Port Lockroy and Gerlache Strait
This morning our amazing luck with the weather continued with striking clear, blue skies and wonderfully sunny conditions. Our first landing of the day was at Port Lockroy where we could see what a British base was like during the 1950’s. We mailed postcards and enjoyed the opportunity to do a little Antarctic shopping. We also visited Jougla Point and saw gentoo penguins nesting alongside a pile of massive whale bones left by the whalers who worked here during the 20th century.
After another delicious lunch, we sailed down the picturesque Gerlache Strait and found our second pod of killer whales for the trip. This time we had an incredible experience of watching the whales chase and kill a penguin right in front of the ship’s bow! The small group of three to four whales chased the gentoo penguin in circles for several minutes. Then one of the females raced through the water and grabbed the penguin by its feet. It was hard to see how they did this but the next time you could see that the whales had opened up the chest area of the penguin and left the rest of the carcass. It seems like an awful lot of effort for not much of a nutritional gain and we still do not completely understand why the whales do this type of behavior. It was a fantastic experience to be so close to these wonderful wolves of the sea and watch these type of behaviors that are only usually seen in National Geographic programs!
As a naturalist I am always asked how I became a marine biologist, and my answer is it all started when I was 13 years old and went on a whale watch off of Cape Cod. I thought that the naturalist had the coolest job on the boat. That’s when I decided what I wanted to do with my life. Our experience with the killer whales today reminded me of how much fun my job of sharing my love of the natural world with our guests can be, and I take joy in their excitement of what we see.
