The night after the storm, the ship turned north to pass through The Gunnel and the Gullet. These are two narrow channels between Adelaide Island and the Antarctic continent. They're often blocked by sea ice or icebergs, but we were fortunate to be able to get through. This meant the ship was close to icebergs and glaciers on both sides at times. One of the expedition staff explained that the ship had access to up-to-date satellite photos of the area to check if there were too many icebergs before venturing in that direction.
I can't get over these two-hundred foot towers of ice that looked like they could fall at any minute. Towers of glacier ice like this are called "seracs", but usually they're the size of houses, not office buildings. I love the way the ice looks like it's been sliced perfectly smoothly just to the right of the seracs, as if by a giant with a knife. It's amazing how the slight blue tint in the cracks is intensified by blue reflecting on blue.
I loved being so close to the glaciers and icebergs. Here's Jennifer with a giant glacier behind her, with snow on the deck from the night before.
Here's a photo that gives a sense of how close we were to the icebergs. Notice how the water looks so green where light reflects back up from the underwater parts of the iceberg.
I finally figured out what glacier ice looks like - fractured obsidian. It's denser and harder than typical ice because it's compacted over tens, hundreds, or even thousands, of years. The massive amount of weight of all the snow and ice above squeezes the air bubbles out. Air bubbles are white, so when they are removed, the faint blue color becomes stronger.
I love this one, because it's so clear that the bottom 90 percent of this iceberg is compacted glacier ice, with the less compacted snow making up the icing on the cake. I'm guessing this snow was deposited on the iceberg after it broke off. Amazing!
One of the first times I got a halfway decent shot of a whale.
Again, not the greatest whale photo, but you can see there are two together here. Their fins are clearly visible at center left and center right. It was pretty common to see two together.
Probably my best crashing wave shot. This wave is likely about fifty to sixty feet high. I took lots, but you never know when a big one is coming until it's too late. So, you get a lot of duds. Pretty pleased with this one though.
This is sea ice. Each year, the sea ice breaks up and melts during the spring and summer, and then starts to refreeze every winter. This will all form into a solid sheet of ice covering many square miles around the coast during winter. The captain said he's seen a change over the years. When he arrives in November (which is spring), there is usually less sea ice than years ago. Satellites have been used to photograph and study the extent of Antarctic sea ice since 1978.
Some sea ice and where some of it came from - breaking up glaciers and icebergs.
I like the lighting on this one, with the dark sky behind the white and light blue iceberg.
OK - I know a lot of people may be getting tired of icebergs, but don't worry - penguins are next.
Links to more Antarctica photography (plus a few videos)...
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