The beauty, isolation and vastness of the Antarctic capture the soul.
Senses, colours, and emotions are intensified and deprived.
Cabin fever, home sickness, seasickness and boredom compete with some of the most incredible experiences on the planet.
Even a relatively short voyage south leaves its mark on the expeditioner.
Yet one craves for the familiarity and intimacy of loved ones.
The culture, the society, of the south is unique.
Time and space change, it is as if nothing and no one else exists.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Colours of the South - exerpts
The 14th of January was a brilliant day!
It started a 5am. At about that time, we came to the first pack ice (sea ice)for the trip, it was loose pack ice, so no ice breaking, and we still steamed at 9kts and enjoyed the scenery whilst we worked. We saw Adelie Penguins (2) and Crabeater Seals, usually one at a time, but occasionally 4 at once. There was alot of bird life too (other than penguins!). When we were through the pack ice, which was quite a large area, we started seeing lots of whales. In fact throughout the whole day we tripled our sightings!! We saw minkes, humpback and fin whales mostly.
After lunch we headed closer to the continental shelf (off the Amery Ice shelf, if you want to see on a map). Continental shelves are known for large numbers of wildlife, and the purpose of going along it was to find krill. We weren't quite on it, but we saw so much, it was one whale after another! Also after lunch we came into clear skies, the first for the whole trip. It was beautiful- blue sky, blue water, icebergs scattered around us, whales blowing in the distance. I even spotted a large pod of pilot whales in the distance.
After dinner we came to some more pack ice, a bit more closely packed, but still loose, and a smaller area. We only saw a seal (crabeater) and a penguin (adelie), but with the clear sky it was marvellous. Ice for as far as we could see. So I took some pictures. We stood on the bow as we crumbled over some ice, it must be really spectacular to actually be breaking ice! We did not work for that half hour, as we went through that ice, as it was just after dinner and we were still on break, which was wonderful. Everyone onboard (except some crew who would've had to keep working) came out to see and take photos. Our shift started as we exited the ice and again it was one whale after another!! Some were distant, some were close, mostly in ones and twos. Mostly large baleen whales (but not blues or Southern Rights)
Then just as we were on last shift for the day (8-9pm) we saw a huge pod of killer whales (it was while I was on watch!). Everyone on the ship came out to look and take pictures! Even though there was still alot of light, we ended after that, only to have another 4-5 sightings happen straight after. One of them was a sperm whale ventilating at the surface, preparing for a dive. They dive deep for an hour or two at a time searching for giant squids to eat, so spend some time resting at the surface taking many breaths, saturating the blood with oxygen, before diving straight down. And right on cue, the animal sounded (dived) right next to the ship and raised its tail.
There were many ooohhs and arrrhhs and it was amazing and amusing!!
As we had so many sightings, the end of day procedure took a couple of hours, so the sun was setting just as we were finishing (at 11:35pm). We took some photos of it, and saw the 'green flash'. Then it was time to have a hot drink and to bed for a few hours!!! It was a long day, and wonderful. After the sun set it did not get dark. It just ducked under the horizon for a few hours before rising again!!!
And so ended a very special day!
___________________
February 2nd dawned clear and bright. A few wispy clouds decorated the sky, the calm sea was a sapphire blue specked with white, and we were headed for Mawson.
From our watch on the flying bridge, we could see the continent
getting closer and closer. What an incredible sight! A smooth white horizon, with four mountains, jagged and black, jutted from the crisp, stark, landscape. The sun low in the east, each mount cast its own vast shadow perfectly on the pristine white. As each minute went by, it loomed larger and larger, becoming more and more real. An awesome sight. Apparently we were passing through ice berg alley, but it was quite wide. Soon after lunch, Mawson appeared, a distance red speck on the continent. We did a full watch (seeing no whales) until we reached some pack ice (very loose, but very speccie) off the coast and went off effort. I took 27 photos today (up 'til now I have used only 3 rolls!!) and I expect to use many more photos in the next day or two... How incredible - how immense! Before us was the desert continent.
