Antarctica - Day 9 - Encountering Whales

Today would be all about a magical whale encounter. But first things first. The morning activity was a zodiac cruise at Foyn Harbour, which is renowned for an abundance of wildlife and anearly 20th century shipwreck.

So, we jumped into the zodiac on the lookout for some whales. I haven't had a close whale encounter yet on this trip, so this really was my last chance to get close to these majestic animals. At the start, we were cruising around, looking at some cool icebergs and the odd seal, but didn't have any whale sightings.

However, after a while we saw a blow in the distance and immediately turned the zodiac around and were speeding towards the blow. Once we arrived, we had to search for a little bit longer to spot the whales, but found them within 5-10 minutes. In fact, there were two whales, probably a mother and her child. We turned off the engines and just floated in the water, letting the whales spot us and decide what to do with us.

Fortunately, at least one of the whales was very curious and started to explore our zodiac, swimming around us, diving underneath our boat and blowing water up high right next to our boat. He was really giving us a show. The highlight of this amazing encounter was when the whale lifted a fin out of the water and hit it on the water twice right next to our boat, splashing us with fresh ocean water - well, he pooped in the water before, so it was a mix of fresh ocean water and some whale poop probably. I loved every single second of it.

Watching the whale in its entire length and glory was truly spectacular and special. You cannot plan or buy this experience as, after all, it is wildlife and they do what they want. Even our zodiac driver, Valeria, said that this moment was the best of her 2024/25 season and I could see why. Yes, I can describe the encounter with words, but seeing it with my own eyes and the feeling of having that magical creature so close, I cannot put it into words that would do it justice. It might have been the most special moment of this already very special voyage to Antarctica. Plus on the same zodiac cruise we got some hot chocolate with rum while watching whales. I mean, this is life!

Back on the boat, we were all still buzzing with what just happened. Fortunately, it wasn't just our zodiac which got a show, so we shared all sorts of videos with cool whale behaviour and underwater shots. For almost all of us, this was the highlight of the trip.

After calming down a bit over lunch, we were heading to our last landing on the Antarctica Peninsula - Portal Point. For the first time, there was no wildlife on this landing (neither penguins, nor seals), so we walked up to a couple of viewpoints to enjoy the glacial scenery and the many icebergs that were scattered around in the wide ocean. We played around with some large chunks of ice, took a few snaps and just spent some time appreciating the place where we were.

Towards the end, I was just standing at the edge of the island, listening to the chunks of ice hitting the shore, looking out into the distance and really having a mental walk down memory lane. I was just happy being there in that very moment, totally encompassed by Antarctica and its surroundings and still in awe of this trip, this place and this adventure at the end of the world.

At this point, if anyone asks me what it was like, I am not sure I could accurately describe what I experienced last week. Majestic doesn't even begin to describe it. And to make things even more cheesy, as we said goodbye to the icy landscape, icebergs, and snowy landscape, nature awarded us a picture perfect sunset while we were standing at the stern of the ship looking back onto the Antarctic continent for one last time.

To our sides, we saw quite a few pods of whales, seemingly saying goodbye to us, as well. I had told myself before, but right there, right then, again, I really knew that one day, I would come back to Antarctica - to visit this incredible continent that for sure has slightly changed my life.Read more