antarctica

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    Rest in peace, little gentoo

    Bysumaya

    It is a beautiful morning with blue skies overhead and clear waters through the scenic Gerlache Strait. The calm air provides us with a non-existent horizon; it is impossible to differentiate between sky & sea and can only be indirectly inferred from the land & ice on the water. In the distance, we spot orcas. They are rapidly approaching, and we realize they are in pursuit of a lone gentoo penguin. I hope he got to enjoy this nice weather before his entire world fell apart today.

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    Afterimages of water, whales, and seal feces

    Bysumaya

    Even as far as oceans go, the Southern Ocean is very salty. There are a lot of reasons: the freezing of the ice sucks the freshwater out from the ocean; it does not rain very much on account of the whole Antarctica being a desert thing; there is strong evaporation due to frequent intense winds; and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current – which mixes its deep salty upward creating high salinity at the surface.

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    Birders are strange and talkative.

    Bysumaya

    Sea sickness looks downright miserable. Despite pleasant weather, many on board struggled or simply failed to hold their stomachs. Thankfully, the ship was filled with thoughtful gestures including never being more than 5 feet away from vomit bag stashes at any given time. Personally, I wanted an unforgiving Drake Passage – after all, this was supposed to be an homage to Shackleton – but given the smell and anguish that would have brought on from those already being physically tormented, it’s probably best we had fairly steady water for our first two days at sea crossing the Drake.