We passed a tubular iceberg, tall and proud, with a rim of watercolour green at its base, rather than the picturesque blue we had seen on the older, decaying bergs. This is an extreme place. The scenery is amazing! There are no words to describe it - it has to be seen.
Immense, stark, white. Brown rock. Nothing can explain the true wonder of Antarctica. Mountains that jut out of the white, rugged and brown, giving the illusion of a cloud shrouded 'islandic' mountain peak. The peak of the mountain is naked and exposed, the lower half is blanketed in a stunning white smoothness. The word lush can not be applied. It is unique. So mind-boggling! This continent is a desert, a barren world, save for a few spots. No rivers run here, only glaciers. And the wind, the katabatic wind, rushes across the continent from the centre to the edges. And it bites. Oh how it bites. It cut through the gloves I was wearing, until my fingers were thought to be non-existent by my hands. This is a world that needs to be seen to be believed. I can not do it justice, the photos will not do it justice. Video would not do it justice. It is so immense.
I feel so privileged to be here.
In Antarctica!
_________________
CABIN FEVER (and we're not even half way yet!)
On the bleak, grey, foggy days, it is hard to avoid cabin fever. And even homesickness. So I imagine myself away to a place green, with undulating land, instead of sea. I take myself back to the Pacific Northwest, where Andrew and I spent two weeks in the Vancouver area.
A place where there are so many greens, so vivid and bright, that they each deserve a different name. It is winter, but the soft white snow and cold air is different to here. There is a distinct lack of noise, a stunning silence of the many-greened forest, only interrupted by waterfalls and rapids of the mountain streams. And we were the only people for miles, or so it seemed, rather than the ONLY people for miles and miles!!! Or I will imagine myself to the Australian Bush, to the national parks and reserves around Canberra. We are bush walking, with our day-packs full of water, snacks and a picnic lunch. It is summer and the cicadas create a loud chorus that drowns into the background and drums into the subconscious, almost disappearing in its intensity. We will hear birds and glimpse the lizards as they scuttle away form the path. We will stop to eat lunch on a lichen covered rock, over looking a deep valley. Peering though the cool shade of the trees, we will see a sparkling river winding through the valley. Here the green is different. It is dull and smells of eucalyptus. The leaves rustle in the breeze. There is a beauty here that is unmistakenly Australia.
But then the horizon becomes distant, as the enveloping fog lifts.
The sun sparkles on the now blue sea, and makes the ice bergs dazzle with the magnificent pure whites and THAT amazing blue. The sea is calm then, and people venture outside to play hacky sack, and totem tennis, and to take photos. The bridge becomes vibrant as people come to see the Antarctic Magic. Soon cabin fever is past, and the wonder of being in the "Last Frontier" fills me with awe. And still - I am told - "we ain't seen nothin' yet"!
ON NEWS BACK HOME:
I think about what it is like back in OZ right now. We hear news of floods in Queensland and fires, particularly in News South Wales and Victoria. Descriptions of a stark and tortured landscape around Canberra, the devastation of 400 homes and 4 lives. Half the bush in the area has been the victim of the rage of the bush fire. And while the country seers in the summer heat, I don my freezer suit, fleece lined boots, gloves and ugg-boot hat, to stand out in the 0 degree Celsius temperatures looking for whales! It is so hard to imagine what it must be like in Australia right now. What a powerful force is nature. It can be our most vengeful enemy, or our greatest friend.
____________
... We could see Mount Henderson clearly, 18 km from where we were. And White. Ice, slippery and rough. With streaks of blue.
Unfortunately the over cast sky dulled the colours, it was still spectacular, but I am told that when the sun shines on the ice, the blues really stand out! I took some pics, and had one taken of me with Henderson in the back ground. The ice is 400 m thick, the mountain 1000 m high, so the ice is nearly halfway up the mountain! It was so amazing. We stopped the Hag half way back to the station, whilst still on the plateau, to take photos of the harbour and the station. There was some fog, or low lying cloud in the distance, but we could see the station and harbour clearly, with the ship in the harbour!
