Antarctica: Portal Point and Wilhelmina Point

An overview of the trip is available here.

We had a morning landing at Portal Point on the Antarctica Peninsula in beautiful weather. As we approached the site, I went out on deck to take the views in, with snow-covered mountains in all directions, icebergs in the bay, whales blowing in the distance, and lenticular clouds clearly visible.

Humpback Whales were Active All Morning

Lenticular Clouds over Snow-Covered Mountains

This was our first landing on the continent of Antarctica: a rocky beach, some seals sleeping nearby, and an icy/snowy mound to climb to get an overview of the landscape.

Portal Point Landing Site as Seen from the Ship with an Iceberg Between Us

One of Many Icebergs at Portal Point

After I got back aboard, I spent some time on deck. I heard a whale blow, looked down, and saw a humpback whale lingering near the ship. I've seen many whales in Alaska; usually all you get to see is a cloud of mist from their exhaled breath, maybe a dorsal fin, sometimes a fluke. It's really hard to photograph a whale because nearly all of its body is under water. I got lucky here: it came near the ship, I was on an upper deck able to look down into the clear water, it got my attention when I actually heard it blow, and I had my camera ready.

Humpback Whale

The ship repositioned to Wilhelmina Point and the weather became overcast and snowy. We had an afternoon zodiac cruise to visit icebergs and see the seascapes. Instead we found ourselves surrounded by whales. We lingered the entire time among these giants as we heard them blow and saw them surfacing all around us.

Birds Feast on Krill Stirred Up By Whales

Sometimes the whales were so close that we could see the barnacles on their backs and the bumps under their hides.

Humpback Whale Lunge Feeding

Most of the time when viewing whales, this is about all you get to see: a dorsal fin and some of its back, this time as it was snowing.

Typical Surface Appearance with Dorsal Fin and Spine Bumps

Near the end of our zodiac cruise, we happened to see a whale at the end of a feeding lunge with seawater spewing as it filtered krill out to eat.

Filtering Krill

This was our routine for the duration of the cruise: wake up someplace new, having sailed there overnight, have an outing, go back aboard for lunch, then back out for something else in the afternoon. And the weather can go from sunny and wonderful to snowing and strong winds in an amazingly short time.