Lisa Trapp, 2011 Antarctica student blogger, writes:

December 19, 2011

The second full day on the Drake Passage and our trip across had been lucky enough to experience the “Drake Lake” and had a mostly smooth passage. After attending a morning lecture and eating a delicious and filling Italian sandwich for lunch, I was quite happy to be dozing off wrapped in my down blanket and getting gently rocked with the motion of the boat.

I just had dozed off but was jolted awake by our expedition leader Chad’s voice chiming in over the intercom, “For those of you below deck, there have been whales spotted off the port side.” I sprang out of bed and, without thinking, grabbed my coat and ran down the hallway to the bow, which luckily for me was on my floor. When I got to the end, I flung the door open as best I could, given its heavy weight and the wind pushing on the other side that was not giving even a little. The bow was already flanked with people, but I was determined.

Blows coming up out of the water across the Drake Passage

I wedged myself next to some of the other group members on my study abroad and gazed out at the open water. I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe whales, but I could see nothing. The girl to my right was jumping up and down excitedly and pointing out to the horizon, “Look! They are breaching! Look how many!” I squinted out on the horizon, but saw nothing. I felt like I was the only one that couldn’t see them.

But then it happened. As I scanned the horizon searching for any sign, I saw it. A tiny puff of water burst like a plume from the sea. Even without binoculars the blows were becoming more obvious. Once I noticed the first one, it was easy to spot the rest and they were everywhere.

Humpback whale flashing his fluke across the Drake Passage.

As we got closer and closer, what was once a tiny plume became obvious humpback whales drawing their dorsal fins out of the sea, flashing their flukes and rolling playfully on every side of the boat.

Humpback whale rolling and flashing a fin crossing the Drake Passage. Part of the perfect welcoming committee to Antarctica!

I watched as a humpback breached so close to the boat that I could see its full extension and distinct white form beneath the surface of the water. Fifty or more humpbacks rolling in the surf was more than enough to leave me breathless. But the humpbacks weren’t alone. Two seals were also spotted bobbing along in the waves following our boat, along with several small hunting groups of chinstrap penguins porpoising through the waves and staying alongside the ship. They stuck around for what felt like several wonderful hours. We had not even reached the Antarctic Peninsula yet, and I had already received the best welcoming committee possible.