Antarctica — final look

I could probably post Antarctica pictures daily for the foreseeable future and . . . I did get to return to South America so will wrap up this part of the journey for now.

More wildlife

We saw more wildlife than just whales and penguins including birds!

And seals like these Weddell seals who happen to be the most southerly mammal in the world. They’re often found on shore which explains why we saw so many of them.

We also saw Crabeater seals, including this guy showing us his moves.

Fun Fact: Crabeater Seals are the most abundant seal in the world and no, they don’t actually eat crabs — another example of scientists being a little tricky in their naming conventions.

For yet another unheard-off experience, we saw a young Leopard seal on an ice flow. And no, the backdrop is not pretend — it really did look like that.

Note: Don’t be fooled by this guy’s cute-ness. Leopard seals are apex predators in the Antarctic food chain (I won’t tell you what they do with penguin chicks). Orca whales are the only natural enemy for Leopard seals.

This video was taken by an expedition-mate.

A word about Antarctic diets

Krill is a cornerstone species of Antarctica i.e. without krill, seals and all the other animals of the Antarctic ecosystem can’t survive. And without the Antarctic ecosystem we’re kinda hooped (i.e. the global food web doesn’t work).

I mention this because during our expedition we saw unnamed krill fishing boats doing their thing which seems kinda dumb (i.e. inefficient and short-sighted) since krill is a non-essential part of the stuff they’re included in (i.e. pet food, omega-3 vitamins though krill can be replaced with other better stuff, and salmon farming though apparently poultry is as good/better).

Feel free to sign the petition so limiting krill fishing gets on the agenda with the powers that be.

Lemaire Channel

This particular channel has a reputation for beauty etc. but what we saw? It was so incredible that one of the Expedition Team made an announcement for us all to get out on deck to take a look . . . they’d never seen it like this where the water was like glass. UNBELIEVABLE.

And yes, we went through the channel.

Final sights . . .

Our return trip included a real-life experience of Drake Lake. It lasted through the first night of our sailing. Yay!

But then the waves returned. O well.

Next stop (via airplane): Buenos Aires.