Day at sea crossing the Bransfield Strait and getting into the Antarctic Sound
A foggy and cold night. As soon as we left Deception Island behind, we find ourselves immersed into thick fog banks that come and go over the waters of the Bransfield Strait. By the time it gets daylight, the sun starts piercing through the misty environment, though during the journey, EUROPA still comes across other foggy areas during the sunny day.
Wet fog and temperatures below zero have left behind a “white rig”. A layer of ice covers both standing and running rigging, the gaskets and sails are stiff frozen too.
When the temperature rises and the ship sails through sunny areas amongst the occasional fog banks, the ropes, cables, yards, stays, and blocks start melting their icy caking, and bits and pieces of ice start falling from aloft. Now a rattling here, now a loud noise there, a cracking sound afterwards… as the day goes by, this sort of icy rain over the ship’s decks seems to escalate.
Our way from Deception to the Antarctic Sound is about 120nm, the width of the Bransfield Strait. From the time the ship gets into its middle area, the Antarctic Peninsula is clearly visible from our bow all the way to starboard side. Looking back from where we came, the mighty mountains of Livingston Island loom over the layer of low clouds that blanket the ocean.
Just a breeze blowing against us made for a day under engine, but at least the seas are calm, and during most of the day the visibility is good. What a good chance to slow down here and there or even stop the ship every time a whale blows close by. Today was the day for some good Humpback sightings. They seem to be scattered all around, and we keep seeing their blows along the journey. By now, they are reaching the end of their feeding season on those high latitudes, and they start thinking about the migration time towards their breeding grounds in tropical and subtropical waters.
As we close up to the Peninsula and the wide channel that gives access to the northern part of the Weddell Sea, we come across an increasing amount of ice. Ice of any sort that becomes thicker and denser when approaching the Antarctic Sound and trying to get into it. The huge tabular icebergs, broken up from the Antarctic ice shelves that were our horizon for many hours, now represent a sort of a barrier in front of us. Zigzagging here and there, turning around then and finding gaps between the bergy bits and growlers, is how we spent the afternoon.
For the night the plan is to slowly try to approach the Peninsula coastline along the Antarctic Sound, find an open water area with less concentration of icebergs and sea ice and spend the few dark hours drifting around until the first light when it will be easier and safer to resume our way in the direction of the next destination, Brown Bluff.
