Seals and whales and penguins – OH MY!
We spend A LOT of our time working, but there are moments when we get to be tourists. I mentioned our lovely sunny days down in Marguerite Bay, and for several days in early May we were near Hovgaard Island and the La Mer Channel.
The La Mer Channel is also referred to as “Kodak Canyon” because of the spectacular cliff and glacier scenery. (Cameras used to require film, and one of the companies that made this magical material was named Kodak.) Unfortunately, the day that we went through, it was foggy, which limited our views of the peaks. But it didn’t limit our views of the charismatic megafauna. The penguins were swimming and diving in groups beside the ship, as were seals. Humpback whales also made several appearances during our transit. I wasn’t able to get pictures of them with my camera, but I did get a picture of a mountain that snuck up on us…the part of the ship that you can see is the bridge, which is three levels above the main deck. So yes, that piece of rock is huge!
Over near Hovgaard Island is a what we thought was a small penguin colony. The divers had several sites that they were sampling near there, and when they finished early in the afternoon, Gina (one of the marine techs onboard) took us for a zodiac ride. Earlier that morning we had looked at the colony from the ship using binoculars, and there weren’t many penguins around. Apparently, they had all been out foraging because as we arrived that afternoon, there were hundreds on shore and dozens more still arriving in the water. The noise! The smell!! The colony was composed of Gentoo penguins. They have been replacing Adelie colonies along the peninsula as changing conditions have reduced suitable habitats.
You’ll notice the colors on the ice/snow as well. The reddish color is a mix of penquin poop and algae, and the green is algae. The colors showed up because it rained the night before, melting the surface snow (temperatures here were about 3C, which is above freezing, although not much).
And I promised you a seal…as we came around the point of the island, there were a few fur seals hauled out on the rocks. This one posed nicely.
I don’t realize how high above the water we are on the ship until we are out in the zodiac. And it’s difficult to judge distances – the ship seems very, very far away.
Our small size was further emphasized when a humpback whale decided to wander over for a peek at the zodiac. We sat quietly and watched in wonder (and a little fear) as is glided underneath us. Throughout the day they had been active in the area, and Wade managed to photograph several breaching.
It’s also been a while since I’ve had the time or the creative energy to draw/paint, but the divers brought in some benthic diatoms and gave me some of the sample. Diatoms are microscopic algae, and they occur both in the water and on the bottom (in shallow areas). Different types occur in the different areas. This benthic species forms long strands of many individuals. When viewing them in the strand, you are seeing them from the side, like the edge of a coin (first image). The flat side, or valve side, is slightly oval for this diatom, and you can see that in the second microscope image. The genus name is Coccineis, and it’s fairly common in this area.
I decided to try some art with it, and used its tendency to collect together in hair-like strands to outline my watercolor of a koi fish. The strands are very strong when they are wet and in water, but as they dry out they become brittle, so I don’t think this picture will make it home intact – if someone had hairspray on the ship I could try fixing the diatoms to the paper, but that’s incredibly unlikely!
