Antarctic Peninsula Whales and Landscapes 10 March to 25 March 2016
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ANTA RCTIC PENINSULA WHA LES A ND LA NDSCA PES C HEESEMANS’ E C OLOGY S AFARIS E XPEDITION L OG 2016 EXPEDITION LOG CHEESEMANS’ ECOLOGY SAFARIS Antarctic Peninsula Whales and Landscapes 10 March to 25 March 2016 Designed by Teresa Floberg Edited by Debbie ompson Written by Bernardo Alps, Diane Alps , Cindy Atkins, Kalasara DelViscovo, Cathy Hachigian, Felicity Hughes, Stephanie Newkirk, Cristina Robinson, and April Ryan i Cover Photo Back Cover Photo Title Page Photo This Page Photo Next Page Photo Last Page Photo COPYRIGHT NOTICE Whale Diving Landscape of Ice Gentoo Penguin Formations of Ice Terns Midnight Light Copyright ©2016 Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris By Cindy Atkins By Jodi Frediani By Scott Davis By Stephanie Newkirk By Eddy Thys By Marley Watkins Photographers hold the copyright to their work. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 2 Orne Islands and Dallmann Bay 20 March 24 The Expedition 4 Wilhelmina Bay and Cierva Cove 21 March 26 Ushuaia and Embarkation 10 March 6 Half Moon Island 22 March 28 At Sea to the Peninsula 11 - 13 March 8 At Sea to Ushuaia 23 - 24 March 30 A Summary of Science and More 9 Disembarkation 25 March 32 Danco Island and Wilhelmina Bay 14 March 10 Expedition Sta and Participants 34 Waterboat Point and Neko Harbour 15 March 12 Species List by Date 36 At Sea to the Antarctic Circle 16 March 14 Whales from Many Perspectives 38 Detaille Island 17 March 16 Photo Montage 40 Booth Island and Petermann Island 18 March 18 1 Some photographs and events depict research conducted under the following permits grant- ed to Dr. Ari Friedlaender: NMFS 14809 and ACA 2016-024 and/or permits granted to Dr. Wilhelmina Bay and Cuverville Island 19 March 20 Fredrik Christiansen and Prof. Lars Bejder (Murdoch University), under permits from the Department of the Environment, Australia, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Happy Whales 22 Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act) (Cetacean Permit: 2016-0001), Australia, and under an animal ethics permit from Murdoch University (O2810/16), Australia. 1 INTRODUCTI ON By Ted Cheeseman, Expedition Leader ese gems did not come easily as we saw. I thank you for journeying with us WHALES FOREVER through heavy seas and changed plans, It is whale season at home for me; blocks thanks for having faith that we would from my front door I can predictably nd such unique treasures together. expect to see a blow or three as Hump- Our voyage was, to me, a very special backs surface, gorging on the bounty of experience, a rare opportunity that I feel Monterey Bay, California. But take me honored to have shared with you. I want back to our last glorious day there in to extend a special thanks and dedica- Cierva Cove. And remember with me tion of this voyage log to the eld sta the glory of Petermann Island when de- whose labors at the tiller and on shore Chinstrap Penguin Alisa Schulman-Janiger spite forecasts and odds we found a cor- made it possible for us to explore with ner of protected waters where whales, condence, safety and ambition. icebergs and incomparable late summer evening light made a recipe for the un- forgettable. Ted Cheeseman Crabeater Seal Eddy Thys Sunset Phil Clapham Gentoo Penguins Edith Simonson 2 3 Iceberg Rodney Boone THE EXPEDITION Drawing by Bonnie Gretz 4 THE EXPEDITION Point Landing 1 Ushuaia 2 Danco Island 3 Wilhelmina Bay 4 Waterboat Point 5 Neko Harbour 6 Petermann Island 7 Yarlour Island 8 Detaille Island 9 Booth Island 10 Cuverville Island 11 Orne Islands 12 Dallmann Bay 13 Cierva Cove 14 Half Moon Island 5 10 March 2016 Ushuaia and Embarkation Day 1 By Cathy Hachigian guide. Located on the island of Tierra del Fuego, the park has dramatic scen- TIERRA DEL FUEGO NATIONAL ery, with waterfalls, forests, mountains PARK and glaciers. e landscape in the park We all enjoyed a night of welcomed was carved by glacial erosion that creat- sleep aer our days of ights to Ush- ed bays and beaches against a backdrop uaia, here at the tip of South America. of rugged mountains and valleys. We Excitement lled the air this morning as found the southernmost tree on earth we boarded busses to Tierra del Fuego in the forest here, the Antarctic Beech, National Park. Each of the three bus- Nothofagus antarctica. ses was tailored to individual interests: birds with Joe Kaplan, Bernardo Alps, MUSEO DEL FIN DEL MUNDO and resident guide Esteban Daniels; AND USHUAIA Yellow-billed Pintail Christy Nicholas photography with Ron Niebrugge, Bart Our visit to the park ended