Twas the morning after Christmas and on the back of the ship
Not a Bloody Mary was spilt, not a drop, not a sip.
The coffee was served, muffins, tea and toast
We bade goodbye to Antarctica,
headed towards Argentina’s coast.
The Drake Passage has been very, very good to us. “Drake Lake” describes the calm waters of our crossing. Breakfast was a slow affair with guests sleeping in later than most of our previous mornings. The day got going with an extremely interesting presentation by Erin McFadden, describing the diving physiology and behaviour of whales. We saw humpback whales yesterday evening, just before Christmas dinner. Many of our questions about them were answered by Erin in her talk.
Later, “Fruschoppen” was served on the back deck. This consisted of sausages, pretzels, Bloody Marys, or ice cream. Black-browed albatross flew long curving arcs across the sky while cape petrels formed squadrons off of the flanks of the National Geographic Orion. White-chinned petrels joined the swarm from time to time. All of the species who flew with us on the first days of our adventure were here to accompany us home.
National Geographic’s Maria Stenzel gave an inspired talk about a few of her assignments with National Geographic Magazine. Tagging humpback whales in the winter seas of the Antarctic Peninsula, photographing icefish and even an octopus from these frigid waters, or camping among millions of calling chinstrap penguins, Maria got the shot. Her photos were beautiful in these rugged conditions.
After lunch, Rich Kirchner, our photo instructor, showed his stunning images of other Lindblad /National Geographic destinations: polar bears of the high Arctic, summer flowers in Svalbard, or the arc of sand tossed by a female sea turtle digging her nest enticed us to think about the magic of this wide, wild world.
A comfortable gathering of new friends attended tea time in the lounge. Small sandwiches, sweets, and tea made the conversation easy. We thought that the evening would come calmly with a recap of the day and a call to dinner—that is not how it happened!
The familiar chimes of announcements sounded. The Captain and Shawn, our expedition leader, had found whales: Fin whales feeding in the open waters of the Drake! Seemingly out of nowhere these immense creatures blew and surfaced first far then near our ship. We spotted eight fin whales directly in front of us, then under us, then some on starboard some on port side. Out on deck we crowded with warm jackets and cameras ready. For half of an hour the fin whales stayed with us feeding just below the surface of the sea.
It was the perfect introduction to the Pristine Seas initiative sponsored by Lindblad to preserve the remaining areas of healthy oceanic systems. Before dinner, we learned about the condition of most of the oceans on this planet and how we could aid in their restoration while dreaming of future adventures to share.
