Chasing leopard seals in Antarctica

by Jon Bowermaster on


Though everyone would agree that ice is king in Antarctica, the most powerful of natural elements, when it comes to the animal world the Leopard seal – 1,000 pounds of lightning fast muscle armed with a mouthful of sharp incisors – is the top of the food chain. While confident due to their size and position, they have been known to drag the occasional diver to the bottom of the ocean and not playfully.

So anyone who dives in the Southern Ocean is constantly attuned for who, or what, is swimming nearby. When my friend Kelvin Murray, who splits his underwater time between two cold water destinations (the North Atlantic and Antarctica), sent this photo of himself being followed/observed/stalked by a big Leopard seal I had to know what he was thinking:

“Let’s face it; diving in Antarctica is not for everyone. Many people ask me what is it like to roll out of the boat into zero-degree water. First question is always, Doesn’t your face freeze? Well yes, but it goes numb so quickly I don’t feel anything. Is the equipment heavy? Yes, but I’m ‘weightless’ in the water. Is there anything to see?
Yes, lots… “It’s when I tell them about the Leopard seals that they truly believe me to be mad. With a head three times the size a man’s, equipped with large canine and tricuspid teeth, powered by 1000 pounds of muscle and flesh in a twelve-foot long frame, this is a creature that demands respect.

“It was while I was guiding a group of underwater photographers on a recent trip along the Antarctic Peninsula that I had my closest encounter.

“We were reaching the end of the dive when the seal appeared. It immediately swam around and amongst us, using its long foreflippers to manuever with precise grace. Straight away it began to gape at the various camera dome ports, flashing its teeth in time with the flashing of the strobes.

“My dive partner took this particular shot as the Leopard circled us. Seconds later I turned around and found myself eyeball to huge, black eyeball with the mighty seal, literally, physically and metaphorically in my face. It hung in the water, slowly twisting and gazing at me with what looked to b a huge crooked smile. I was careful not to blow bubbles – this is sometimes regarded a sign of aggression or frustration in marine mammals – and slowly turned my face away, reminding myself a stare-down might be seen as a challenge. The seal continued to stamp its authority on the area as we returned to our boat, giving us ample opportunity to express a mix of admiration, joy and well…relief. Later in the day we returned to the site and watched with macabre enthusiasm as the seal chased down, drowned and dismembered a penguin, with our snorkelers mere feet away.

“This was a very special encounter. There are few places in the world where you can get so close to an apex carnivore to observe while it stalks, hunts, kills and eats. With iconic top predators under intense pressure the world over, mostly due to some kind of human impact – whether wolves and dogs, bears or big cats – the much-maligned Great White shark is more endangered in the wild than the tiger. All of these majestic animals deserve respect and probably a small portion of appropriate fear but despite our inherent misgivings, the reality is they have more to fear from us than we have of them.”
Photograph by and courtesy of Chris Sterritt

Southern ocean police report

by Jon Bowermaster on

As Sea Shepherd predicted, when two of its boats made port in Hobart, Tasmania, over the weekend – on the heels of a just-completed and successful campaign against Japanese whalers – Australian police greeted them.

Armed with search warrants both the “Bob Barker” and “Steve Irwin” were scoured by the police with Sea Shepherd boss Paul Watson observing. No charges were made, nothing confiscated. Yet the search went on, spurred by complaints by the Japanese government that the Shepherd’s activities in the Southern Ocean were “obstructing commerce and industry.”

Japan Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara had asked New Zealand and the Netherlands, as well as Australia, to condemn the anti-whalers, since the Shepherd’s ships are registered in those countries. It claims the Shepherd’s put the lives of Japanese crewmen at risk.

Australia’s Green party leader, Sen. Bob Brown, was at the docks to welcome the Sea Shepherd activists and told the press: “The good police (of Australia) are doing the work of Tokyo…I have written to the Minister for Foreign Affairs this morning calling for an end to this charade.”

Watson said this was the third year in a row his ships have been searched when they’ve first made port. “All I can say to the Japanese who every year say ‘you guys are eco-terrorists, you’re criminals’ is ‘look, arrest me or shut up.’ It’s just getting really irritating constantly being called an eco-terrorist without actually being arrested.”

While the Japanese did quit the whaling season early, it’s no guarantee they are giving up, despite that the Shepherds’ formally announced that this past season’s “Operation No Compromise” is finished.They will most likely return to the Southern Ocean next year and in the meantime – since they took fewer than 100 whales this season, hardly the 900 they anticipated – it is possible they may turn to hunting whales closer to home, in the northwest of the Pacific Ocean.

For its part, Sea Shepherd says it will be back down south next season if necessary. “We will be prepared and we will be ready,” Watson said in a statement posted on his website. “Our objective is to defend the integrity of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. We have done so since 2002, and we will continue to do so if there are any future threats to the sanctuary and the whales.”

