Jan 22: Georges Point and Duperre Bay

 A bittersweet day today. On the one hand, I saw two whales breaching from a distance today and was able to take a nice photo of a whale's tail during a deep dive at close range. On the negative side, I had my last walk in Antarctica and my last Zodiac cruise in Antarctic bays for...who knows how long. We are now on our way back to Ushuaia at 14 knots; we are still in Antarctic waters, but only for a few hours more. We have the Drake Passage ahead of us, but that's only a few days - we should arrive in Ushuaia in the early morning of January 25 and I should be back in my apartment in Bay Ridge in the morning of Jan 27.

That's all for now (well, a few photos too!) - it's been a tiring few days and it's after midnight; time for me to get some sleep. I'll spend tomorrow organizing my photos, packing my things, and giving a short talk to the guides and passengers about natural radiation and the dose we've all picked up on this trip (spoiler: less than if we'd stayed on land). 

For some of these photos the whales were less than 100 yards from us, a mother and her calf and we could again hear what I can only think was a discussion between them along with the sound of the whales' breathing. It's a bit sobering to hear a whoosh, look around, and see the massive head and broad back sliding through the water just a few tens of feet away; more so when the blowhole whale is heading at your Zodiac, which seems increasingly flimsy as it approaches. 

Later, at dinner, we were called from a lecture with news of a pack of orca whales that seemed to be stalking a mother humpback and her calf. Seeing the orcas' fins slicing through the water in what ended up as three groups, apparently aimed at teaching students how to hunt was a bit sobering as well. I'll write more tomorrow and will add photos as I can. Until then, here are some photos from today. 



























Comments

  1. SunJanuary 25, 2025 at 12:46 AM

    What a great day for your crew to capture photos of the whale family and orcas! Did you get a chance to see the orca's teeth? I don’t think we see them at SeaWorld—Probably because they will have us for snack

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