WILHELMINA BAY

Mon Eve, 18 Feb 08, MS Nordnorge, Gerlache Strait, Antarctica

WILHELMINA BAY

We were of fine demeanor
In the bay of Wilhelmina.
There were whales to see,
And, as for debris,
It couldn’t have been cleaner.

THE HANDOUT SAYS:

“The mountains and high glacier walls of the Antarctic Peninsula around Wilhelmina Bay ensure that there is plenty of dramatic scenery, interesting ice in the winter, and the possibility of witnessing a calving. Enterprise Island in Wilhelmina Bay has the partially submerged wreck of the whaling ship Guvernoren near Foyn Harbor. The 3433 ton ship caught fire in 1915 and was run aground in order to rescue men and supplies. There were no fatalities. The bay is a choice feeding place for whales and therefore was a choice hunting ground for whalers. As Shackleton was marching his men across the ice of the Weddell Sea, his final destination was to be Wilhelmina Bay where he anticipated whalers could be found for rescue. As well as the possibility of whales, Weddell, crabeater, and leopard seals can be found here and Antarctic terns nest on some of the bare cliff faces.”

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO WILHELMINA BAY:

Before leaving Almirante Brown, I saw a small sailing ship, probably the same presumed research vessel seen before.

During lunch we saw two seals (separately) on ice floats.

During lunch we saw another cruise ship with its tenders out. (They were making a shore visit.)

The weather changed, grew foggy. (For in the distance, not dense fog up close.) During lunch we saw a bit of snow. We had seen snow flurries at Port Lockroy too.

WHAT HAPPENED IN WILHEMINA BAY:

I saw another seal on an ice float.

Ed Cooke saw four sea lions together, two on an ice float, the other two trying to get on it. I’m sorry I missed it.

We came to look for whales, and we found some.

On two separate occasions, each time we found a pair of whales together. They were said to be mother and calf, humpbacks. The boat stopped and just moved along and around ever so slowly to just keep pace with the whales. Each time we were with the whales for quite a while, at least 15 minutes in the first instance. This was during a full-blown snowstorm. Lots of fun! Imagine people crowding the decks and windows watching and photographing whales in a snow storm! The whales were just doing their thing, coming up frequently here and there and slowly exposing part of their bodies.

In between whale encounters and also later in the day I walked the deck and made my estimated six miles for the day, much of it in the snowstorm. It was fairly cold.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER WILHELMINA BAY:

On point blank notice, there was a lecture “Masters of survival, ice algae, krill, and other organisms.” Interesting stuff, I thought, and yet unfortunately I couldn’t stay awake very long and missed most of it.

MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS:

The ship has a large map posted with a red line showing the route we have taken.

Nacho posts little maps by his welcome station on which he has noted the places we have been. We have jumped around here and there, done some doubling back, crisscrossing, and zigzagging. In general, we have proceeded south down the Gerlache strait and are now proceeding back north up the Gerlache Strait and will leave the Antarctic Peninsula area from the north end near where we first arrived.

This is a highly educated group of tourists. One overhears mentions of a lot of Univesity degrees.

As I noted, this is not Love Boat. And we’re happy with it as it is, although they could show a movie more often (like they did once) in the evenings. No dancing. No entertainment. No need to dress fancy; in fact we were told not to bring dress clothes.

After Jo Woods remarked about the wonderful art work (copies of paintings) aboard, I made it a point to be more observant of it. Indeed, the MS Nordnorge is somewhat of a floating art gallery.

It’s been a bit a news blackout. No newspapers or current news magazines. No TV. One can get news from the Internet, but I have not done so. The ship has a small library. Each day, a big sheet of news is posted there for the USA, for Great Britain, for Spain, etc. I have not been faithful in checking it. But today I did, and what most caught my attention was an article about the super delegates to the Democratic convention who are not bound to vote according the primaries or caucuses in their states. There are a lot of them. This is new to me, Helen, and Jo and Tom with whom we ate dinner. Doesn’t sound very democratic.

:-)

Bernie