Day 16 - Orkney Passage and the Path of the Humpback
Yesterday was momentous.
The sun rose over a vast landscape of shimmering
blue water with a cool icy crust. The horizon glowed red then orange and
then chromatic yellows and blues. Massive icebergs, a saw-tooth of sky scrapers
on the horizon. We were floating on central park and Manhattan is stretched
around us.
Leopard seals are spotted, lazing and groaning, drifting along on distant
frozen platforms. Rafts of penguins float by congregating on concaved ice
blocks, swimming with heads poked up and bodies jumping and diving from the
water. Piercing the water, before one such congregation, a fin is spotted and a
spray of water in the air.
The word is passed around and we flock, like the very penguins we gawk at,
to the edges of the ship. As if satisfying a whale sized thirst for attention,
this giant of the sea, this giant of the earth, gives us a remarkable display
(and one we are happy to receive). Scientists and permanent crew alike are
buzzing. Andy Watson and I stand at the corner of the ship as the whale passes
just meters from us. We are like children - star struck and speechless. Even
George, veteran of 30 years on the ship is following the majesty of this
creature back and forward. At one moment Gwyn and I search frantically. From nowhere
the whale pops its head from the water, as if to say: “peek-a-boo!”. As Simon,
the deck engineer, says afterwards: “If that doesn’t get your heart racing, you’re
in the wrong job”.
Circle after circle are made of the ship, with the odd pirouette and spin
under the water before a final salute and flash of its tail fin.
The excitement is hard to come down from. Work must go on. We are here for a
reason. A closing of the skies, a solid southerly breeze and the beginnings of
a snow storm remind us where we really are.
We are now sitting over Orkney Passage, one of the key gateways between
the Sub-Polar Weddell Region and the Atlantic - A pathway between true
Antarctic waters and the rest of the ocean. The ice is open enough for us to
recover some moorings, but not without a fight. Tomorrow I will tell you what
they are there for.
Although the story
will not have the majestic draw of a creature like a Humpback Whale, the enormity,
mystery and antiquity of the Antarctic Bottom Water is quite a tale. (And yes
there will be more pretty pictures tomorrow ;-)
Thanks for all your comments and support! Making this Blog has been really
fun and I am glad it is being enjoyed. Soon we will have more profiles and some
guest posts.Here is a wonderful portrait of Gwyn talking to the Whale by JB's talanted, 3 year old, neice:
Illustration by Thaïs: From left it reads "The man who talks with the whale - The whale - Who are you? Are you a huge red whale? (burst out laughing)".