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Antarctica - Breaking The Last Frontier
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| Posted by Jerome Konen on 10/02/05 |
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| Bye bye Ushuaia |
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| Photo by Jerome Konen |
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09 February 2005 - It's 2:30pm, we leave the harbour of Ushuaia. The Kotick is heading for Isla Nueva, marking the end of the Beagle Channel while passing along Puerto Williams. Sunshine, flat sea and Magellan penguins swimming along the boat.
Suddenly something big appears at the bow of the Kotick. It's a whale, we can't believe what we see, and this not even an hour after we left Ushuaia. A Minke Whale seams to be attracted to our vessel, diving from side to side. Immediately we stop the engine. This species typically has the upperparts black while the underparts are white. It's almost a dolphin like swimmer.
As the Beagle Channel is pretty calm, we use the occasion to test our life suits on deck. I'm trying not to imagine swimming in those suits in the middle of the Drake Passage.
Anyway, let's face the most challenging sea passage ever. The adventure begins...
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