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The most commonly seen whales around the Antarctic Peninsula are
the baleen whales, in particular the humpback whale and the minke
whale. Ocasional sightings are also made of orca's. A rarity and
a pleasure to see is the southern right whale. 2003 was an exceptional
year for whale sightings - particularly on the cruise with whale
expert, Mark Carwardine as distant water spouts and flipper slaps
were identified as species most of us wouldn't usually be able to
identify!
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Whale graveyard
Jougla Point
The Antarctic Peninsula is littered with whale bones from the whaling
days at the beginning of the 20th century. At Jougla Point, many
bones have been piled up in one area, and one person has even arranged
a collection of bones to form a skeleton of a fin whale - with two
left flippers...
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Bones and boat
Mikkelson Harbour
Most of the this tiny island in Mikkelson Harbour at the southern
end of Trinity Island was covered in Gentoo Penguins. However, one
tiny beach was covered in whale bones instead. An abandoned waterboat
sat in the middle of the bones.
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Farewell flipper
Paradise Bay
Last year, we were blown away by the gentle and curious humpback
whales. This year, the smaller minke whale amazed us! Usually these
whales keep their distance from ships, but something sparked their
curiosity and we had many close encounters with these small (~8m)
baleen whales!
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Playing with the zodiacs
Paradise Bay
It was the last cruise of the season and we had just finished a
glorious afternoon cruising in Paradise Bay. As our zodiacs were
being lifted out of the water, a cry went out as a minke sailed
under the bow of the ship and surfaced near these two zodiacs, yet
to offload their passengers. For the next 15 minutes, this minke
followed the two zodiacs around, quite happy to play with everyone!
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Humpback pair
Penola Strair
It was cold and snowing but as we started to move northwards, these
two humpback whales came along side the ship and began ducking backwards
and forwards underneath the bow for about 10 minutes before doing
a couple of laps around the ship.
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