The constant 23 hours of light has played havoc on my diurnal pattern. Impossible to sleep and major insomnia. If you open your eyes at 1:00 am, it’s still pretty light in the room. There is only one hour a day that resembles dusk…and even that’s not dark.
In the Errera Channel anchored off Danco Island, it’s actually calm right now with a little bit of sun. Danco Island is one-mile long and Gentoo penguins breed here. The zodiacs went out to investigate and came back with bad news. We can’t land because there is too much ice. Instead, a one-hour zodiac cruise is scheduled. This cruise turned out to be one of the trip’s highlights due to a Leopard Seal. There are over 220,000 Leopard Seals around Antarctica, not threatened by any predator, but still difficult to actually see one.
Leopard seals are solitary and usually hang around the shore line waiting for penguins to enter the sea. When they catch a penguin, the Leopard Seal vigorously shakes its prey to break into smaller pieces before swallowing it. They breed and raise their young on the pack ice.
This Leopard Seal hung around the zodiacs for ages. …View image… Swiming around us…diving under the zodiacs trying to take a chunk out of them…resurfacing…showing all his teeth while Valery kept warning everyone to keep arms out of its reach.
An amazing display. Susan joked that Quark Expeditions hired him to show up and off for us. A once in a lifetime, serendipitous experience.
Very nerve-wracking trying to take photos, never knowing which zodiac the Leopard Seal would swim under, past or try to take a chunk out of. Constant calls of…”this side…no, he’s on the other side now…wait, wait, he’s over there…” and it wasn’t as if you could just jump up to take a shot. No, we were all on our knees waiting for permission to stand and trying not to get in anyone else’s shot. Along with all that, I was juggling a 35mm SLR, digital camera and Camcorder.
Definitely needed more arms and/or an assistant. It was absolutely amazing when we got back on ship to see how many super-great photos we all got. A very cooperative and photogenic Leopard Seal.
If that wasn’t exciting enough, three Crabeater Seals suddenly leaped out of the water onto a nearby ice floe, barely escaping the Leopard Seal. FACT: Crabeater Seals are the most abundant seals in the world, between 30-70 million.
Lots and lots of Gentoo Penguins walking to and fro trying to find a way from shore, and through the ice to the sea to feed and, of course, the magnificent ice bergs. …View image… …View image… Even with an air temperature of 2F+ degrees, it felt warm with the sun on us.
Back to the Orlova for wonderful Chicken Fajitas…View image… and babbling between mouthfuls about the Leopard Seal. With some luck, we’d have a real landing in Paradise Harbor this afternoon…
PENGUIN FACTS: During the winter, they sit on icebergs and floes and small penguins can stay underwater for 5-7 minutes. Danco Island had more than 1,600 pairs of penguins.
(Whenever I watch “Happy Feet,” I think of that amazing Leopard Seal trying to take a chunk out of zodiacs off Danco Island…)
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