Bird and Iceberg Spotting
While we weren’t in lectures which filled almost the whole day, we enjoyed some bird, whale, and iceberg spotting! The birds included fifty or more Cape Petrels that followed our boat all day, a Southern Giant Petrel, an Arctic Skua, and a Wandering Albatross. The Cape Petrels were pretty…black head and necks with upper wings speckled white and black. And of course, the Giant Petrel and Albatross were quite large. We saw the spray from three whales, but they were too far away to identify. Based on the shape of the blow and the depth of the waters, we suspect they were Fin whales. Our first iceberg spotting was just before 10 at night as we are finally getting close to land after two days of crossing the channel. Everyone that was in the bar ran to the port side of the boat to get a glimpse of the iceberg through the shroud of fog. We are traveling at about 10.2 knots, we’ve had a smooth crossing, and expect to be landing tomorrow! Continue reading “Day Six – On the Way to Antarctica, Continuing Across the Drake Passage”