Leopard Seal

Cierva Cove

Cierva Cove is a serious glacial area on the Western side of Graham Land, up near the top of the Antarctic Peninsula.  Under a  brilliant blue sky, flat-topped tabular icebergs floated in Hughes bay. IMG_5658We zodiac cruised around them, pressing forward into thick brash ice that popped and crackled as air trapped millennia ago released from the melting pieces. Imagine, what animal exhaled that air last, now being freed into the atmosphere again.

Forging our way, bouncing over and around ice chunks, I easily imagined what it might feel like to get trapped like adventurous explorers a century ago.IMG_2819  Coming around a flat berg, I held my breath passing a sleeping Leopard Seal with a blood-smeared mouth.IMG_2781 With reports of them attacking zodiac boats, I hoped it didn’t decide to wake up and jump at us. Other seals live and breed in colonies. These guys are loners, eating other seals and penguins along with krill and fish. The shape of the head looks rather reptilian rather than the cute seals doing tricks at Sea World.

We laughed with delight when a Minke whale surfaced, blowing a geyser of water sky-high. Minke’s are the second smallest of the baleen whales. (S)he stayed around us, feeding for quite a while. A clue this is a Minke is both the blowhole and fin showing at the same time at the water’s edge.IMG_2859

Immense bergs floated around us, caved off nearby glaciers. Ice jumbled in odd shapes while every surface sparkled under the sun.

Weddell seals laid on ice, sunbathing and lazy on this summer day in Antarctica.

Coming around this amazing iceberg, we were surprised by a swimming Leopard Seal. Although this is the third we’d seen on this trip, this was the first in the water, emphasizing such agility and  speed.  I’m glad no one fell in the water.

Leopard Seal swimming fast!
Primavera, the Argentinian summer station

The last picture is Primavera, the Argentinian summer station. They waved at us, and probably got a kick out of those brave (?) souls who participated in the polar plunge while chinstrap penguins looked on, shaking their heads in disbelief.

Ice Ice Baby at Muckle Bluff

We are now on the south coast of Elephant Island in the South Shetland island chain at Muckle Bluff.  The word “muckle” is Scottish for “large” and everything here is supersized.

Let’s start with the Endurance Glacier (named for Shackleton’s expedition shipwrecked here for 4 1/2 months on the opposite side of the island). The calving glacial face at the ocean is 3.73 miles wide. It crosses the width of the 16.8 mile island, hugging 2,799 foot tall mountain peaks. This heavily crevassed glacier has retreated up to 5,000 feet between 1990 and 2015. Besides global warming, the exposed face is battered with winds over 100 mph and up to 60 foot waves.

On our zodiac cruise along the coast line, we found such beautiful blue ice formed into surreal shapes. We visited Macaroni and Chinstrap Penguin nesting grounds from the water. I love the macaroni penguin picture, because you can see the feathers clearly.

How about this for a jaw dropping backdrop?

 

After checking out things from the water we visited with the nesting Chinstrap Penguin colony. These little guys are quite the climbers.

It’s so steep that they hop-hop-hop all the way down when it’s time to go eat. I can’t imagine how many calories they need to eat each day just for this exertion.

We also saw bleached out whale bones. The baleen in the second picture is from a whale’s mouth, used to sieve food and expel water. The ends look and feel like straw. The middle fluted part feels like a fingernail. Long ago, baleen was used in whips, corset stays and other products.img_2150

The picture above is one of my favorites. The lady is taking a picture out to sea, but look at all the penguins lined up behind her–and she doesn’t know it. Makes me smile.

There are many special critters  here. On the left is one of the best Antarctic predators– the Leopard Seal. Yet, walking behind him wobbles dinner–the penguin. Leopard Seals can weigh 1,300 pounds and  are 11 feet long. They do not breed on land like other seals and are loners. Their babies are born on the ice, nestled in a freezing hole by the mother. They’re only predator is a killer whale. Zoom on the picture of the Leopard seal and the Weddell seal to the right. Are they crying? Don’t shed tears for them—this is the way they eliminate saline from the ocean. Also, examine the flipper of the Weddell. Do you notice something odd? Fingernails, perhaps? They are both “earless” seals.img_1997

Watching “porpoising” penguins is mesmerizing. So fast. So graceful!