Good morning iceberg!

Feb 4, 2015 Shag Rocks: 53o33'S/042o01'W

Wow, what a morning! Very different to yesterday’s lazy day spent catching up with some sleep and being at presentations – then watching an hour or so of Master & Commander!

We crossed the Antarctic Convergence about 5-5:30pm yesterday – this is where the cold water of the Antarctic Ocean meets the warmer southern Atlantic. It is a fascinating phenomenon that is specific to the Antarctic, and very important to bird and sea-life not just in this area, but along the west coasts of South America, Africa and New Zealand.

The dense cold water from the Antarctic pushes the warmer water from the north up towards the surface, with all its nutrients and fish – phytoplankton come nearer the surface, followed by krill and squid. This then attracts seals, whales, and sea birds that live in cold climates.

I was up very early this morning to see new species of birds souring above us and following the ship. Even though we were several hundred kms from South Georgia, we were entranced by Wandering Albatross, Black Browed Albatross and numerous petrels and smaller birds as they soared by, skirting around the bow of the ship, heading down to the stern and then coming back around alongside us. It is mesmerising watching them soar and dip close to the water, their wingtips skimming the surface.

We have following seas at the moment, which is making it calm-ish and reasonably easy to move around – although the outside temperature has dropped noticeably.

Our morning presentation was all about penguins – very interesting of course! And just as this finished, Woody announced that the first iceberg had been spotted, was straight ahead of the ship and would be clearly visible to us in about 40 minutes. (I lost the “guess the first iceberg” competition by 3 hours).

Camera is ready, gear is on, and I’m heading out now.

Back again. That was one very large tabular iceberg! It was approx 3.8km on the length that we sailed passed, and around 50-100m high (above the water - 90% is below the surface). We changed course to see this, and were then heading straight into the wind and the seas – very rough, but worth it to see this large piece of ice being battered by the sea.

Just behind it were 2 smaller, but still very large, dramatic, icebergs – and we could also see the “other” side of the first. It looked to be somewhat triangular in shape. We kept a very safe distance, keeping in mind that the area below the surface could be jutting out horizontally well below the water line. I look forward to sharing the photos!

We then passed “Shag Rocks” – these are 6 major and some smaller rocky areas that jut up out of the ocean. They are perfect bird nesting sites, and we saw, and smelled, plenty of birds/Shags. It really is strange coming across these in the middle of the no-where - apparently early explorers thought so too.

Tomorrow we have a very early start – 5am wake-up for 5:30am zodiacs, followed by breakfast and then other landings! This will be our first landing on South Georgia!

This group of islands has exceptionally large colonies of fur seals, elephant seals, Macaroni penguins, King penguins and numerous other animals. I’m really looking forward to being there. This is totally new territory to me – and the primary reason I’ve come on this particular trip.