I have now sailed into Wilhelmina Bay on two separate voyages, and kayaked there once. Along with Cuverville Island, it’s my favourite place on the Antarctic peninsular. If the sun is shining, Wilhelmina, literally sparkles, huge mountains rise from a crystal sea, and the icebergs are the size of houses, with shapes, moulded by time and weather. Wilhelmina Bay could easily be described as one of the most beautiful places on our planet.
If you are lucky enough to kayak there, above the silence, you will hear only the swoosh of your paddle moving through the water, some ‘snap, crackle and pop’ of ice releasing millennia old air, and almost certainly, you will hear the ‘pfffftttt’ of a whale’s breath, as a humpback sprays smelly mist from its blowhole. I have seen humpbacks, fin whales, and orcas, all in Wilhelmina Bay.
For this article, I want to focus on the humpback. Not just because when you have one glide under your zodiac, it’s possibly the most exhilarating wildlife encounter possible, but also because of recent research. This research helps me to explain how not all the expedition teams onboard the vessels in Antarctica are the same, and your expedition team will be key to how you experience Antarctica.
Expedition teams are not easy to rate. As yet there is no logical rating system, as most people only visit Antarctica once, (unless they are working there) the average Joe doesn’t get to see the subtle differences between the expedition teams. The chances are that even if your expedition leader had the brains of a krill, you would still have a fantastic time. But, it’s an expensive trip, so why settle for average?
The humpback whales in Wilhelmina Bay are a perfect example of why it really matters that your expedition team have knowledge and experience.
On my first voyage to Antarctica, I attended a lecture all about the feeding cycles of the humpback, specifically in Wilhelmina Bay. The whales have been tagged and their activity recorded. From 7:30am until early afternoon, the humpbacks are sleeping, occasionally they make an exploratory dive to check where the krill are, but for the most part they are fast asleep, puffing every now and then.
The lecture relied on complex research, compiled by passionate experts who had discovered that in the afternoon the whales are considerably more active, making far more dives than they do in the morning; they’re not just floating amongst icebergs, but flipping flukes and gliding under zodiacs. Why are they doing this? Simply because the krill are moving closer to the surface of the water, and are easier to get to.
You would think this is common knowledge, but it’s not. You would think that because of this, every vessel would either, have a super long zodiac landing, until fingers and toes get cold, to take advantage of the whale activity, or they they’d schedule the vessel’s visit to Wilhelmina Bay for the afternoon. Not the case.
You’re going to have a terrific time in Antarctica, no matter what; that’s as clear as 10,000 year old ice. But for a really special experience, make sure you pick the right expedition team: enthusiasm, sometimes isn’t enough and experience is everything. Of course it’s great to see the whales, even asleep, but if you catch one breaching, or are lucky enough to get so close to taste the oily, fishy, spray from their blowholes, then you will have a story that you will take home and re-tell a thousand times. Whale spray tastes pretty awful, and it lingers in the throat for a few days, but it seems a small price to pay for such a unique experience, if you ask me.
Plan your adventure to Antarctica for February and early March for the best whale sightings – you can get in touch with us to start planning your trip; and if you’re keen to read the research on humpback activity, click here.
