15th January 2008 - Cruising the Bransfield and Gerlache Straits, Deception Island and Cuverville Island.

Time 06:20, 62 degrees 54.54' South, 61 degrees 30.54' West, Air Temperature 5 0C, Water Temperature 1.1 oC, dry and partly overcast at first clearing to long sunny spells later, Wind South force 4 decreasing a little in the evening, Sunrise 04:40, Sunset 00:16 the following day.

For the first time this season, due to delayed departure from Ushuaia and bad weather crossing Drake Passage we skipped cruising in the caldera of Deception Island and headed for Cuverville Island to the south. After a dull start it turned out to be a glorious, if very cold day. Smith Island shining in the morning sun and looking like the cover of a Santana album was a hint of hold sunny the day would eventually turn out to be.

Passengers taking what must have been thousands of photos at Cuverville today.

The Marco Polo at Cuverville Island today.

We had another great run of Humpback whales and the Expedition Team Sea Mammal Expert Marylou Blakeslee is going to tell you more about today's sightings and will report on any further sea mammal sightings on this trip.

Marylou Blakeslee, Expedition Team Sea Mammal Expert.

Marylou from Gustavus, Alaska, USA, spends her summers as a Park Ranger aboard tourist vessels in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. Marylou’s interest in the natural world began as an aesthetic sensibility. Trained as an artist, she was drawn to places that had special qualities of light, and a vast ocean’s horizon. This experience led to a deep interest in the creatures that inhabit the watery realm. She has worked with stranded marine mammals in Massachusetts, at the Centre for Coastal Studies in Massachusetts, helped to identify orca and sea lions in SE Alaska, and has taught environmental education. Now over to Marylou - Today was a spectacular day from beginning to end. We began with Humpback whales blowing and diving fairly close to the ship while elephant seals floated past us with their noses pointed towards the sky. The visibility was terrific and we sailed through Crocker pass pointing out blows of Humpbacks near and far. By the time we reached the Gerlache Strait our number of Humpback sightings was over 20. Then to the amazement of all the dedicated whale watchers and a lucky few who happened outside at the exact right moment, a calf Humpback threw it’s body completely out of the water in a “breach”.

A Humpback Whale breaching in the Gerlache Strait today (photo Tom Sharpe)

A closer view of that breaching Humpback (photo Tom Sharpe).

We all screamed in excitement until the breaching went on and on. Then to make our situation even more profound, the mother Humpback whale joined her calf and they both breached at the same time! The splash was enormous as 90,000 pounds, 40,000kg, of whale hit the water.
Our Zodiac tour of Cuverville Island was filled with the first close encounters of penguins but as the last of the trips began to make their way towards the island, a leopard seal was spotted on an iceberg.

A male Leopard Seal at Cuverville Island today.

It’s head is gigantic in relation to it’s body( for a seal). The pectoral(side) flippers were a good third of it’s total body length, which is 11 feet, 3.4 meters,. Afraid of nothing, it opened it’s mouth to display the size and power of it’s ability to bite, as a warning to us. Then it went directly back to sleep. There it slept as we boarded the Marco Polo and left Cuverville Island.
Again we were treated to blows of Humpbacks and some close encounters with them. By the time 11 pm came and went, we had sighted 41 Humpback whales in one glorious day in the far south.

Midnight on the Gerlache Strait this evening.

Wildlife seen in the Bransfield and Gerlache Straits and around Deception and Cuverville Islands

Mammals
Humpback Whale 41+
Leopard Seal 1
Elephant Seal 1

Birds
Giant Petrel 10+
Black-browed Albatross 7
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 15+
Cape Petrel 14
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 11
Gentoo Penguin 2,000+
Chinstrap Penguin 300+ (3 at Cuverville Island)
Snowy Sheathbill 9
Antarctic Shag 30+ (with downy chicks)
Brown Skua 30+
Kelp Gull 30+ (with chicks)
Antarctic Tern 25+


Note: A + sign after the counts indicates that we saw at least that number but more may have been present.