Monday, February 15th – It was the second day on the Antarctic Peninsula so far, and we had an early start as Bud, our expedition leader, decided we should visit Pourquoi Pas Island as we headed back north.

In addition to both the regular shore visit and a Zodiac tour, we were also given the option of kayaking in the area, so that’s what we all did.

The National Geographic Explorer includes an easy to assemble kayaking platform which floats in the ocean

We were in the Group B kayak group, meaning we left the National Geographic Explorer at 9:15am by Zodiac, getting to a special floating kayak launch platform in the open seas, and then getting in two-person kayaks. Bas and I were in one kayak, and Linda and Krystyana in another.

Krystyana and Linda in a kayak at Pourquoi Pas island

We spent about an hour paddling around, looking at the floating chunks of ice, the glacier cliff, and various critters on bits of land (and a penguin on one of the ice floes too).

Another gorgeously colored glacial ice berg

The bits of ice in the water ranged in size from the size of a pack of cards to larger than our house. We were warned during our briefing to stay away from anything taller than us because they were dangerous and unstable.

One small iceberg had an Adelie (pronounced “Ah-Dell-Ee”) penguin on it, and on a nearby rock outcropping we found a group of fur seals.

Fur seals line the rock outcroppings at Pourquoi Pas Island

I also took the opportunity to approach a smaller “berg bit” and break off a chunk of ice to taste it. I was surprised to find that it tasted pure – not a bit of salt. Apparently, with glacial ice, even floating in the water, the saline of ocean water does not penetrate beyond the surface of the ice.

After our kayak workout, we were taken to shore at nearby Bongrain Point, a landing on Pourquoi Pas Island, where we found numerous small groups of Adelie penguins on a broad expanse of rock rubble and a glacial moraine (deposits of rock left by receding glaciers).

Adelie penguins observing the National Geographic Explorer

Penguins prefer to enter the water in groups to reduce the risk of predation of any one particular penguin

Adelie penguins leaping into the water to go feed

A swimming Adelie penguin

We found many of the rocks on shore covered by lichen, a fungal spore “plant” which can be hundreds of years old and grows very slowly. Lichen are the most populous plant family found in Antarctica, as regular tall plants simply cannot survive the climate. There’s a rare specie of grass, two flower plants, and several mosses that grow in the Antarctic, but not much else that will grow on land.

Lichen grow surprisingly abundantly in the Antarctic

Close-up of the same lichens seen previously

A different set of lichens on a rock at Pourquoi Pas Island

Later in the day our progress was interrupted by a pod of over twenty killer whales, and we got to spend nearly an hour following them around.

Six orcas swim together in the frigid waters of Antarctica

We stumbled across some crabeater seals relaxing on an ice floe while watching the orcas nearby

Two orcas with a glacier in the distance

Our cetacean mammal researcher, Stephanie Martin, went out on a Zodiac in order to use her special crossbow and quarrels to try an obtain a DNA sample from one of the orcas, but after a half hour was forced to return to the Explorer, unsuccessful in her efforts.

Our cetacean specialist Stephanie pursues a bull killer whale with a crossbow to get a DNA sample

Our day ended with what is likely to be our only passage through an ice pack. The ice pack was loose, composed of countless chunks of varying size of ice. But what was thoroughly impressive was the loud grinding noise that accompanied our ten minute passage through the ice pack.

Linda and I watched the forward progress of the Explorer through the ice pack on the TV in our cabin, and the trailing progress from our balcony at the rear of the ship. Pretty amazing.

Each cabin on the National Geographic Explorer has a TV on which the view from a forward mounted camera can be seen - here we are in a loose ice pack

This is what the loose ice pack looks like - it was not cold enough to freeze solid while we were there

The National Geographic Explorer's wake through the ice pack it is breaking through

One of the things that we find really wonderful about our current trip on the National Geographic Explorer is that no part of our itinerary is thoroughly planned in detail. The closest thing to planning of our daily activities is fervent hope on the part of our expedition leader, Bud Lenhausen, that what he would like to do is in fact possible.

Reality is part of the reason for uncertain scheduling – here in the Antarctic weather and climate conditions can change rapidly, as can ice conditions. For example, the original plan a week ago was for us to be down in the northern part of the Weddell Sea somewhere, but word had come from other ships in the area that the ice pack had gotten too heavy there to break through, even in the type of icebreaker we’re traveling in at present. So, a couple of nights ago Bud decided to have us head for the South Orkney Islands early and give us an extra day on South Georgia island (which was fine with most everyone on board).

In fact, even the first landfall on the Antarctic Peninsula was a bit of serendipity. Bud and Captain Oliver Kruse had decided to try and get us below the Antarctic Circle, but weren’t sure ice and weather would permit it. Fortunately, conditions were amenable, but fog prevented our first landfall, so we had to move to a new location. The result, however, was that we reached the furthest south latitude that the National Geographic Explorer had ever been, as well as the furthest south some of the naturalists had ever visited. Certainly it was the furthest south we had ever been, but that can be said for every day of the last week and a half as well.

And then there’s the wildlife that “gets in the way” of our “plans”. This morning, at 6:50am, Bud’s voice emanated from the ceiling about our bed (where the public announcement system speaker is located), apologizing for waking us all up, but wanting to let us know that the ship had come upon a blue whale adult and calf as well as a fin whale, and suggesting we might want to see them. The Captain then kept the Explorer circling to keep us near the whales for nearly an hour so we could admire (and take pictures of) one of the world’s rarest whale species.

