A Close Encounter!

A few days back there was an email sent out around the base telling us about an “observation tube” that had been set up by the divers, out on the sea ice off of Hut Point.  So this afternoon, after dinner, my buddy and I went out to take a look.  This observation tube is a “pod-like” cylinder that has been drilled down into the sea ice.  It is an extremely tight fit, and is definitely not for the claustrophobic, but you can actually climb down this small ladder, into a little glass corridor and sit beneath the sea ice in the open ocean.  As you climb down, you can’t help but feel a little bit of panic, due to the extremely tight space, but once you get to the bottom is well worth it!  I actually got to sit in this little room under the sea ice, with glass views 360 degrees around me. 

As you sit there, the water is so clear that you can see all the way to the bottom in every direction, and it is probably around 100 feet deep. I could see all kinds of little glow in the dark sea creatures floating around me and in the distance there were some good-sized jellyfish as well.  I have talked to some of the divers around here in the past and they say that this is by far the clearest water they have ever been in, and after seeing it for myself, I believe them.  I tried to take several pictures while in the tube, but unfortunately due to the glare from the glass none of them really came out.

So, after we had both taken a turn in the tube, we headed over to a little “dive shack” that had been set up not far from where we were.  In the dive shack there is a hole that has been drilled into the ice, where the divers come in and out of the frigid water when making their dives.  Again, you can look down into the water and see 100 feet down to the ocean floor with glowing creatures below.  So as we were sitting there looking down into this hole, suddenly a massive seal comes swimming up to the surface for a breath of air!  This thing was huge! And it was awesome to be able to see it up close, I could have easily reached out and touched it no problem.  It came up gasping for air, but didn’t seem to mind that we were there at all.  All the while, we are within arms reach of this thing snapping pictures and taking videos.  So after hanging out at the surface for a few minutes, it had caught its breath, and was ready to be on its way.  It was interesting to see it dive back down, in that it really didn’t put forth any effort; instead it took one final deep breath and just kind of sunk peacefully into the depths of the Ross Sea. 

Within the past month of being in Antarctica I have now seen several seals, but always from a distance, and always laying on the ice like large slugs, and until now they didn’t seem very exciting.  When you see them up close however, it is a completely different story.  I never realized how massive they actually are, and how graceful they are as soon as they are in the water.  Now if I could only see a damn penguin up close I would be good to go!