_____________________
A beautiful sunrise, and three whales in the first hour! Then the sky went black, for a bit, making the world look ominous! The sea state was unfortunately a 5, so we were on one person watches throughout the morning. The afternoon gave us good conditions and we went to full watch. Almost 8 hours to the minute after seeing our last whales, we were treated to a pod of 12 hourglass dolphins! The first for this voyage, and a first for me!
Then, minutes later, a humpback whale cruised past, a made quite a splash! THEN!!! More hourglass dolphins (8) 10 minutes after that!!! These three sightings were all really close to the ship too. After four more hours (during which we had dinner and did a CTD) it was getting towards the end of the day, the light was fading, when Vic cried "There's something out there!". It was several somethings in fact, 4 humpbacks feeding. Through the binoculars I saw the head of one come out of the water with its mouth open...showing the baleen plates! Awesome! They were very surface active. What a way to end the day.
___________
February 28: The weather improved considerably throughout the day. The sky was fairly clear. There was a nice spattering of icebergs. In fact by the late afternoon it was perfect whale spotting conditions. But do you think we saw any? no! It was dusk when we finished for the day (about 9:30). We had a cuppa, people were being pretty quiet. I went to the bridge to see if the sky was clear, and I saw that some stars were coming out! Stars! I had not seen stars since Hobart!!! So I put some warm gear on and ventured outside. It was so peaceful. Just me, in the growing dark. The ship pushed its way through some thick brash, just a narrow band, a promise of things to come. I watched as familiar constellations appeared, the Southern Cross, bright and proud; Orion (the Saucepan!), faint but distinct. And I saw a faint and wispy cloud stretched across the sky, covering Orion. It was greenish, or so I imagined. I mused that it was an aurora, but it wasn't until I was joined on deck by another spectator that it became apparent! Before long there were several people on deck, all scattered, enjoying the phenomenon in silence (for the most part). Soon after people started moving out, and as it got darker, the aurora australis began to shimmer and twist, it widened and shrank, became greener, then whiter. Then it did a most wondrous and phenomenal, spectacular and awesome dance in the sky. Waves of magenta raced across the wisps of white and green, the bottom faintly orange. It claimed almost the whole sky, seeming powerful and delicate all at once. One spectator described it as a night time rainbow, the colours were so impressive.
______________________________
March 4: At 4:30 am (Mawson time) we were at the top of Ice Berg Alley, of course I was sensibly asleep at this time, and it was dark! Sunrise was at 6:30, and I was up on the bridge before then, watching and taking pics. We saw a Solar Pillar. Apparently they are rarer than a solar halo! Of course, I don't know how common a solar halo is!! The solar pillar was pinky-orange, and was a broad, not too tall band stretching into the heavens from the sun, which was just below the horizon. Being iceberg alley, there are lots of icebergs, mostly at a distance. On our portside they are silhouetted by the sunrise, on our left they are sparkling with the reflected sunrise. Beautiful! The sea is calm, it is partly cloudy. Beautiful.
________________
The senses become very heightened at sea. For one thing, smell. There are so few smells on the ship, that each smell is intensified. Apparently as we get close to Tasmania, the smell of eucalyptus is very strong. A smell that we did not notice as we left, but on our arrival I noticed the thickness and the stickiness of the air more than anything else! On the continent, the main smell was ice. Cold nothingness, a fresh and pure scent. And sound. On the ship there is the constant droning background noise of the engine. The buzz of computers. Chatter of people. The screech of the CTD, the thrusters roaring. The only natural sounds we have heard have been whilst in Mawson, and it was surreal. The mind questioned the existence of such sounds. The penguins squawk, and occasional non-flightless bird crying, the soft singing of the weddell seals. The continent was otherwise silent. After the ship, it was a welcome silence, an intensified and pure silence. If sound and smell can be described in colour then Antarctica is white. The senses are engulfed with the whiteness of Antarctica. It smells white, it looks white, it sounds white. Even the air tastes white. Perhaps even the touch of it is white. Pure, clean, incorruptible. What an experience. And yet I longed to have my senses flooded with the greens of the world. If white for the senses is pure and incorruptible, green is the rebel of colours. Green is so varied, so dynamic, in its intensities and its personalities. Both green and white give a sense of peace and satisfaction, but in very different ways. It is so hard to explain the wonder of nature. The natural world fascinates and stimulates the senses.
