Antarctica
As our Expedition Leader woke us up today, we were still heading south in the Drake Passage. Maybe there was a little more ocean motion than yesterday, but it was still a pleasant ride. Excitement was in the air for adventures soon to come, as we were now getting close to our aim...Antarctica. Before we can land in this part of the world, our Expedition Leader Tom Ritchie has to give us a full briefing of the Visitor’s Guide to Antarctica. This is a mandatory presentation per IAATO made up for all visitors to Antarctica: guests and crew alike. This was the first of our morning’s lectures, as we all want to keep Antarctic pristine.
By late morning, we were able to spot the first Antarctic land through the bridge radar screen, Smith Island. The island was named after the English captain who, in 1819, was the first to report sighting the South Shetland Islands. Even before we could see the island with our naked eyes, a number of penguins were splashing around the ship, giving us a hint about the land ahead. Now it was time to learn more about penguins, so Stefan Lundgren gave an introductory lecture about penguins, followed by John Carlson presenting the scientific census work that Oceanites does here in the Antarctic Peninsula area.
In the early afternoon, we could finally see Smith Island, as well as the first group of humpback whales who were swimming with a rare southern right whale. Antarctic fur seals were plentiful about the ship and in the afternoon, Tom Smith gave us an excellent lecture about the marine mammals. Later in the afternoon, we got out of the swells in the lee of the South Shetland Archipelago, and left the Drake Passage behind us. Still, we continued steaming farther south and by mid-evening, we were in very protected waters within the Gerlache Strait.
Now it was time for a very important scientific “first.” That is, to explore the deep waters of Antarctica with a deep-sea camera. Since 1999, Lindblad Expeditions has been focused on the undersea life and through scuba diving and the use of a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV), we have been able to explore deep down below the surface, to a maximum depth of about 150 meters. However, together with the National Geographic Society, we have a new partnership which has brought some new technology to the area. We now have a deep-sea camera or Rope Camera (RopeCam), which can go really, really deep. In recent years, the NG staff has made more than 200 deep-water deployments in the Pacific and Indo-Pacific oceans, and now it was time to learn what can be found near the deep ocean floor of Antarctica.
Tonight we dropped the camera down to about 1,200 meters and it will stay there for about 5 hours. Hopefully, by tomorrow morning we will have some interesting news! At least we already know that tomorrow we will have several exciting landings with penguins, icebergs, and glaciers, and maybe we’ll have some amazing news from 1,200 meters below the keel!
As our Expedition Leader woke us up today, we were still heading south in the Drake Passage. Maybe there was a little more ocean motion than yesterday, but it was still a pleasant ride. Excitement was in the air for adventures soon to come, as we were now getting close to our aim...Antarctica. Before we can land in this part of the world, our Expedition Leader Tom Ritchie has to give us a full briefing of the Visitor’s Guide to Antarctica. This is a mandatory presentation per IAATO made up for all visitors to Antarctica: guests and crew alike. This was the first of our morning’s lectures, as we all want to keep Antarctic pristine.
By late morning, we were able to spot the first Antarctic land through the bridge radar screen, Smith Island. The island was named after the English captain who, in 1819, was the first to report sighting the South Shetland Islands. Even before we could see the island with our naked eyes, a number of penguins were splashing around the ship, giving us a hint about the land ahead. Now it was time to learn more about penguins, so Stefan Lundgren gave an introductory lecture about penguins, followed by John Carlson presenting the scientific census work that Oceanites does here in the Antarctic Peninsula area.
In the early afternoon, we could finally see Smith Island, as well as the first group of humpback whales who were swimming with a rare southern right whale. Antarctic fur seals were plentiful about the ship and in the afternoon, Tom Smith gave us an excellent lecture about the marine mammals. Later in the afternoon, we got out of the swells in the lee of the South Shetland Archipelago, and left the Drake Passage behind us. Still, we continued steaming farther south and by mid-evening, we were in very protected waters within the Gerlache Strait.
Now it was time for a very important scientific “first.” That is, to explore the deep waters of Antarctica with a deep-sea camera. Since 1999, Lindblad Expeditions has been focused on the undersea life and through scuba diving and the use of a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV), we have been able to explore deep down below the surface, to a maximum depth of about 150 meters. However, together with the National Geographic Society, we have a new partnership which has brought some new technology to the area. We now have a deep-sea camera or Rope Camera (RopeCam), which can go really, really deep. In recent years, the NG staff has made more than 200 deep-water deployments in the Pacific and Indo-Pacific oceans, and now it was time to learn what can be found near the deep ocean floor of Antarctica.
Tonight we dropped the camera down to about 1,200 meters and it will stay there for about 5 hours. Hopefully, by tomorrow morning we will have some interesting news! At least we already know that tomorrow we will have several exciting landings with penguins, icebergs, and glaciers, and maybe we’ll have some amazing news from 1,200 meters below the keel!
