Snow Hill Island, Zodiac cruising and Minke Whales
Who, among our friends, would have guessed what we would be doing on New Year’s Day? Who could have guessed what Trip Dennis, our Expedition Leader, had planned for us? It is possible even he didn’t know but maybe I should start at the beginning.
At midnight we celebrated the New Year in the lounge of the Endeavour. Noisemakers, silly hats and a countdown to midnight filled the lounge with noise and merriment. Toasts, hugs, kisses and congratulations circulated among us and, when the clamor died down to a dull roar, the galley crew served Swedish hotdogs. In the afterglow of the midnight celebration we all thanked our fellow guests for their friendship and thought of our loved ones who were not here to share our joy.
The ice charts had suggested we could circumnavigate James Ross Island counterclockwise but it was not to be. Contrary winds clogged the channel and so about 1 a.m., we turned back north and headed around the top of the island for Snow Hill Island, the site of the Nordenskiöld 1901-03 scientific expedition. We enjoyed a visit to the hut where Steve Maclean explained the living conditions of the scientific party. Harold Stowell, our geologist, led a group up a nearby gorge looking at fossils including well-formed Cretaceous ammonites. Others, led by John Morrison of World Wildlife Fund, headed up the hill reaching the plateau about 400 feet up where we enjoyed a grand view.
Back aboard for lunch, we headed north searching for pack ice and icebergs. About three p.m. we found our spot and set out in Zodiacs to look for sculptured ice forms and seals. We were not disappointed. Weddell, crab-eater and leopard seals were found on the ice floes. Weird shaped icebergs challenged our imaginations as we attempted to relate their shapes to objects in the known world.
After dinner while in the Antarctic Sound we spotted many blows. Magnus, the Second Officer, changed course immediately and we headed toward the whales. They seemed to be milling around a large iceberg that was lit brilliantly by the setting sun. Without the whales, the iceberg alone would have been enough to warrant our awe. Soon, individual whales ‘charged’ the water sending up great splashes and we knew this was a pod of more than 20 minke whales, a most unlikely sighting. Even more dramatic was their behavior. They breached and rolled over on their backs sending up plumes of spray. Their bellies were yellowish, covered with diatoms, the source of the whaler’s name for the blue whale, the sulphur bottom. For nearly an hour, the minke whales ‘performed.’ The foredeck and bow were covered with red jackets.
Whaling captains, at the end of a voyage, wrote “and so ends.” Our day finally came to an end but ours was not at the end of a voyage of slaughter but rather at the end of one of celebration. We welcomed the New Year, we remembered our loved ones, we enjoyed the vastness of the scenery of Antarctica and we reveled in the vitality of a pod of minke whales. Little that we did today could have been planned but we were rewarded for our curiosity and our attentiveness. Luck has been described as that which the prepared mind sees. Today, there were many ‘lucky’ people on board the Endeavour.
Who, among our friends, would have guessed what we would be doing on New Year’s Day? Who could have guessed what Trip Dennis, our Expedition Leader, had planned for us? It is possible even he didn’t know but maybe I should start at the beginning.
At midnight we celebrated the New Year in the lounge of the Endeavour. Noisemakers, silly hats and a countdown to midnight filled the lounge with noise and merriment. Toasts, hugs, kisses and congratulations circulated among us and, when the clamor died down to a dull roar, the galley crew served Swedish hotdogs. In the afterglow of the midnight celebration we all thanked our fellow guests for their friendship and thought of our loved ones who were not here to share our joy.
The ice charts had suggested we could circumnavigate James Ross Island counterclockwise but it was not to be. Contrary winds clogged the channel and so about 1 a.m., we turned back north and headed around the top of the island for Snow Hill Island, the site of the Nordenskiöld 1901-03 scientific expedition. We enjoyed a visit to the hut where Steve Maclean explained the living conditions of the scientific party. Harold Stowell, our geologist, led a group up a nearby gorge looking at fossils including well-formed Cretaceous ammonites. Others, led by John Morrison of World Wildlife Fund, headed up the hill reaching the plateau about 400 feet up where we enjoyed a grand view.
Back aboard for lunch, we headed north searching for pack ice and icebergs. About three p.m. we found our spot and set out in Zodiacs to look for sculptured ice forms and seals. We were not disappointed. Weddell, crab-eater and leopard seals were found on the ice floes. Weird shaped icebergs challenged our imaginations as we attempted to relate their shapes to objects in the known world.
After dinner while in the Antarctic Sound we spotted many blows. Magnus, the Second Officer, changed course immediately and we headed toward the whales. They seemed to be milling around a large iceberg that was lit brilliantly by the setting sun. Without the whales, the iceberg alone would have been enough to warrant our awe. Soon, individual whales ‘charged’ the water sending up great splashes and we knew this was a pod of more than 20 minke whales, a most unlikely sighting. Even more dramatic was their behavior. They breached and rolled over on their backs sending up plumes of spray. Their bellies were yellowish, covered with diatoms, the source of the whaler’s name for the blue whale, the sulphur bottom. For nearly an hour, the minke whales ‘performed.’ The foredeck and bow were covered with red jackets.
Whaling captains, at the end of a voyage, wrote “and so ends.” Our day finally came to an end but ours was not at the end of a voyage of slaughter but rather at the end of one of celebration. We welcomed the New Year, we remembered our loved ones, we enjoyed the vastness of the scenery of Antarctica and we reveled in the vitality of a pod of minke whales. Little that we did today could have been planned but we were rewarded for our curiosity and our attentiveness. Luck has been described as that which the prepared mind sees. Today, there were many ‘lucky’ people on board the Endeavour.
