Day 18 - Emperors and two flying birds

A bright and sunny day. No breakfast therefore 2 hours pilates, yoga and Zumba. Afterwards off to the focsle to take some pictures. Helicopters were refuelling and excitement was in the air. May be the helicopters will find a way out of the ice. On the Starboard side of the ship right next to the focsle was a pool of open water. Looking out onto the ice towards this gigantic ice berg, I noticed out of the side of my eye some ripples on the pond. As I looked closer I noticed an Emperor penguin surfacing and instantly diving back under water. A few minutes later there he/or was it a she resurfaced again. I watched it for a few until the helicopter operation took over my interest. Helicopters departing, a few good shots. On my way to lunch I noticed the same ripples in one corner of the pond and I waited. 

Three in the pool

Well now there was not only one it was a total of 6 Emperors happily chatting away in the pond. Camera ready I hold on to it, and well lunch - picture taking was on the menu. The small flock surfaced and played around in the pool for a few minutes, then disappeared for 2 to 6 minutes and reappeared again. The game was played over about 30 minute’s time. At one point I noticed a ripple at the side of a thinner ice flow. I put my camera on the spot and there it was – ice breaking – water splashing and one of the Emperors landing on the ice, and there it came the second one and the third one. A quick loop around the ice and back into the waters. On the photo technical side I had filled up my CF card with earlier pictures and now the SD card was slow in recording the imagery. The final product was that I got great shots of the first Emperor jumping out and caught the second Emperor half way out of the water, the rest, was recorded in my own memory. Certainly a great day.

Hop hop out onto the ice playing

The day got even better after lunch. The helicopters returned from the recci flight and we started up the engines again to break ice. Making very slow progress I was once again standing on the focsle taking pictures together with a number of my fellow travellers. Behind the small pond , which by now was filled with crushed ice and about 500 meter behind us, there was a larger open water lead, directly in front of the berg. Inside of the pool we discovered a larger flock of Emperors jumping up and down. Emperors or better penguins and animals in general are curious creatures and swoop di boob one jumped out, followed by another , another and another and another… . at the end the entire flock of 15 had landed on the ice, busy tending to cleaning their feathers and jirping along. Once done with their domestic work they set-out to adventure, checking out this big red steel structure and the strange looking creatures on this structure. Belly down on the ice they were sliding over the ice towards the ship. Taking a break behind a ridge carefully peaking over the ridge and onward one after the other sliding down the ridge towards the ship. With the ship currently reversing it was nice and calm, as the ship was getting back into forward motion crashing into the ice, the flock of Emperors got scared off, all at the same time flopping onto their belly and fast rowing back to a safer distance to this unbelievably large noise making something. Another detailed look at this red something and well not as interesting as nicely playing in the pool and flying through crystal clear deep blue water. The Emperors played a bit longer in the pool, disappeared for a while returned until we lost track of them as we made our way around the berg and further south.

Looks like he landed on the icy container

Clear sky and sunny weather, making our way along leads and across some sea-ice bridges, the evening promised some prime photography. After dinner and a presentation from our Artist in Residence John Kelly, a lot of us either ventured onto the Bridge or out onto deck, taking breath-taking pictures or just admiring the setting sun and the colourful sky.

Plastic Water Surface

On one side with the setting sun orange colours, on the other side of the horizon, the raising night sky with its deep blue, turning pink and purple. One interesting effect after the sun has set- is that the snow actually becomes whiter. May be its just as the other colours fade, and the whiteness come to shine. It in any case makes for great pictures with lots of contrast. After reading a bit and downloading the pictures I ventured once more out to take some more pictures of the advanced night sky, one star shining bright. A last look out of the bullseye before settling into bed, short of midnight.