Scubareefing
We all woke up so early this morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of whale bleaching into the waters, there we are so lucky to have seen it and captured a few photo shots of it. :)
Scientists and Researchers there are racing against time to do collective data and samples of all these species of whales @ Antarctica waters, in order to save them against the threat of extinction, as often their meat and bubblers are also being hunted for as well...
Samples like these have already revealed that plastics, heavy metals and even flame retardant have made their way into the whales’ bodies. The tendrils of man stretching even here, to the seemingly pristine and remote waters of Antarctica.
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Whales can be seen on Antarctic expeditions right through the season from December to April, but February and March are the peak months for sightings.
Whales can be found all around Antarctica starting with the Drake Passage crossing – but particular hotspots include Wilhelmina Bay – known as ‘Whale-mina Bay’ due to the extraordinary number of whales found here – largely due to the availability of krill. Humpback whales are particularly common in the bay.
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8 Whales You Might See during Your Antarctica trip.
The Blue Whales are the largest creatures to have ever lived on Earth, making even the largest of dinosaurs seem small in comparison. Their massive bodies contain about 10 tonnes of blood. That means the weight of a blue whale’s blood alone is greater than that of a full-grown elephant, which usually tops the scales at around 7.5 tonnes.
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The Fin Whales you could encounter on an Antarctica cruise can really move. They’re the fastest of all the giant whales, able to burst up to speeds of about 45 km per hour (they cruise at around 10 km per hour while feeding).
Besides being the “Greyhounds of the Seas” Fin Whales are also quite loud. They can call out to each other in the range of 80dB – this is just shy of the amount of noise you hear when a small plane flies overhead, which is a pretty darned loud sound to come from an animal. This sound can be heard by other whales for over 100 km (if boat propellers don’t drown it out).
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The Humpback Whales you might see on your Antarctica trip can be show-offs, breaching and slapping the water with their flippers, making a spectacle of themselves.
Quite often loners when it comes to other Humpbacks, they nevertheless are quite sociable towards other marine species. They’ve been seen hobnobbing with different species of whales and dolphins, and have even been known to approach boats to take a look at the funny-looking things floating around up there.
The males are also quite the romantics. When it comes to wooing the ladies no species of whale has a longer or more complex form of song.
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The Killer Whales are one of the most famous faces of the marine mammals with their distinct black and white colouring.
Also known as Orcas and “Sea Wolves” Killer Whales are ferocious hunters who work together in packs to bring down their prey which can be just about anything smaller than the largest species of whales.
They’re not all such tough guys though. Some Orcas have been known to stay with their mothers for their entire lives. Also, oddly enough they can make friends with marine creatures like seals that they’re used to (herds that live in the same area as them), only attacking unfamiliar seals found along their hunting routes.
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Minke Whales, you might see on your Antarctica cruise trip out at around 10 tons (the average adult weighing in at around 7 tons), making them one of the smallest species of baleen whales (meaning they have baleens – a kind of filter – instead of teeth).
If you thought the Fin Whales were loud, check this out – a Minke’s calls can spike at a little over 150dB which is as loud as a really loud rock concert!
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The Right Whales you could encounter during your Antarctic trip unfortunately earned their names because they were the “right” whale to kill during the whaling era.
They were made up of an unfortunate combination of things that made them the choice whale for whalers – they’re slow swimmers, they float when dead, they are found closer to shore than many other species, and they’re full of blubber, whalebone, baleen, and oil.
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The Sei Whales (pronounced “say”) you might see on your Antarctica trip are another example of a speedy whale. When they need to they can burst up to speeds in the neighbourhood of 80 km per hour for short distances, making them one of the fastest cetaceans in the seas.
Sei Whales are relatively shallow divers, preferring to stay near the surface. That makes them easier to spot than some of the deeper-diving species. However they also tend to prefer warmer waters which make them a rarer sight once you get well into Antarctic waters.
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The Sperm Whales you could possibly see on your Antarctic cruise are almost certainly going to be males, the females preferring to remain further north.
Sperm Whales dive the deepest and the longest of all the whales. They can dive as far down as 2 km (although between 300 and 1,200 metres is more likely) and stay down there in the dark for as long as two hours as they search out tasty giant squids.
They also happen to produce perhaps the loudest sound in the animal kingdom with their focused click sound being recorded to 238 dB off northern Norway. If compared to sound pressures in the air it is the same as a Saturn V rocket at lift off on the way to the moon!
#WhalesWatching #Antarctica #UnderTheIce #Travelgowhere #Scubareefing #AntarcticaCruiseItineraries
#Oras #Seals