_______________________
If you have enjoyed these exerpts and would like to read the full story, with pictures, email charliebentle@hotmail.co.uk for a PDF version.
It started a 5am. At about that time, we came to the first pack ice (sea ice)for the trip, it was loose pack ice, so no ice breaking, and we still steamed at 9kts and enjoyed the scenery whilst we worked. We saw Adelie Penguins (2) and Crabeater Seals, usually one at a time, but occasionally 4 at once. There was alot of bird life too (other than penguins!). When we were through the pack ice, which was quite a large area, we started seeing lots of whales. In fact throughout the whole day we tripled our sightings!! We saw minkes, humpback and fin whales mostly.
After lunch we headed closer to the continental shelf (off the Amery Ice shelf, if you want to see on a map). Continental shelves are known for large numbers of wildlife, and the purpose of going along it was to find krill. We weren't quite on it, but we saw so much, it was one whale after another! Also after lunch we came into clear skies, the first for the whole trip. It was beautiful- blue sky, blue water, icebergs scattered around us, whales blowing in the distance. I even spotted a large pod of pilot whales in the distance.
After dinner we came to some more pack ice, a bit more closely packed, but still loose, and a smaller area. We only saw a seal (crabeater) and a penguin (adelie), but with the clear sky it was marvellous. Ice for as far as we could see. So I took some pictures. We stood on the bow as we crumbled over some ice, it must be really spectacular to actually be breaking ice! We did not work for that half hour, as we went through that ice, as it was just after dinner and we were still on break, which was wonderful. Everyone onboard (except some crew who would've had to keep working) came out to see and take photos. Our shift started as we exited the ice and again it was one whale after another!! Some were distant, some were close, mostly in ones and twos. Mostly large baleen whales (but not blues or Southern Rights)
Then just as we were on last shift for the day (8-9pm) we saw a huge pod of killer whales (it was while I was on watch!). Everyone on the ship came out to look and take pictures! Even though there was still alot of light, we ended after that, only to have another 4-5 sightings happen straight after. One of them was a sperm whale ventilating at the surface, preparing for a dive. They dive deep for an hour or two at a time searching for giant squids to eat, so spend some time resting at the surface taking many breaths, saturating the blood with oxygen, before diving straight down. And right on cue, the animal sounded (dived) right next to the ship and raised its tail.
There were many ooohhs and arrrhhs and it was amazing and amusing!!
As we had so many sightings, the end of day procedure took a couple of hours, so the sun was setting just as we were finishing (at 11:35pm). We took some photos of it, and saw the 'green flash'. Then it was time to have a hot drink and to bed for a few hours!!! It was a long day, and wonderful. After the sun set it did not get dark. It just ducked under the horizon for a few hours before rising again!!!
And so ended a very special day!
___________________
February 2nd dawned clear and bright. A few wispy clouds decorated the sky, the calm sea was a sapphire blue specked with white, and we were headed for Mawson.
From our watch on the flying bridge, we could see the continent
getting closer and closer. What an incredible sight! A smooth white horizon, with four mountains, jagged and black, jutted from the crisp, stark, landscape. The sun low in the east, each mount cast its own vast shadow perfectly on the pristine white. As each minute went by, it loomed larger and larger, becoming more and more real. An awesome sight. Apparently we were passing through ice berg alley, but it was quite wide. Soon after lunch, Mawson appeared, a distance red speck on the continent. We did a full watch (seeing no whales) until we reached some pack ice (very loose, but very speccie) off the coast and went off effort. I took 27 photos today (up 'til now I have used only 3 rolls!!) and I expect to use many more photos in the next day or two... How incredible - how immense! Before us was the desert continent.
We passed a tubular iceberg, tall and proud, with a rim of watercolour green at its base, rather than the picturesque blue we had seen on the older, decaying bergs. This is an extreme place. The scenery is amazing! There are no words to describe it - it has to be seen.