And an hour later we came upon another mixed pod of blue and fin whales (half a dozen in total based on the blow counts I made), and the ship stayed with them for a while too. These two “distractions” will put us into the South Orkney Islands a bit later than originally planned (with planning done only a day or two ago), but so what?

On a regular cruise ship, port schedules are firm and inflexible – they are the rule. Here on the National Geographic Explorer, the only rule is to let nature adjust our course and schedule. That rule seems to be working pretty well for us so far, and it makes each new day an adventure full of unexpected surprises.

One of the things that has been incredibly difficult to convey in my photography is the sheer size of Antarctica. Our visions of the Antarctic continent had always been of long flat expanses of ice and snow, but Antarctica is anything but flat. In fact Antarctica is the tallest continent in the world, and a fair bit of that height is actually ice (4000-5000 feet in some areas) composed in large part of glaciers.

Earlier today we were at Elephant Island, perhaps most famous for its role in the tales of Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance expedition. Elephant Island is where Shackleton led his men on three small boats (the life boats of the Endurance) after breaking free of the pack ice in the Weddell Sea. Shackleton and several of his men continued on to find rescue on South Georgia Island, and managed to return to rescue the men he left behind on Elephant Island after several attempts to get though in the midst of the Antarctic winter. It took several months to rescue the men, during which time they set up a makeshift camp at a place dubbed Point Wild (after Frank Wild, the man Shackleton left in command). It’s a brilliant tale, and I would heartily recommend anyone wanting to see what true death-defying adventure is all about read the books on the Endurance by Alfred Lansing and by Caroline Alexander.

It was Point Wild we visited earlier today, and one of the most prominent features of the area at present is a glacier wall. This is not even close to the largest we’ve seen, which makes the photos I present below perhaps even more dramatic.

First, here’s a photo of a small part of the glacier wall. If you look carefully, in the lower right, you’ll see one of the National Geographic Explorer’s Zodiacs along with a Zodiac driver wearing a red parka. The Zodiac is perhaps 100 feet from the wall.

The glacier wall at Point Wild with a Zodiac and driver at lower right

Next, here’s an image of the National Geographic Explorer in front of the glacier wall. The National Geographic Explorer is 367.4 feet (112 meters) long, and was anchored about 500 yards from the glacier. The glacier makes the Explorer look like a toy.

The National Geographic Explorer in front of the glacier wall

As a backdrop, the glacier is perfect. Here are some Chinstrap penguins on a spit of land quite some distance from the glacier.

Chinstrap penguins on a spit of land some distance from the glacier

Below is a close-up of the cracks in the glacier wall. The blue coloring is not an illusion. Glacial ice is very dense and contains little air. That density and water purity gives the ice that amazing blue color.

A close-up of the glacier wall

Here is an image showing a vertical slice of the glacier wall. You may be able to match the cavern at the bottom with some of the images above.

A vertical slice of the glacier wall

But if you look very carefully at the bit of rock sticking up out of the water at the lower right of the above image you might see a couple of black dots. Those dots are Chinstrap penguins. But if you can’t make them out, let me provide an enlargement of that part of the above image, immediately below:

Close-up of the lower right portion of the glacier wall vertical slice showing two penguins on the bit of rock

I find the size of the glacier to be stunning, and in past days we’ve passed by hundreds of glaciers at least this big if not much bigger. Hopefully the above photos help give you some idea of how truly large things are here in Antarctica.

As a final image, let me leave you with the one below, which is a panorama composed of 23 individual shots stitched together. If you click on the image you can see the full size, 7763-pixel wide image (which is many megabytes). If you want to see a more reasonable size, click here.

This is a panorama of the glacier wall at Point Wild on Elephant Island in Antarctica - made of 23 adjacent images

Larger versions of all of the above images can be found at my Flickr site.

For those interested in the word from the naturalists here aboard the National Geographic Explorer, one of the things that is done every day is the writing and submission of a “Daily Expedition Report”. These are in turn published on the Lindblad Expeditions web site.

The reports from the National Geographic Explorer are a couple of days behind, but have a lot of great information.

You can find them here.

Our only landing today was inside the caldera of a dormant volcano. The location was a place called Deception Island, which last erupted in 1970. The caldera is actually open to the ocean, and thus filled with frigid water. There’s a rumor that heat from the volcanic substrate heats the water and earth there, but no evidence of that was found today.

After a morning exploration of a derelict whaling station which is now a historical landmark, a dozen or so hardy souls (yours truly definitely not among them), braved a polar plunge into waters right around freezing temperature.

Brave (and insane) fellow passengers plunge into frigid waters in Deception Island

I have compiled 14 photos into a short 30 second slide show video with suitable music. The guy leaping into the water during the middle of the slide show is our fellow blogger Andrew Evans (@bus2antarctica on Twitter). The slide show is below:

Update – February 18, 2010: I have been informed by Abby, one of the participants in the plunge, that the bearded fellow is actually Justin, another passenger on the ship who looks a lot like Andrew (@bus2antarctica). Sorry about the confusion!

There appear to be others aboard the National Geographic Explorer here in the Antarctic who are also trying to blog regularly, other than us.

Most notable is National Geographic Traveler magazine contributing editor, Andrew Evans, who has been tweeting regularly from aboard ship.

You can follow him here:

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/bus2antarctica/

and here on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/Bus2Antarctica

This is what Andrew looks like:

Andrew Evans - @bus2antarctica on Twitter