Olly's Antarctic Journal: A Big Day

26 February 2005-All good on board Pelagic. Had a huge day today in Antarctica's Hovgard Island, where we have been at anchor for the past 2 days.

Yesterday we dived, looking for leopard seals (leps), and we all got v. cold and frustrated by seals that disappeared the minute we arrived. Our thin & so-called "dexterous" gloves were useless against the bitter cold minus zero degree water and Suzi, George, and I needed to warm up our hands in big mitts for quite some time before we got feeling back.

The main problem has been the visibility-only approx 5-10 metres at the very max-and although Suzi and I are having very close encounters with the seal, if the camera is only a few feet behind us the seal disappears from view.

Today, the 26th, we got in the water early and Suzi and I made a simple abstract drawing of the side of an iceberg. We managed to get Suzi down but she couldn't clear her ears and was in quite some pain.

After lunch we went in with another seal to get the vital film shots. Again the seal buggered off and we had to get back on the boat-v. pissed off and cold. About 10 mins later Doug spotted a big seal on an isolated berg and we lobbed back in. At first the seal kept its distance and then he got closer and closer-passing us within inches, looking at the drawing board and our fins with interest. Due to the huge amount of weight we are wearing (approx. 50 lbs), my buoyancy was a bit all over the place no thanks to the wooden board and the fact that we needed to keep at 3-4 metres in a bit of a swell, which is nearly impossible to stay level, so I managed to find a hole in the iceberg and thrust my arm into it at about 10 ft. Suzi and I then waited on the corner and the lep barrel-rolled and twisted and glided past us sometimes within inches like a brutal angel-dark penetrating eyes and huge muzzle-amazing stuff.

Before we knew it we were both almost out of air and we left Doug to film and finned back to the boat v. aware of the seal that followed us out into the blue-a bit scary really but he was v. tolerant and never displayed aggressive biting.

Doug had been in a long time and he was now low on air and Sue got in and had a similar display-as Doug got out, the seal got a bit more frisky and began to nip at her fins and snap at the lens of her camera. Sue finned hard back to the boat with the seal hard on her heels and Doug and the captain pulled her out. Sue said it was the best display she has ever seen of the leps and by the end the most scary-still we are all safe and we have got the footage of us painting together in the can, so we've got the interaction on film and sorted! Quite something and we are all v. relieved.

We are all loving it here but missing home too. It's the thought of the return to unending sea sickness on the crossing back over the 750 miles of the Drake Passage that worries us. We all hope the weather is kind...

Figure 1.

Olly and Suzi working underwater in Antarctica, February 2005. (Photo by George Duffield)

Figure 2.

Olly and Suzi made a series of dives into the waters of Antarctica to paint predatory leopard seals in February/March 2005. (Photo by Olly and Suzi with George Duffield)