Immense, stark, white. Brown rock. Nothing can explain the true wonder of Antarctica. Mountains that jut out of the white, rugged and brown, giving the illusion of a cloud shrouded 'islandic' mountain peak. The peak of the mountain is naked and exposed, the lower half is blanketed in a stunning white smoothness. The word lush can not be applied. It is unique. So mind-boggling! This continent is a desert, a barren world, save for a few spots. No rivers run here, only glaciers. And the wind, the katabatic wind, rushes across the continent from the centre to the edges. And it bites. Oh how it bites. It cut through the gloves I was wearing, until my fingers were thought to be non-existent by my hands. This is a world that needs to be seen to be believed. I can not do it justice, the photos will not do it justice. Video would not do it justice. It is so immense.
I feel so privileged to be here.
In Antarctica!
_________________
CABIN FEVER (and we're not even half way yet!)
On the bleak, grey, foggy days, it is hard to avoid cabin fever. And even homesickness. So I imagine myself away to a place green, with undulating land, instead of sea. I take myself back to the Pacific Northwest, where Andrew and I spent two weeks in the Vancouver area.
A place where there are so many greens, so vivid and bright, that they each deserve a different name. It is winter, but the soft white snow and cold air is different to here. There is a distinct lack of noise, a stunning silence of the many-greened forest, only interrupted by waterfalls and rapids of the mountain streams. And we were the only people for miles, or so it seemed, rather than the ONLY people for miles and miles!!! Or I will imagine myself to the Australian Bush, to the national parks and reserves around Canberra. We are bush walking, with our day-packs full of water, snacks and a picnic lunch. It is summer and the cicadas create a loud chorus that drowns into the background and drums into the subconscious, almost disappearing in its intensity. We will hear birds and glimpse the lizards as they scuttle away form the path. We will stop to eat lunch on a lichen covered rock, over looking a deep valley. Peering though the cool shade of the trees, we will see a sparkling river winding through the valley. Here the green is different. It is dull and smells of eucalyptus. The leaves rustle in the breeze. There is a beauty here that is unmistakenly Australia.
But then the horizon becomes distant, as the enveloping fog lifts.
The sun sparkles on the now blue sea, and makes the ice bergs dazzle with the magnificent pure whites and THAT amazing blue. The sea is calm then, and people venture outside to play hacky sack, and totem tennis, and to take photos. The bridge becomes vibrant as people come to see the Antarctic Magic. Soon cabin fever is past, and the wonder of being in the "Last Frontier" fills me with awe. And still - I am told - "we ain't seen nothin' yet"!
ON NEWS BACK HOME:
I think about what it is like back in OZ right now. We hear news of floods in Queensland and fires, particularly in News South Wales and Victoria. Descriptions of a stark and tortured landscape around Canberra, the devastation of 400 homes and 4 lives. Half the bush in the area has been the victim of the rage of the bush fire. And while the country seers in the summer heat, I don my freezer suit, fleece lined boots, gloves and ugg-boot hat, to stand out in the 0 degree Celsius temperatures looking for whales! It is so hard to imagine what it must be like in Australia right now. What a powerful force is nature. It can be our most vengeful enemy, or our greatest friend.
____________
... We could see Mount Henderson clearly, 18 km from where we were. And White. Ice, slippery and rough. With streaks of blue.
Unfortunately the over cast sky dulled the colours, it was still spectacular, but I am told that when the sun shines on the ice, the blues really stand out! I took some pics, and had one taken of me with Henderson in the back ground. The ice is 400 m thick, the mountain 1000 m high, so the ice is nearly halfway up the mountain! It was so amazing. We stopped the Hag half way back to the station, whilst still on the plateau, to take photos of the harbour and the station. There was some fog, or low lying cloud in the distance, but we could see the station and harbour clearly, with the ship in the harbour!
_____________________
A beautiful sunrise, and three whales in the first hour! Then the sky went black, for a bit, making the world look ominous! The sea state was unfortunately a 5, so we were on one person watches throughout the morning. The afternoon gave us good conditions and we went to full watch. Almost 8 hours to the minute after seeing our last whales, we were treated to a pod of 12 hourglass dolphins! The first for this voyage, and a first for me!
