Antarctic Seals - A Portrait (Literally)

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From the 450 pound (200 kg) Crabeater Seal to the 8,000 pound (3.6 tons) Southern Elephant Seal, the ocean and shorelines of Antarctica are simmering with seal action. Located somewhere in the middle of the Antarctic food chain (feeding on krill, fish, penguins; eaten by Leopard Seals and by whales) - Seals look innocent, playful, lazy, and sometimes vicious - depending on their type and their mood. Mostly, they really like to nap. If you've never seen a 8,000 pound creature resting comfortably on another one - You haven't appreciated weight.

Resting on floating sea ice and on the shore, with no Polar Bears to be concerned about (see my post Penguins in Alaska? Polar Bears in Antarctica?), it's easy to stumble upon them. They all look similar - with distinctive features based on their type (Crabeater, Weddel, Leopard, Southern Elephant, Ross...). They all have a similar body, at different sizes and colors.  The Southern Elephant Seal, for example, can come in a color collection resembling a candy store!

But get closer, and you begin to wonder whether individual seals have their own personality, as shown by their facial features and the look in their eyes. This time around, I chose to share with you a series of closeup portraits I took of some Antarctic seals in my recent (December 2016) trip there. (In fact, a few of these were shot by my kids who accompanied me) I was fascinated by their looks and became convinced they have a soul. No wonder that in some languages they're called "sea dogs"! What say you?

Ready for a couple dozen photos? Click on any photo to enlarge it. Some browsers will allow you to slide from one photo to the next. Those with iPhone: Reader View is recommended.

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See my post Antarctica and The South Pole..... for more stories and photos

© e kaplan 2016

Antarctic Beauty

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It's April, and the Antarctic continent is slipping into a short Fall season, to be followed by a long, harsh, even brutal winter, where temperatures are often in the -50s and can be lower on many occasions. 

This is a good opportunity to recall how beautiful the Antarctic Peninsula looked just a few months ago, when summer settled in and the temperatures climbed to just around freezing. That time, the area is just perfect for cruising, kayaking, even meditating, as evident in the photo above - Thank God the days are long so one can just sit idle in the kayak for a while and enjoy the peaceful environment!

Kayaking allows us to look at the macro and the micro, so to speak. In the picture above, I paddled literally underneath a pretty huge iceberg, only to see what a beautiful engraving the ocean can make.

And of-course, all you need to do is lift your eyes again, kayak towards the open sea, and watch how ocean, fog, and people mesh together:

It's not that kayaking around Antarctica is always so peaceful. Often, with a slight change in the stream or the wind, everyone in your group becomes a traffic cop!

Evidently, we got out of there since I'm sitting here, sipping coffee and writing this post.

Let's go back to the broader view, where sunlight, the ocean, the icebergs and the land mix together in a dance of Antarctic nature:

The photo above, by the way, has won me a few awards, so take a second look :)

However, not everyone is suitable for kayaking in freezing water, and there are always the real estate types who simply prefer a balcony with a view. Even for those of you, Antarctica has something to offer. Although, of course, that piece of land is already taken by some small, funny creatures.

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To view more Antarctic ocean pictures I have taken, go to my post Mountains In The Sky With Diamonds

Who Don't Care 'bout The Polar Bear?

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It helps to have thick skin. (No, you have not been redirected to one of my self-help sites where I collect Google Ads dollars! You're still at arcticfever.com)

As you may have read in previous posts, summers in the Arctic are no longer fun for the Polar bear. Sometimes, before they can say "Jack Robinson", (or "Jack Daniel's" if you believe the stories about drinking habits in the far north) a Polar bear waking up from winter on Svalbard Island cannot see any sea ice, because it has melted and retreated so far, and so fast, that it's hundreds of miles away.

This means no ice floats to hunt for seal, and that means a long summer without food. Well, you'd say, pity for all living animals on the island! The Polar bear is at the top of its own food chain, a well trained killing machine, and so any sea mammal on the island is doomed!

Not as far as the Walrus is concerned. The Walrus, which weighs up to a ton, can dive down to 800 feet to scrap clams of the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, and has two very sharp tasks, also has very thick skin. 

As the sea ice melts, Walruses come on shore by the hundreds, mighty yet lazy. Easy prey? Not really. Their skin is so thick, and their demeanor so violent, that they're not really threatened. Following are photos of a Polar bear trapped on Svalbard for the summer, very hungry. It walked along the shore looking for food, and look who it saw! (Pics were shot from my kayak)

   

The smell of fresh meat might drive him crazy, so he decides to check it out:

Are you afraid of Polar Bears? Not the Walrus! See how they don't even bother to look up. They know the bear will not hurt them because they can hurt it. Right now, he's looking for a young or sick one, which they may have among them.

