We awoke to calm seas and the fog that sometimes persists along with them. About mid-morning, our ship delighted in the first sights of our first destination, the cliffs of famed iceberg A23a. A23a has been traveling the Southern Ocean since around the time that this writer was born in 1982. I use traveling loosely as this iceberg was bound into the dense sea ice of the Weddell Sea for most of its history. In recent history, it has started a journey northbound that has led to its current grounding off the shores of South Georgia. While it’s future is sure to include a breaking up over time, today the passengers of National Geographic Resolution were able to experience it in the magnitude that has made it notorious.
We were excited to find thousands of seabirds surrounding the iceberg, capitalizing on the production that large amounts of ice provide. In this part of the world, where you find ice, you find primary production, and where you find primary production, you find the charismatic animals that make your heart go pitter patter. What a day.
