but that saved his life and the lives of his team.

The clouds lifted and we were treated to one last look of the Trans-Antarctic mountains before starting for home.

 

We are now heading north towards the pack ice. When we entered the Ross Sea our Expedition Leader told us that the front door had closed. Hopefully, the ice has shifted and will allow us to get out of the Ross Sea. We'll reach the pack ice tomorrow morning and find an escape route.
We hope all is well back home.
Peggy and Marc

Ice Floes and Woes

Greetings All,
We are currently at 71 degrees south latitude and heading toward the Ross Sea. Our progress has been thwarted by unusually thick pack ice forcing us 240 miles out of our way. There was only one thin strip of open water which we call the back door that allowed us into the pack ice. Once inside we've spent the last two days pushing our way through. Fortunately, the Orion has an ice class hull that allows us to get through the ice albeit at a very slow speed.

Although the pack ice is hampering our progress towards the Ross Sea, we've had many great sightings of marine mammals and seabirds that make this inhospitable place home. We've seen many Crabeater seals resting on ice floes. They barely lift their heads as we pass by.

Today we were fortunate enough to see a Ross Seal, a rare sight and even more difficult to photograph.

The whales have been some what elusive but today we did get a glimpse of a Minke Whale. Once we entered the pack ice, Snow and Antarctic Petrels have become our constant companions as the fly around the Orion.

The sea was like glass this morning and Marc was able to catch a Southern Giant Petrel's reflection in the mirror-like surface of the water.

We've also been lucky to see a few individual Emperor penguins resting on ice floes. The first was an immature bird without the yellow coloration seen on the adults. Today we saw an adult Emperor penguin sharing an ice floe with two much smaller Adelie penguins.

Both Emperor and Adelie penguins breed on the Antarctic continent, the Emperors in the winter and the Adelies during the summer. All the Adelies we've been seeing are adults as can be seen by their black chins. Immature birds have white chins.

We're about 20 miles from the front door into the Ross Sea. We should know by midnight if the door is still open. Unfortunately, we've used up so many days getting through the pack ice, we'll have very little time in the Ross Sea area (presuming we can get through the front door). Right now we're still hoping that we can get to Shackelton's and Scott's huts. These huts were used in the early 1900's by Shackleton and Scott as they made their bid for the South Pole. I feel like we are doing an enactment in a sense. We're not racing to the pole but we are racing to Shackelton's and Scott's huts before we run out of time and have to head back to New Zealand. We're not sure how all this will play out. The next 12 hours will determine if we'll win the race.
We hope all is well back home.
Peggy and Marc