More kayaking photos from Antarctica

Sea Kayaking in Antarctica: Waves, whales, seals and bergy bits!

Thank you to everyone who took such amazing photos of the kayaking group.  It was a little difficult for us to take photos when we were trying to avoid icebergs, wind gusts and whales!

I love this photo!  The water is so glassy and perfect.  The kayaking group wore yellow suits that made us stand out.  Kayaking on the trip was an add-on that had to be pre-purchased before boarding and it was limited to 16 participants. We had 12 in our group on this trip and if you're considering going to Antarctica, I would say kayaking is a must!

I love this photo because it captures the size proportions and makes me think we were insane for kayaking near these animals!

The infamous Leopard Seal spectacular.

Vicky holding up her bergy bit!

I think I spotted something.

Sully & Jordan in Wilhelmina Bay after we had an incredible late afternoon paddling with whales.

This is one of the beach launches- I think we only did two beach launches on the trip.

Me holding up my bergy bit!

Look at my game face.

Someone caught me taking a selfie with the bergy bit!

I love this photo because we hit rough patch of water around the shore and had to learn how to back paddle into waves with the kayaks perpendicular to the waves to avoid rolling.  We thought it was a blast but our guides were clearly concerned!

Oh hey there seal!

A rather large marine mammal rolling up...

Towing the kayaks to launch after our visit to Neko Harbor.

Oh, no big deal, just an enormous whale.

A whale resting on the surface next to us.

Whale tail!

Peter & Jane paddling near an enormous ice wall.

Blue Ice

I didn't expect to fall in love with ice on my trip to Antarctica, but I did.  I am completely obsessed with ice, icebergs and bergy bits now.  One of the most beautiful surprises of the trip was seeing blue ice.  Blue ice is hidden deep within glacier crevasses or is just floating around on and under smaller icebergs.

Why does ice turn blue?  When snow falls on a glacier it eventually gets compressed as it moves towards water.  While the snow is compressing and moving with the glacier, any air bubbles trapped in the ice are slowly squeezed out of the ice eventually making it clear.  The ice looks blue for the same reason that the water looks blue- the result of oxygen and hydrogen bonds that absorb certain light colors and reflect only blue.  If you'd like to read more check out wikipedia for a quick lesson.

Here are some of the photos I took of blue (and blue-green) ice!

This is an unedited photo I took when we were cruising through the Lemaire Channel.  This smaller iceberg is almost completely blue and really stood out against the glassy water.

A seal resting on some glacier ice extending out from land.  The blue green water below it shows the outline of how far the ice extends below the surface.

Close up of the blue crevasses in an iceberg like the one below.

This shows the deep blue crevasses in the glacier wall as well as some blueish icebergs floating in the water.

The color of the water above the iceberg below the surface reminded me of tropical waters.

Those tiny dots are penguins hanging out on the iceberg.

And here are some photos taken by other passengers:

Blue mornings

Some of my favorite moments included the time just before we prepared for the gangway.  Our kayaking group would meet in the mudroom to get in our gear about a half hour before gangway, when we would board the zodiac and cruise to our kayak launch site.  After we had our gear on we usually had about ten to fifteen minutes of quiet time to just enjoy the scenery before the rest of the passengers spilled out onto the deck.  It was often difficult to tell what time of day it was because the sun's position and light were so different down there.  These are some unfiltered photos captured one morning with my Olympus T2.