Right Whale Bay, South Georgia , 3/4/2020, National Geographic Orion
Aboard the
National Geographic Orion
Antarctica
We attempted a landing at Right Whale Bay today, but unfortunately, the weather had other plans for us. Intense gusts of wind from the land made launching a Zodiac impossible. However, it did make for wonderful photography, whipping up sea spray. We found less windy conditions further offshore where we spent some time watching blue whales, before heading west for the Falkland Islands some 770 nautical miles away.
Conor Ryan is a congenital ecologist. His career began in the late 1980s, when he developed a keen interest in intertidal ecology, undertaking almost daily field trips to the seashore across from his home in Cobh, Ireland. Though he logged significan...
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National Geographic Resolution arrived to Fortuna Bay early in the morning under a cloud-covered sky. The protection of the bay created a nice relief from the winds. We landed our long hikers shortly after breakfast so they could begin their trek over the headlands to the colony. We then repositioned the ship toward the head of the bay to land the rest of our guests. Fortuna Bay is known as the final leg of Shackleton’s route across the island, and it is home to a large king penguin colony. After we sailed to nearby Hercules Bay, we were treated to conditions calm enough for kayaking and Zodiac cruising. With so much wildlife in the area, guests had some wonderful encounters, especially with the colony of macaroni penguins low on the cliffs of the bay. The ever-fickle weather brought sunshine and light snow flurries, embodying the nature of the island.
We woke up early this morning to take advantage of the calm weather. We set out to explore Pourquoi-Pas Island, named after Charcot’s second Antarctic expedition ship. We hiked up the island’s moraine to gain lovely views of the bay. We also enjoyed a leisurely walk along the shore. Along the way, we spotted a few more Adelie penguins, skuas with their chicks, kelp gulls, a Weddell seal and a crabeater seal swimming through the water. In the afternoon, we explored a brand-new area on Horseshoe Island, pioneering a new hike up one side and down the other into Gaul Cove. We enjoyed beautiful views of the cove and glacier. The hike was full of beautiful pink granite and stunning geological views all around.
After leaving the Stange Ice Shelf and cruising up Carroll Inlet during the wee hours of the morning, we continued heading northward all day. As we made our way through open seas and moderate northerly winds in the morning, we had time for a couple of presentations in the Ice Lounge. We discussed the famous “Race to the Pole” between Amundsen and Scott, and the wonderful adaptations of the marine mammals we have observed. We are located in the southeast corner of the Bellingshausen Sea, the base of the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. This region, where the coastline turns west toward Marie Byrd Land and the Ross Sea, is entirely unfamiliar to the ships of our fleet. The icebound shores we see, the rocky islets, and the remote nunataks rising from the ice caps—it is all new to us, and it is particularly exciting for that reason. One of the great pleasures in exploring unknown places is making the association between the shapes and names I have seen on a map to the physical reality of standing (or cruising) on that spot on the globe. Seeing what it really looks like and feels like is exciting. I have wondered about names and places on the map of this region for years, and it’s a real delight to finally visit them and put faces to the names. Huge places like Alexander Island and little details of the crenellated corner of the Antarctic Peninsula: Smyley Island, the Carroll Inlet, Stange Sound and the Ryderfield Peninsula. Today’s journey took us around the huge Beethoven Peninsula, the southwest prominence of Alexander Island. As is the case with many Antarctic place names, there is a theme here: the many large bays and inlets are named for famous European composers. The Brahms Ice Shelf, the Mendelssohn Ice Shelf and so on. We spent this afternoon cruising among the enormous icebergs and floes of pack ice, observing seals and an emperor penguin in Verdi Inlet. On the largest scale, Palmer Land is the most exciting for me. The historic regional name was given to the southern half of the Antarctic Peninsula. Most of the continent is divided into pie slices. The slices bear unofficial names given by explorers of the heroic age or by later geographers to honor those same great men and women and their sponsors. Ellsworth Land, Queen Maud Land and Wilkes Land: they have always intrigued me and piqued my curiosity. The northern half of the Peninsula is Graham Land. In 21 years of visiting the Antarctic, I have never been outside its borders. Now we have cruised the full length of the coast of Palmer Land and come right to the corner of Ellsworth Land. The map has unfolded before us, and a new part of the planet has become real.
