We're nearing the Ross Sea, and I noticed when I woke up that the ship was moving a lot slower than it had been when we went to sleep. I looked out the window after getting dressed and I saw a penguin out on an ice flow nearby the ship. I quickly realized that it was an Emperor. I ran out on deck, grabbing my camera, and snapped some shots. I also got some shots of the pack ice, now that we are well within it. The ship has slowed down considerably to navigate the ice.
I ran back inside and got my binoculars, and I found that it definitely was an Emperor penguin. This was the first Emperor penguin that I've ever seen in its natural habitat. Then, I noticed several groups of Adelie penguins on the ice flows all around us. I decided to go to the front of the ship to get some pictures of the panorama in front of us.
Almost immediately, we were spotting Minke Whales out in front of the ship. To my amazement, the whales were moving toward the ship. We lost sight o fthem for a while, then, suddenly and without warning, one sounded right next to the ship! Less than a dozen yards from us, right under the bow where we were standing! We could see the whale swimming under the water even at it's deepest point in the swim. Eventually, we had five whales all flanking the ship, sounding and blowing. It was a fantastic experience... These are undoubtedly the best whale pictures I've been able to get so far. And maybe the only ones that will turn out at all.
I was watching a group of Adelies on an ice flow near the ship, when suddenly I saw another Adelie pop up out of the water onto a big round flat flow right next to us, and start scooting along on its stomach, madly using its flippers to push it along, over the middle of the flow. It shot across the flow, then, when it reached the other side, flopped back into the water without slowing at all. It looked either very cold, or very frightened. Probably the latter, since it was so close to the ship. But that reasoning might be wrong, given that the penguins hardly seem to notice us when we're on land.
During breakfast, which we ate at raffles this morning, we saw another whale sound very close to the ship right outside the windows. I was amazed that the whales come so close, and even more amazed that we could watch them while eating pancakes and sausage...
He talked a lot about his climbing work before Everest also, and about the work that he and Mrs. Hillary have done with the Tibetan Monks who live near Mt. Everest, building a school, and then rebuilding the school and monestary when they burned down a few years ago.
During his talk, the ship struck ice several times, bumping the ice flows out of the way when we were unable to avoid them. There would be a low rumbling, then a louder rumble and a sudden movement of the ship, sometimes just side to side, sometimes accompanied by a rise in the floor level. To me, it seemed very much like what is shown on Star Trek: The Next Generation when the Enterprise is hit by something.
So far, we haven't encountered anything yet that's made me fear for the ship's integrity.
Later in the morning, we had a lecture by Gilles Allard on vulcanism. All of these lectures are intended to discuss the geology of Antartica, though this one seemed to concentrate a lot more on the generic issue of volcanos wherever they might be.
Looking out our cabin window, I just spotted a seal on an ice flow a ways off in the distance. It was rolling around and waving its flipper, almost like it was trying to catch our attention.
Lars-Eric told us today that we fully expect to be able to land at McMurdo, and that a friend who's heading up the science program at McMurdo was preparing a visitation plan for us to use when we arrive. He also said that the ice should be thinning again before we reach the station. I'm beginning to think that we'll be lucky if it really does, since we've been hearing that all day long.
It's been pretty common for the ship to shake and rumble every ten to fifteen minutes, as the ship pushes off another ice flow that we couldn't quite avoid. I'm really amazed at how manuverable the ship is, given its size. We can turn to navigate the spaces between the ice flows quite well, which eases the demand on the hull to push away the ice that we do hit.
We had lectures the afternoon by Paul Sipiera, a researcher who hunts for meteorites in Antarctica, and Stefan Lundgren, who showed us his excellent slides from his work in the Antarctic.
Paul related to us how Antarctica acts as a natural conveyer belt, collecting meteorites that land on the continent in the deep layers of ice, and carrying them toward the coastal mountains with the glacial flow, then sending them back up to the surface when they reach the mountains, where they can be collected easily by researchers. Apparently, they are able to collect dozens of meteorites in a single expedition, which is far more than can be found at other places on Earth because of the difficulty distinguishing between normal rocks and meteorites.
Stefan, who is currently one of our zodiac drivers, has an excellent collection of slides taken during his many years in Antarctica. Apparently, he takes all sorts of jobs that allow him to stay in Antarctica, where he enjoys the peace and the natural beauty. He's an excellent photographer, specializing in unusual lighting caused by the midnight sun and pictures of birds and other animals with large landscapes as backgrounds.
Stefan worked at one time for India, setting up a base there so that India would be able to join the Antarctic Treaty nations and have some claim to participate in the decision-making process regarding the continent. He went down on a refitted Scandinavian vessel, spend the spring in the pack ice waiting to get to the ice shelf on the east side of the continent, and then helped to set up the base, which remained in operation for about nine years. All of his work on that expedition took place in Eastern Antarctica, the opposite side from where we are now.
After dinner, I went out on the deck to see what was happening. I saw plenty of ice being moved around by the ship, sometimes a huge ice flow the size of a football field would be rotated around by the ship. This is all last winter's ice, soggy and thin, ready to turn back into seawater given half a chance.
There were lots of penguins around, including some huge Adelie penguins. I thought at first that they were Emperors, since they were so large, but, given that they were in large groups, and that I didn't see any color on their necks, I guess they must've been Adelies.
These penguins are so cute. They behave just like human children, running around together, all following a single leader's impulses. When the leader flops on its stomach and starts toboganing, they all do it. When it stands up and starts running, they all do it. When it changes direction or stops and turns around, they all do it. The way they walk around, with their flippers extended and waving around, they look just like old black-and-white silent movie comedy characters.
I got some great pictures of the sea water beginning to freeze up with the onset of the evening. It's definitely getting darker, for some reason, maybe the heavy cloud cover is contributing to it. Anyway, I watched the water behind the ice flows begin to form grease ice (looks just like an oil spill), then form tiny platelets in the grease ice areas, then form larger pancake ice, sometimes several feet in diameter. Finally, there cam ea time when there was barely any open water left. I'm feeling really sleepy, so I'll go to bed now, I guess.