March 8, 2008 - Seal's Antarctic Expedition: Whale watching in the Pitt Islands
by Kate Laird

All on board can now mention in casual conversation that we have crossed the Antarctic Circle four times. Last night as we lay ahull, we floated back on our tracks by about eight miles and over the circle. This morning we started at about five am and motored back over it again.

Before the trip we anticipated spending a lot of time reading, but until the last two days, the outside world has been of much greater interest. Now with visibility down to the immediate sea around us and the cabin a lot drier, warmer and calmer than the freezing bluster on deck, the reading has begun, the Scrabble and cards have come out. Coryn is undisputed champion of the Scrabble board. Hamish, Ron, and Tony, accompanied by Pam and Coryn take sequential half hour turns at the wheel outside, on the lookout for icefloes. They dress up in full foul weather gear, ski goggles on, no skin exposed, and return from their stint in the gale, sodden from the driving snow or rain. Snow driven at thirty knots is not to be underestimated, but under the gear they stay dry.

We had also wondered beforehand whether eight people in continuous close contact for a month would run out of conversation. Perish the thought. The talk of an evening rushes topic on topic, while we vie for a turn at amusing or informative anecdote before the topic turns and leaves our story stranded. For each question there is a reference book quickly at hand.

The food on board has its cycles. During the Drake passage, eating is not at the top of the mind (except for Tony and Hamish). In calmer water, it's great eating as the Argentinean steaks come out, the two lambs hanging astern begin to lose legs, shoulders, and ribs. These sumptuous meals are interspersed with things like spaghetti and potato bacon soup. Oranges and grapefruit were in short supply in Ushuaia so the few we have were gone in the first week. Now we are down to apples; first crate nearly consumed; another to go. There is always a box of special goodies for those on night watch. Carrots and potatoes are an everyday staple. Longlife cream with hot chocolate is available and constantly consumed. There is no fridge, but the bilge is normally at 31 F / - 1 C and serves as a fridge. (On this trip, we have frequently encountered abnormally warm water; the outside water today is a shocking 40.1 F / 4.5 C.) Eggs will keep the length of the voyage if they are turned once or twice. Ginger is stored in sherry. Bread is baked most days, and Kate usually prepares a flat cake of some sort - carrot walnut today.

This afternoon a couple of humpback whales came to look us over. There's a common pattern. We sight them somewhere away. They know exactly where we are. If they feel like it, they come over. If not, they keep going. We cut the engine and hope for the former. There is a required whale watching etiquette. Don't approach. Idle engine for a while (so the whale can establish your location) and then stop it. Stay downwind to avoid floating in on them. These two were accompanied by a frolicking fur seal keeping pace with them while they rose and fell smoothly with great wooshing breaths in circles around and under the boat. The sound so near is quite as thrilling as the sight.

We're now tied up four square plus anchor after a very long run upwind in varied weather, and walked the land which has no sign of human habitation, except for two plastic bottles, which we picked up and added to our trash. It is the first time in Hamish's twenty years of cruising on the peninsula that he has ever seen plastic bottles on a beach here.

More on whale watching guidelines: Yachts from most nations are permitted to approach the back end of a cetacean to within thirty metres; drifting downwind or current towards an animal is also considered approaching. However, we find that such close approaches are unnecessary. A curious whale will turn around and come to the motionless yacht from up to a mile away (and could well be underneath the boat when you think it is more than 30 metres away); an incurious one will leave the area quickly, so there's no point in trying to chase it. See www.iaato.org for more information.

For more about Seal see http://www.expeditionsail.com.