Oceanwide Expeditions

Expedition news

29-11-2009 | Close encounter with Minke Whales

Vessel: Professor Molchanov.
Date: 29-11-2009. Time: 23:30 CET
Position: 65'09.14S ; 64'05.26W

Report from the southern Lemaire Channel heading North. Halfmoon Island in the morning of the 28th was stunningly beautiful in the bright sunshine and Whalers Bay, Deception Island equally so although the cloud came in somewhat.

Since the great success of the northeast side of the Peninsula in the beginning of the trip, the Expedition Leader (Troels Jacobsen) opted to go far down the western Peninsula to deliver the best of both sides. It is a long way South.

The expedition  woke up in a partly cloudy, soon to be sunny, Gerlache Strait. Almost after the wake up call a pod of 10-12 „type A“ Orca's suddenly surfaced near the ship. The captain skillfully slowed down and we could follow these magnificent creatures as we headed south towards the Lemaire Channel.Three youngsters came within meters of the ship at times to look what we were all about; a truly extraordinary experience.
After breakfast the expedition cruised towards the Lemaire Channel which was passed in bright sunshine. Several Antarctic Minke Whales, Crabeater Seals, and a Leopard Seal were spotted in the narrow passage. Turning the corner at the southern end of Booth Island the expedition embarked on a spectacular iceberg zodiac cruise off Pleneau Island where we both, Leopard Seal and Crabeater Seals on the ice, were found. Prior to that, the zodiacs cruised slowly along with four Antarctic Minke Whales which occasionally surfaced only meters from the boats.
In the afternoon we landed at Petermann Island to see more Gentoo's and a few Adelie Penguins along with a small, but impressive, Antarctic Shag colony. High clouds came in, no wind. All peaceful and beautiful.

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