MUSIC: "An Ending (Ascent)" by Brian Eno
Unfortunately we had only one great whale sighting on the trip.
One evening a sudden announcement went out over the ship's loudspeaker that there was a small pod of humpbacks off the starboard bow. I ran out onto one of the upper decks. (Photo by Polar Star staff.)
Rob had grabbed the good camera; he went to the very tip of the bow and got some great pictures. That's him at the very left in the photo, perched high. (Photo by Polar Star staff.)
Humpbacks are about 50 feet long and, like just about every bird and mammal in Antarctica, feed on krill... pink shrimp-like creatures that live in huge swarms of thousands.
The humpbacks scoop up enormous gulps of water in their great jaws and use their baleen to filter out the krill. Humpbacks can eat about 5,000 pounds of krill, plankton, and small fish each day. (Photo by Polar Star staff.)
It was a bit too early for us to see many whales... most come to the Southern Ocean a few weeks later to feed. (Photo by Polar Star staff.)
The next photos are a beautiful series taken by Rob from his vantage point at the bow of the ship.
I’ve just checked the whales–wonderful shots Rob got and WOW am I impressed by all the work you’ve done. I can’t even get my Thailand photos on picassa! I’ll be vicariously enjoying the rest.
Fantastic series on the whales. Glad you two tag-teamed this effort so the rest of us could benefit. I never did get any decent whale pix at all. Nice that I can borrow yours now (with attribution, of course). Again, thanks for sharing ! [ Larry }