Antarctica: Through the Gunnel and Gullet

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)...

Antarctica penguin photos and videos.

Even more penguin photos, and a couple of videos.

Incredible Antarctica iceberg photography.

Fascinating Antarctica photos and a video of a storm from my first post.

Antarctica: Northbound Between Adelaide Island and the Antarctic Peninsula

After being buffeted by hurricane force winds all night south of Adelaide Island off the coast of the southern Antarctic Peninsula, the ship turned north, searching for, but failing to find, anywhere with mild enough winds to allow us to go on a Zodiac excursion. We just continued heading north all day.    

Icebergs are like natural sculptures to me. Each tells a story of how it came to have its shape. This one has been melting and getting smoothed out for a long time, but it fractured more recently, exposing sharp edges again. These icebergs are so large, and the air and water here is so consistently near or below freezing, they can take years to melt. 

If the photos are too large to fit on your monitor, you can click any one for a popup gallery, and scroll with left and right arrow keys. 

Some of the icebergs are the size of several city blocks. It's hard to comprehend the scale without something man-made in the photo. I liked the cloud formations in this one. I think the higher white ones may be borderline lenticular clouds, shaped by unique weather conditions of the region. 

This photo is a closer view of the iceberg above. For some unknown reason, I am absolutely fascinated with these beautiful, immense structures with a mass and solidity rivaling rock, yet are made of water.  Their size, textures, shapes, and of course, many shades of blue make me happy for some unexplainable reason. I get an indefinable thrill just being in their presence. I want to be near them. 

I love how you can see the edge of the glacier halfway up this mountain, where there used to be thick layers of ice that broke off and fell into the sea and became icebergs. It's also cool how the top of the mountain in the rear just fades into the mists created by the cold and wind and altitude. 

This is an example of a tabular iceberg. These icebergs form when a land glacier extends out into the sea a long distance before the tides flex up and down enough to finally break it free from the mother glacier. They float away, but may end up hitting the bottom and remain in one place until they melt enough to float again. 

We started to see whales as we headed through this passage. Almost all of the whales we saw were humpback whales. 

Just wow. The smooth lower part of this one is amazing. Yet, the top shows how it was rough it was before the waves started to wear down the edges. 

This is one iceberg, with a gap at the surface.  

Some icebergs have this strange pattern that looks like the result of melting water running down the surface. This one shows the incredible deep, clear blue that we saw everywhere we went. 

This was likely one giant iceberg, and may even still be one giant iceberg. Another tabular one that used to be the "tongue" of a glacier. 

This one looks like it is actually land, like a cliff at the edge of the land. Like they're the white Cliffs of Moor in Ireland, or something. This was one of the few times we had sunlight on the trip. Sadly, it was cloudy, raining, or snowing for almost all of our trip. But, this is to be expected when you're traveling to the bottom of the earth.  

Many more photos to come, but this was a great day. I promise there will be penguins eventually! 

Click here to see my first set of Antarctica photos, including the storm video.

Click here for the third set of Antarctica photos, with more stunning icebergs and glaciers.

Click here for the the fourth set - penguins, penguins, penguins!

More penguins at two more sites.