Danco Coast, Antarctica
This is like watching from God’s window.
Danco Coast, Antarctica Thursday, February 2, 2017
The Southern ocean surrounding Antarctica is one of the most amazing ecosystem on earth and is home to a variety of incredible creatures. On our second day in the Antarctic peninsula, we were able to see and enjoy Antarctica's rich wildlife, including the most abundant and best known animals -penguins, whales, seals, albatrosses and other seabirds.
The announcement goes like this, " There is a whale on the starboard side," and in less than a minute, it was followed by another announcement, " There is a whale, a fur seal and penguins on the port side."
Humpback whales are the most abundant baleen whale around the Antarctic Peninsula.
These announcements, went on and on for quite a while and we all rushed to that side of the ship as soon as we heard it. At lunchtime, at the Lido Restaurant, there were several viewings of a group of humpback whales foraging or bubble feeding and some were seen tail slapping. We could clearly see the tail slapping humpback whales raising their tail flukes out of water and slapping them forcefully on the surface of the water. These actions were repeated over and over and the sound were so loud that we could clearly hear it inside the Lido.
The humpback whales were so active and displayed a range of spectacular surfacing behaviors like breaching where the whale's body leaves the water. Every now and then, we saw the whales blew air and water vapor too. We learned that each whale species has its distinctive blow. It is small and bushy for humpbacks and up to 12 meters high for blue whales and V-shaped for southern right whales. Whales do not breath involuntarily like humans, because whales must consciously think about surfacing to breathe, they never go to sleep. They just dozed off with one half of their brain remaining active to focus on breathing.
Several times during the day, we saw groups of humpback whales bubble feeding. This is a unique method of gathering prey. They released rings of bubbles at depth to capture schools of small fish and then surfaced with their mouth open in the center of the ring.
Meanwhile, penguins are the most common birds in Antarctic, and are specially adapted for its cold environment. Penguin feathers are very stiff, short and densely packed in order to keep the wind off and help the bird conserve heat and swim. They have strong claws that can grip into slippery surfaces. Many penguins have thick layers of fat for insulation. Their short stiff tail help with balance. Their short sharp beak is used for catching fish and krill, pecking at neighbors. The Emperor penguin is capable of a 22-minute underwater stay, up to a depth of 984 feet. The length of a typical stay is up to six minutes.
There are 17 penguin species on Earth, but only six (6) of them reside in the Antarctic on a permanent basis.
Feeding frenzy!
There are 2.5 million Adelie penguins in the Antarctic region and their preferred food is krill and fish. With 7 million pairs of Chinstrap penguins in the area, it was not surprising when one of these penguins was spotted from our cruise ship. Due to this high population, it was so easy to spot them. Also, as soon as we saw huge brown spots on the icebergs and the air started smelling like fish sauce,the penguin colony is close-by.
There are about 300,000 breeding pairs of Gentoo penguins in the Antarctic region. They rely on diet of fish, squid, and other crustaceans.
We definitely saw a lot of Adelie penguins, Gentoo and Chinstraps on this cruise expedition.
Seals - There are six (6) seal species that inhabit Antarctica including Crabeater, Weddel, Ross, Fur, Southern Elephant and Leopard.
All the Antarctic seals , except the fur, are true seals, (meaning they have no ears). Seals navigate and stay under water for 30 minutes.
Flying Birds- There are about 35 species of Antarctic birds including a large variety of albatross, petrels, prions and terns. The Wandering Albatross has a wing span of over 3 meters and can spend months flying at sea without ever stopping.
Whales - They are largest creatures in the Southern ocean. Many of them undergo a long migration, feeding in rich Antarctic waters during the austral summer, and breeding in the winter at lower latitudes. There are eight (8) whale species in the Antarctic.
Dolphins - There are about 11 species of dolphins.
Overall, we can't get enough of being outside while cruising in a seemingly endless view in Antarctica. We were amazed at what we saw and being just a few feet away from nature gave us a wonderful feeling! Most of all, we were in sheer awe of Antarctica's natural beauty and and complexity!
