You never know when...

You never know what you are going to encounter when you start exploring the Antarctic Peninsula! Somedays, you get 40+knots of wind with snow/hail and you can't find a single large marine mammal to save your life. Other days, the stars seem to aline and before you know it, the sun comes out, the wind dies down and all of a sudden you are surrounded by countless large marine mammal species.

This happened yesterday, as we were ship cruising along the Gerlache Strait and before anyone had time to think Orca were spotted. We observed them from a distance to work out their general direction and behaviour before slowly approaching, which then turned into an unforgettable interaction with them zig zagging in front of the bow. After a few moments, a young juvenile in the pod of 4 orca turned around, flipped upside down to show its belly and proceeded to slowly swim under the bow of the vessel giving everyone a mind-blowing memory and farewell, as we both departed in separate directions shortly thereafter.

Click image to view full size