Page 27 - Cape-Camera-Nov-Dec-2021

November/December 2021 Cape Camera

ago. The tanks have since been removed. We walked to the told that this iceberg is 30 nautical miles wide and 44 nautical
gravestone of Shackleton and drank a rum toast to him and his miles long, was about 200 years old and had broken off the ice
amazing bravery and success in saving all his men. shelf of the Antarctic continent about three years before and
then floated into the Weddell Sea. Its sides were white and
smooth and had 60 metre high waterfalls pouring down from
the top into the sea below. What a sight to behold!
While experiencing a rather rough Weddell Sea, we woke up
one morning to a sight of many icebergs all around us in col-
ours of blue and white, while the sea was covered with huge ice
floes. As we approached the Peninsula of Antarctica, the tem-
perature was now minus 2°C, sometimes even less and a freez-
ing cold wind blew an impressive Force 8. On the smallish Pau-
let Island, we made a rough landings in our Zodiacs on a steep
pebbly shore to visit a large colony of Adele Penguins. They sat
on pebbles, with snow-melt water running about 15cm below
the pebbles. The eggs on top of their webbed feet were kept
warm in the breeding pouch of their tummy covered by a thick
mass of down feathers. It was just stunning to see how the two
parents communicated lovingly with one another while they
moved the stones around with their beaks to make the stony
Some 400 000 breeding pairs of King Penguins on S. Georgia nest just perfect. We also saw some Chinstraps and Gentoos
penquins there, as well as Weddell seals - even some dangerous
During the following five days we went on Zodiac trips to land Leopard seals, but most of them lying asleep on bits of ice and
on beaches of South Georgia. I will never forget standing on a not interest in us at all.
beach where about 400,000 breeding pairs of King Penquins One day, while in the Zodiacs, we came across about 10 Killer
were covering not only the beach but also the the hills behind whales chasing a group of Gentoo penguins up an ice floe. We
us. Some nearby birds even came towards us, curiously looking, presumed that they must have eaten enough, because they
and as close as a metre away. Their big fluffy brown chicks were soon disappeared into the depths of the ocean but after about
particularly brave and actually pecked at my clothes! This huge five minutes, they re-surfaced, this time coming straight for
rookery reached many hundreds of metres up the foothills of us at great speed, with two young pale ones jumping out of
the mountains, packed solid with penguins. We spent almost the water, playing. Our driver had stopped the engine and we
four hours, to just look, listen, learn, enjoy, and appreciate. On watched this amazing scene - our hearts beating much faster
another island we walked past a lot of burping and farting fur and thoughts of ‘could they kill the lot of us right there’ entered
and elephant seals up a grassy hill to watch the love story be- our mind. As the group came about five metres from our Zo-
tween the albatross on their nests, and saw how they launched diac, they again dived down deep into the water beneath us
themselves into the air with their 3.5 metre wingspan, which only to surface in unison about 20 m further on the other side!
they can only do if there is anough wind for lift-off. All the arctic It was all very scary but also incredibly beautifull! On the entire
birds and animals were undisturbed by us, because we kept our trip, this was the only time when I ran out of film, was unable
distance and were respectful of their presence. We went from to change film and missed some of the most dramatic scenes!
islands to big bays, to glacier fronts and beaches for more than We then sailed down the Lamaire channel, which is the area be-
five days, at times getting wet with splashes from a rough sea, tween the Antarctic continent and a string of islands that are a
but we laughed through it all, as it was such a privilege to be bit removed. It is also called Kodak channel (for obvious rea-
there at 54° S and 53° W, at around 6°C, but warmly dressed. sons) with scenery that almost beggars belief, all of us just be-
Then we sailed into the Scotia Sea, and more icebergs floated ing left speech-less by such beauty. It was totally surreal – here
past. After dinner one night, the captain changed direction we were, for the first time in your life, in total silence and sur-
and we approached the mother of all icebergs, which even at rounded by something so grand that no words or pictures can
12 miles away, almost filled our view of the horizon. We sailed portray. Later we sailed through pack ice which crunched and
along it, until way past midnight and never saw the end of it - moved sideways to let us through. While sailing, and weather
even after three hours, when I went to bed, dog tired. We were

Whale oil tank on Deception Island and a grave Whale vertebrae and ribs. S Georgia Whale jawbones on Falklands
of a whaler. island

26 Cape Town Photographic Society