early enough Heirweg, and a resident guide; natural so we had time to visit the Museo del Fin and indigenous history plus photogra- del Mundo (End of the World Museum) of artifacts from the rst expeditions to Our rst activities over at 4 PM, we had phy with Scott Davis, Juan Manuel Sal- or simply walk around Ushuaia. e this region and a history of the indige- one last (but most important) activity cedo, and Nick Pyenson, and a resident museum holds a remarkable collection nous people who inhabited these coasts. Tierra del Fuego National Park Carolyn Peterson 6 Day 1 Ushuaia and Embarkation 10 March 2016 for the day: boarding the Ortelius! We swells from the starboard side. e few all jumped on busses in front of the items on the desk in my cabin along Hotel Albatros and headed to the port with the side drawers and the desk chair where we passed through security. were thrown back and forth across the cabin. In fact, aer the second roll the ALL ABOARD! chair tipped over and there it stayed ly- A feeling of excitement overtook us as ing on the oor for two days until the we walked up the gangplank taking our storm passed. As our bunks were posi- rst steps onto the Ortelius. Aer re- tioned across the width of the ship from ceiving our room assignments we were starboard to port, I would slide from the each escorted to our rooms. Aer a cab- head to the foot of the bunk each time in once-over, all passengers met in the it rolled. I love rollercoasters and this observation bar/lecture room to review was quite fun for a while but eventually ship emergency procedures followed by I hunkered down in the bottom and an- an evacuation drill where we put on our chored myself for the rest of the night. Ship Orientation Phil Clapham warm clothes and life preservers. Fol- lowing instructions, we headed to our assigned muster station for roll call and out the starboard or port doors to take a glimpse inside one of the two lifeboats. BEAGLE CHANNEL AND INTO THE DRAKE Aer a tasty dinner of curried vegetable stew and other oerings, we were soon sailing out the Beagle Channel to start our crossing of the Drake Passage. e channel was named aer the ship HMS Beagle during its rst hydrographic survey of the southern coasts of South America that lasted from 1826 to 1830. A storm was with us making the Drake crossing a challenge. e Ortelius was more rolling than pitching as it took The Beagle Channel Peter Fisher 7 11-13 March 2016 At Sea to the Peninsula Days 2-4 By Cathy Hachigian presentations by the expedition sta. uled landing at Half Moon Island. So DAY 2 AT NOON onward we plowed. Location Drake Passage DRAKE PASSAGE It would be our third morning before we were allowed outside to wander the Latitude 56˚33’ S e crossing of the Drake Passage snow covered decks and get a real taste Longitude 69˚50’ W turned into a nearly three-day adven- of the chill and awesome fresh air over ture during which we were not allowed Total Sailed 172 miles the Southern Ocean. outside on the ship’s deck for safety rea- Wind 50 knots W sons. Instead we spent our time inside ANTARCTICA! Air Temperature 8.0°C making new friends or renewing old Weather Overcast friendships, observing from the ship’s On March 13 we found ourselves sailing bridge, or in the lecture hall learning in the Branseld Strait, a body of water about life in Antarctica. about 60 mi. wide and 300 mi. long in a general north-east to south-west di- From the bridge we intently watched Fin rection between the South Shetland Is- DAY 3 AT NOON Whales and various albatrosses with 12- lands and the Antarctic Peninsula. We Location Drake Passage foot wingspans gliding over waves larg- couldn’t believe we nally made it! Un- Latitude 58˚43’ S er than we have ever seen before. In the fortunately, the weather didn’t improve Longitude 60˚55’ W lecture hall we were treated to expert enough for us to make our rst sched- Gray-headed Albatross Heike Dietzmann Total Sailed 382 miles Wind 30 knots SW Air Temperature 4.7°C Weather Overcast DAY 4 AT NOON Location Branseld Strait Latitude 62˚39’ S Longitude 59˚99’ W Total Sailed 636 miles Wind 35 knots ESE Air Temperature -1.0°C Weather Overcast At Sea to Danco Island Heike Dietzmann 8 A Summary of Science and More By Cristina Robinson ging technology and its use in studying mating systems, feeding behavior, and mals, played various vocalizations, and During our time on the Ortelius, we foraging patterns of dierent species. some of their extraordinary physiolog- mysticeti song distributions. ical capabilities for diving. were fortunate to attend lectures given Ron Niebrugge and Hugh Rose gave Dr. Ari Friedlaender talked about mili- by our experienced sta.