HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD. THIS ONE'S FOR YOU.
It was 11.15pm. (21 january) My roommate Keri and I spontaneously decided to take a hike and it turned out to be an immensely PERFECT decision.
Little did we know but we were headed out on a wildlife safari.
We hiked the observation hill loop trail, there had been sightings of whales, and so I had the camera at the ready.
The ice is breaking more by the day, and providing a reasonable amount of open water. It was incredible. So still and quiet. We had only just sat down when we heard the therapeutic silence breaking sound of "phhhhhhhhhhsssssssssss" A minke whale gracefully surfaced. My reflexes are now well tuned for hitting that camera shutter button in a split second.
We sat in absolute awe for over an hour. We saw numerous whales, seals and skewers. We watched as a seal waddled along the ice towards the sea edge, he then dipped only his head ever so cautiously into the sea, no doubt a little edgy about the being someone’s dinner. He looked left, looked right then quickly slipped into the water" Keri and I held our breath hoping not to witness a national geographic moment!
Returning from the whales we found a small inlet, where we saw small fish splashing near the surface. We moved in for a closer look. The silence broke, and the valley echoed Keri's scream. A seal popped up out of the ocean less than 5 feet away from us. I don't know what surprised me more; the seal or the fact that I wasn't the first one to jump or scream!
We left the seal and continued on "wouldn't it be funny to see a penguin next" I thought to myself, and before the words left my mind I spotted a black and white figure on the horizon. Low and behold it was a lone adelie penguin. "Wouldn’t it be funny to see a sack filled with a million dollars next" I quickly thought.
We returned to our room a little after 3am. It was well worth the sleep deprivation.
This afternoon whilst out at the Pegasus runway I had my first sighting of an Emporer Penguin. It was incredible. There were two of them, situated at the end of the runway. They're so much bigger than the Adelies, I stood in awe. We had to use the binoculars to get a better look, but i just felt so fortunate as to see one. People who are on their 7th or 8th season down here have told me they've yet to see one.
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