After an evening full of expectations, I got up early this morning to get
used to my new night-shift schedule, which starts tonight. Lying in bed and
feeling as if we're on solid ground, I realized that we must have reached
sheltered waters between islands and mountains. Exciting! A glimpse on the
ship-tracking map revealed that we were entering Wilhelmina Bay, where last
year's team found tons of whales. It was still dark at 6 am, and only some
growlers and thin sea ice visible right next to the ship indicated that
we've actually reached Antarctica. At 7 am, a safety meeting took place in
the bridge for those who are going on small boats today, as well as for
those doing the first CTD cast for calibrations.
The next few hours turned out to be completely breath-taking and
indescribably (see below) wonderful. The rising sun colored the clouds
orange and pink, the glaciers were white-blue, and the sea was completely
calm. Seals and sea-lions were the first mammals we spotted, but it didn't
take long before the trained eyes of our whale-biologists discovered finns
of Humpback, Minky and Killer whales. We're all excited about spending the
next 5 weeks in this amazing place!
Selina
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