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Just another typical day in Antarctica. Wait, no it wasn't! Someone must
have tipped off the whales because there were TONS of them just waiting for
our fellow whale scientists to sight and tag them. Seals seemed to lounge
on every iceberg and barely noticed our huge ship pass less than 100 feet
from them. So it sounds like it would be a boring day for us krill-folk,
but hold on!

After lunch, we were hanging out around the dry lab when the opportunity to
take a cruise in a Zodiac around the bay presents itself. Well, the
opportunity was presented by the lovely MTs who work so hard to get
everything running as smoothly as possible. Well, we didn't need to be
asked twice! Meng, Eric, Joy, Greg, Colin and I hopped on the boat and Mark
whisked us away to enjoy what Antarctic marine life had to offer us.

We set off away from the ship and circled halfway around it so Greg and all
of us could get plenty of video and photos. After that, we set to work
trying to find a whale or two to pursue. It didn't take long for a pair
of whale to surface and we sailed their way, getting even more video and
photos.

After the first pair had left, we decided to cruise even further away from
the ship to the opposite side of the little bay, careful not to run over
any icebergs. Every now and then we would see a seal or two, lounging on a
small floe. They would lift up their heads, watch us for a while, maybe
scratch themselves and go back to sleep. Then repeat.

Then, another whale sighting! This time, the whales came within 100 feet of
our little boat. I got some great video of that encounter, as I'm sure
everyone else did, as well. This group circled our boat once and decided to
take off. What an adventure so far!

Heading closer to land, we found a seal floating in the water, just rolling
over and over. He never even realized we were there. These seals can be
quite oblivious sometimes.

Greg interviewed Meng right there on the boat, asking him about iron,
krill, global warming and how it's all connected. I really don't think
there could have been a better backdrop. The sun was setting, giving deep
contrast between the water and the ice. Our main ship in the background
looked like a toy.

The sun began to hide behind one of the many islands, basking the shoreline
in beautiful alpenglow. We figured it would be a good idea to head back to
the ship. Of course, our boat is not exactly an icebreaker, so we had to
take the long way back. And I mean the LONG way. The icebergs had made
little aisles that we just couldn't break through so we had to go from
the end of one aisle to the other, cross the bay, and head back down
another aisle to get to our ship. Of course, our fearless MT Mark piloted
us with relative ease safely back. We'd see a whale every now and then on
the way back and slow down to take more video and photos.

This day was by far the greatest day down here. There's nothing quite
like getting as close to nature as possible without getting a dry-suit on!