Seeing the Antarctic for the first time!

Tuesday, 15 January:  Crossing the Antarctic Circle – Good Morning Humpbacks!
Sunny blue skies and calm seas – and I’m on the Bridge at about 7:00am to see spouts from two Humpback whales – what a morning greeting!  We’re heading due south now, and can see land way off in the distance.  In fact the Antarctic Circle (66o33’66” S) is still 5 hours away.  

The view is indescribable, and I’m surprised at how emotional I feel.  To be in Antarctica has been a dream of mine since I was very little, following the ANARE expeditions in newspapers and pamphlets – and here I am, sailing to Adelaide Island, within the Antarctic Circle.  There are large mountains appearing in front and to each side, and icebergs – small, large and ginormous – are dotted around us.  Birds fly around the ship, and whale spouts are popping up to starboard.  The sea is still a wonderful deep and clear blue.

We’re all trying to describe what we’re seeing, and superlatives abound, but somehow don’t do it justice: magnificent, awesome, amazing, beautiful, majestic, spacious, dramatic, spectacular, overwhelming, breathtaking, phenomenal, and mind blowing.  No single word describes the beauty and magnitude of this place.  And photos are just not able to do justice.
I’m out on the bow mid-morning to see the view from a different angle.  We’re told there’s a sighting to port of a humpback mother and calf and the ship is slowing down so that we can follow them from a distance.  These are wonderful animals and the calf will stay with the mother for a long time, learning the “ropes” of life at sea.  They both blow, come to the surface, wave a fin and then the mother shows us her tail fluke as she dives.  A fabulous sighting and some great photos.  

All passengers are gathering on the bow so that we can celebrate crossing the Antarctic Circle. At 11:30am Hayley starts the count down from her GPS, and we celebrate with some good old Jacob’s Creek sparkling.  I’ve crossed the Antarctic Circle – the sun is shining, and it’s getting noticeably colder.  

We’ve arrived in Crystal Bay in sunshine & no wind. The sea is still a clear, deep blue.  The icebergs are so very white with touches of emerald and turquoise, and where they meet the sea, they reflect a clear sapphire blue.  Glorious colours.

Hayley, our Zodiac driver this afternoon, takes us straight towards a small ice flow carrying a sleeping Weddell Seal.  He’s oblivious to us snapping photos and talking about him – obviously still digesting a nice, hearty lunch of krill.  

We then make our way through some brash ice – small bits of glaciers that have disintegrated either when they hit the sea or just over time.  Hayley turns off the motor so that we can hear the popping sound of air bubbles trapped in the ice, finally being freed – it’s like sitting in a glass of champagne.  We breath deeply – this is clean, unpolluted, 5-10,000 year old air that should definitely make us 5 years younger.  And just to make sure that we can gain the full benefit, we manage to grab a small block of crystal clear ice that we keep in the Zodiac for our pre-dinner drinks this evening!  

But first more to explore – seals, icebergs and calving glaciers.  We see another Weddell seal, as well as two Crabeater seals – all sunning themselves on chunks of sea-ice and small icebergs.  The variety of sizes, shapes, textures and spots of colour on the icebergs is staggering.  As we near the ice-shelf, we hear a “boom” and see some of the ice fall into the sea creating a small tsunami – the two Zodiacs in the area race away.  

All too soon we’re heading back to our home away from home, with our block of glacial ice sparkling in the bottom of the Zodiac.  

It’s now 4:30pm and time to update this diary; but I’m again distracted by my very first sighting of a Minke whale!  It has been another clear and cloudless day with very light winds.  

And by the way, the glacial ice was delicious with Kahlua!