The Walrus couldn't be bothered. After all, if you looked like this, would you?

And the bear? It doesn't know whether it should be frustrated or just not waste energy. It's hungry, almost starving, but knows a fight with a bunch of healthy Walruses will not fix that.

So it just walks past them. Look at the Walruses - I would be Offended by not being looked at like they're treating the Polar bear! So what's left? The bear, frustrated, tired, hungry, and lonely, despite being one of the most efficient predators on the face of the earth, has one option left:

Will it survive the summer? An increasing number of Polar bears starve to death as they're trapped on Arctic islands, the summer ice floating hundreds of miles away. Global Warming, man-made or not, is taking its toll.

And finally, another piece of self-help advice: if you see a Walrus like in the following photo, make sure you stay stable on your kayak no matter what.

To read more about the Walrus, see my post The Beauty And The Beast

I've Got Your Back, Ma'am!

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This is me. Smiling while using a water pump. Typical male. Not too attractive unless you flipped your kayak in the Arctic ocean. Need to go there to find love.

Trust me. I know. I've seen many women turn their backs at me. Like when I try to initiate a conversation. I hate seeing those backs.

Except on a kayak. There, seeing people's backs means differently: I am in control. I am steering the boat. The recipe is simple: Go on many Arctic and Antarctic kayaking expeditions. Become a pretty good kayaker. Have the guide pull you aside and whisper: "would you mind sharing a kayak with that person? It's their first time in these conditions."

So this post is dedicated to all the backs of women I watched while kayaking the frozen waters of the Arctic and Antarctica. It'll allow you, the readers, to see how it looks from the back seat, and then what you miss by not seating in first row - I've coupled those views together.

During my first Antarctic trip, I saw this back for many hours. Ally was actually a good kayaker and we always sought out the narrowest paths among the icebergs. In such cases, it actually looks scarier when you're in the back seat, and you tend to say "let me know where to turn! Let me know when to turn!" Especially when it snows (on you and on the seals) while you paddle:

But, then again, this is what Ally saw by being in the front seat:

Sometimes, though, it's better to step outside the boat to look at your companion's back. I took this picture in Bowron Lake Park in British Columbia, where I decided that some perspective to this woman canoeing was not only necessary, but beautiful as well:

A bit later, back in the canoe, it was clear why one prefers to have a perspective on these lakes!

The following is a very special female companion. That's my daughter, honing her kayaking skills when she was only 12. Well, "kayaking" is a bit of a strong term. Those of you who have sharp eyes can see the bubbles at the front of the advancing kayak, yet she was not paddling! Someone actually paddled AND shot this photo at the same time! Who could that be?

Thank you. Thank you. But it was still worth the view. When you see this - Why would you want to paddle and not just watch in awe?

These guys, in the Water of British Columbia's Inner Passage, jump pretty high, don't you think?

Admittedly, though, sometimes the real position to be at is in front of a lovely woman, especially as soon as she feels the solid earth underneath her feet again. Want a proof? Here -

Let me watch your back.

Hey, what was Carolyne thinking here? That she could get away from me by jumping off the boat? And even if so, why was she so smiling? And why on earth did she have her camera wrapped around her hand?

(She didn't get away. We got her back into the kayak. And then she flipped it, making me pump the water out. Now you're making the connection?!)

We can't end this post without one more lovely photo of a back, energetically paddling the waters round the Antarctic Peninsula, and of the view that brings up this energy. Here they come:

View my post Arctic Black and White with a Story to see some additional photos.

Kayaking Deja Vu - Best of My Arctic and Antarctic Kayaking Posts

The kayaking season on the Arctic ocean has ended a couple of months ago, and the Antarctic ocean is about to open up to kayakers very soon. I've been getting a good number of emails from readers asking me for recommendations about kayaking trips, the experience of kayaking, and kayaking photography. It seems that since I've been writing this blog for some time now, many great and relevant posts have been buried! And as I get new readers almost every week, I thought I'd direct you - or, for my repeat readers, remind you - to my most favorite kayaking posts. Click on any link to open that post, and on any photo to enlarge it!

If you're interested in kayaking, you may want to start with my post Kayaking The Arctic and Antarctica - 9 Tips 

Think it's crazy and risky? Unlike walking, kayaking on thin ice is rather safe, and you get to see amazing views like this one:

And of course, the benefits of kayaking among icebergs is that you can no only take pictures of them, but literally absorb them! A very popular post I wrote about this is Frozen Creatures of the Arctic and it has some very nice pictures I took while kayaking.

That's it for today - Just a filler to remind of old gems!