Antarctica Part 4: The Breath of a Whale

Antarctica Part 4: The Breath of a Whale-

To this point Antarctica has lived up to, and surpassed, all my most fantastical expectations. I’ve body surfed down a mountain, climbed the ridge of a volcanic caldera, went skinny dipping with some ladies in the ships hot tub and helped rescue someone from a glacial crevasse. (Go back and read part 3 if you missed it) What more can there be? Well whales, there can be whales I guess.

We start the 6th day with a Zodiac cruise around Enterprise Island. As has become our common practice we, The Wolf Pack, are first out, with intentions of being last in, squeezing every possible minute out of our off ship excursions. We board the Zodiac and head out into the waters. From a distance we can see a pack of humpback whales continuously surfacing to feed on krill and head in that direction. Every once in a while we can detect the unmistakable sight of water spraying into the air showing a surface or a tail fin pointing vertically out of the water indicating a dive. Much more impressive with the naked eye, the camera, at least the one I have, fails to capture the thrill of the moment. 20 minutes after spotting several packs of these impressive creatures every one of the ships 10 Zodiacs are in the water creating more Zodiac viewing than whale watching. Our driver allows the bulk of the boats to head off in one direction when we, and one other group, head in the opposite. I ask our driver what’s the closest she’s come to a pack of humpbacks and she said one time, a few years back, she had one come right up next to the boat, “So close you could touch it” she said. I shook my head in disbelief, wondering how awesome that must have been. To that point the closest we’d been to any of the packs was at least 200 yards away, which still, even at that distance, gave us the feeling of being right in there with them.

10 minutes later we get a whiff. It smells like rotten egg or sulfur, but we are not in a volcanically active area. “What is that!?” Someone from our boat demands. The driver responds; “It was a burp. You just smelled the breath of a humpback”. A pack is now about 100 yards out and heading directly towards us. They surface and then disappear underwater every 20-30 seconds. The next time they surface they are only about 30 yards out and still headed in our direction. They retreat back underwater and all of us are muted with heightened senses, trying to anticipate where they will surface next. The other Zodiac is 100 yards behind us and when the humpbacks surface again they are right in between our 2 boats. This is further away from us than the last surface and it seems they are headed in the direction of the other Zodiac. They circle around the other group and surface again, maybe only 10 yards from their boat. Keep in mind these Zodiacs are no more than air rafts. You are sitting right above the water. They provide only a slight more sense of security than a kayak would. The humpbacks dive again.

This time it feels like forever before they surface again. Everyone is looking around, heads on swivel, with ears open and the widest, most attentive eyes imaginable. They seem to have taken off. They are nowhere to be found. A minute goes by. Another minute. Just about the moment we give up hope and are convinced they retreated for good tiny bubbles begin to appear around our Zodiac. Then more bubbles. Within a matter of seconds there is a circumference of bubbles about 20 yards wide and our Zodiac is sitting directly in the center. Our driver announces- “They are bubble netting right now! (a technique used by humpback whales to trap krill), we are in the heart of their bubble net!” Just then one humpback is seen directly parallel to our Zodiac, 5 yards away. The entire boat lets out a collective gasp. 5 seconds later I look down. I yell out. It’s the kind of yell through closed teeth that says something is extremely important, but you can’t say it too loudly; “THEY, ARE, RIGHT, UNDERNEATH, US!!”

2 humpback whales were passing under our Zodiac so close you could jump on their backs and ride em like a cowboy. The water is dark and deep, and the whites from their fins glowed like they were backlit. The 2 humpbacks surfaced DIRECTLY in front of our boat to everyone’s complete astonishment. It was the most remarkable encounter with wildlife I’ve ever experienced. As the humpbacks retreat and head off the opposite direction our Zodiac driver reinforces what we already know; “well guys, it does NOT get any better than that.” (Please view the video below)

Bob