Then, minutes later, a humpback whale cruised past, a made quite a splash! THEN!!! More hourglass dolphins (8) 10 minutes after that!!! These three sightings were all really close to the ship too. After four more hours (during which we had dinner and did a CTD) it was getting towards the end of the day, the light was fading, when Vic cried "There's something out there!". It was several somethings in fact, 4 humpbacks feeding. Through the binoculars I saw the head of one come out of the water with its mouth open...showing the baleen plates! Awesome! They were very surface active. What a way to end the day.
___________
February 28: The weather improved considerably throughout the day. The sky was fairly clear. There was a nice spattering of icebergs. In fact by the late afternoon it was perfect whale spotting conditions. But do you think we saw any? no! It was dusk when we finished for the day (about 9:30). We had a cuppa, people were being pretty quiet. I went to the bridge to see if the sky was clear, and I saw that some stars were coming out! Stars! I had not seen stars since Hobart!!! So I put some warm gear on and ventured outside. It was so peaceful. Just me, in the growing dark. The ship pushed its way through some thick brash, just a narrow band, a promise of things to come. I watched as familiar constellations appeared, the Southern Cross, bright and proud; Orion (the Saucepan!), faint but distinct. And I saw a faint and wispy cloud stretched across the sky, covering Orion. It was greenish, or so I imagined. I mused that it was an aurora, but it wasn't until I was joined on deck by another spectator that it became apparent! Before long there were several people on deck, all scattered, enjoying the phenomenon in silence (for the most part). Soon after people started moving out, and as it got darker, the aurora australis began to shimmer and twist, it widened and shrank, became greener, then whiter. Then it did a most wondrous and phenomenal, spectacular and awesome dance in the sky. Waves of magenta raced across the wisps of white and green, the bottom faintly orange. It claimed almost the whole sky, seeming powerful and delicate all at once. One spectator described it as a night time rainbow, the colours were so impressive.
______________________________
March 4: At 4:30 am (Mawson time) we were at the top of Ice Berg Alley, of course I was sensibly asleep at this time, and it was dark! Sunrise was at 6:30, and I was up on the bridge before then, watching and taking pics. We saw a Solar Pillar. Apparently they are rarer than a solar halo! Of course, I don't know how common a solar halo is!! The solar pillar was pinky-orange, and was a broad, not too tall band stretching into the heavens from the sun, which was just below the horizon. Being iceberg alley, there are lots of icebergs, mostly at a distance. On our portside they are silhouetted by the sunrise, on our left they are sparkling with the reflected sunrise. Beautiful! The sea is calm, it is partly cloudy. Beautiful.
________________
The senses become very heightened at sea. For one thing, smell. There are so few smells on the ship, that each smell is intensified. Apparently as we get close to Tasmania, the smell of eucalyptus is very strong. A smell that we did not notice as we left, but on our arrival I noticed the thickness and the stickiness of the air more than anything else! On the continent, the main smell was ice. Cold nothingness, a fresh and pure scent. And sound. On the ship there is the constant droning background noise of the engine. The buzz of computers. Chatter of people. The screech of the CTD, the thrusters roaring. The only natural sounds we have heard have been whilst in Mawson, and it was surreal. The mind questioned the existence of such sounds. The penguins squawk, and occasional non-flightless bird crying, the soft singing of the weddell seals. The continent was otherwise silent. After the ship, it was a welcome silence, an intensified and pure silence. If sound and smell can be described in colour then Antarctica is white. The senses are engulfed with the whiteness of Antarctica. It smells white, it looks white, it sounds white. Even the air tastes white. Perhaps even the touch of it is white. Pure, clean, incorruptible. What an experience. And yet I longed to have my senses flooded with the greens of the world. If white for the senses is pure and incorruptible, green is the rebel of colours. Green is so varied, so dynamic, in its intensities and its personalities. Both green and white give a sense of peace and satisfaction, but in very different ways. It is so hard to explain the wonder of nature. The natural world fascinates and stimulates the senses.
_______________________
If you have enjoyed these exerpts and would like to read the full story, with pictures, email charliebentle@hotmail.co.uk for a PDF version.
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