Antarctica truly is a dramatic and pristine environment unlike any other landscape on earth. I spent days sailing in open ocean before discovering land like an early explorer. I heard gentoo penguins as they inspected my campsite and massive whales as they surfaced alongside my zodiac. I enjoyed the Drake Lake and survived the Drake Shake. Each daily expedition provided a uniquely Antarctic experience; however, glimpsing into the life of a humpback whale was the most rewarding experience.

On Christmas Eve we boarded our zodiacs in the glassy waters of Wilhelmina Bay. What began as a search for a single humpback whale and her calf concluded with a performance of nearly 30 whales.

Whales seemed to continuously surface with loud “pffts” around every angle. One whale surfaced two feet from the zodiac giving off a deep rumbling sound louder and more dynamic than a tuba. Another used the boat as half of her bubble net to herd fish into her mouth. The expedition concluded with a humpback crashing into the water after breaching just a few yards from the raft. For the first time, during this rich interaction with the whales, I felt like a part of the world’s ecosystem rather than the
controlling influence.

Text and photo by Amanda Wilson, Virginia Tech student on the 2010/2011 Antarctica program