In more Antarctic-related police news, Norwegian skipper Jarle Andhoy, whose ship the “Berserk” sank off the coast on February 20 with three crewmembers onboard while he and another man attempted a misguided and secretive effort to reach the South Pole by ATV, has been charged back home with negligence.

The charges, recommended by Norway’s Polar Institute, cite his lack of a proper permit and for failing to have a search and rescue plan filed in advance in case of the very kind of emergency that sank his 42-foot sailboat.

Since the seventh continent is governed by international treaty – a unique agreement, thus there are no police or military there – citizens are subject to the rule of law in their home country.

Andhoy argues that Antarctica should be “free and open” to everyone, though he realizes he faces jail time for ignoring the rules. He may also have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to compensate the rescue efforts staged by the government of New Zealand and two private ships (including the Sea Shepherd’s “Steve Irwin,” whose helicopter logged 21 hours in the air searching for signs of the sunken boat).

IAATO, the organization that oversees all visits to Antarctica by private vessels, has condemned Andhoy and his unannounced effort to “sneak” to the South Pole without proper permit, thus endangering the crew left behind on the “Berserk” and rescuers.

Apparently Andhoy contacted several IAATO member ships prior to last season asking for support of his vague plan to reach the South Pole, which they all refused due to the fact he had neither asked for nor received permission.

No one who knows Antarctica is surprised the “Berserk” got in trouble. I’ve organized private expeditions to Antarctica and gone through the permitting process, which in the U.S. meant I had to file lengthy applications with the EPA, State Department and National Science Foundation.

I’ve sailed to the continent with veteran round-the-world sailor Skip Novak aboard his “Pelagic Australis,” and will do so again next January. He knows the conditions in the Ross Sea, where the ship was last heard from on February 20, as well as anyone and says he would never take a sailboat there, no matter the condition or season.

In an interview with Explorer’s Web, Skip said he’d been contacted by Andhoy last year and asked about making landings on the continent. “I get many of these ‘dreamers,’ who are largely ill informed of the basics of the geography and climate … I never heard from the guy again.”
Caught in a vicious though typical Antarctic storm – 80-knot winds, -10 degrees Celsius air temperatures, 25-30 foot seas — while the “Berserk” did manage to send out a distress signal, in all likelihood it sank very quickly, weighted down by ice and capsized.

This is the first time in modern history a private yacht has sunk off the coast of Antarctica.
“Every ship, aircraft, expedition and in some country’s cases, even individuals must apply for permission to enter Antarctic Treaty territory, defined by any movement south of 60 degrees,” says Skip.

“For the skipper of Berserk to be unaware of this is not believable. What has proved to be a maverick’s misadventure causing loss of life is symptomatic of a few ‘adventurists’ who still consider Antarctica an unregulated ‘wilderness’ area.

“The reality is that Antarctica via the Antarctic Treaty system collaborating with IAATO is a highly regulated territory, and it is unacceptable for anyone to claim they had no prior knowledge of the requirements proving due diligence.”

[flickr image via ]

Black Tomato launches Epic Tomato, an ambitious new adventure offshoot

by Alex Robertson Textor on


For years Black Tomato has delighted old travel hands with its inventive, bespoke itineraries to various corners of the globe. The company is especially good at showcasing beautiful destinations not yet well-known to most travelers beyond the surrounding region. Among others, Belgrade, the Carpathian foothills, the Kuronian Spit, and Bhutan have all been embraced by the company.

This morning, Black Tomato launched Epic Tomato, which showcases a selection of hardcore adventure experiences to very hard-to-reach places. These adventures are scheduled for lengths of between four to 21 days, and are grouped into five categories: Polar, Desert, Jungle, Mountain, and River. They are all led by serious expert guides, some with SAS (British special service) military backgrounds.

Bolivia’s Apolobamba mountain range, Mali’s Dogon region, the Star Mountains of Papua New Guinea (see above), the Mosquito Coast of Honduras, and East Greenland are just a few of the destinations reached by Epic Tomato tours.

Epic Tomato’s frankly epic experiences don’t come cheap. At the bottom end of the scale, three adventures come in at £5995 ($9660): 14 days in Papua New Guinea’s East New Britain and Duke of York Islands; a 21-day trek in Tibet and Nepal; and eight days in Chilean Patagonia. At the very high end: 12 days on Canada’s Ellesmere Island for £67,495 ($108,720).

Missing Antarctic yacht update: life raft found, ship still missing

by Kraig Becker on

Search and rescue teams discovered a life raft adrift in the Southern Ocean yesterday that they say is from the Berserk, a Norwegian-flagged yacht that went missing earlier in the week. The raft was spotted by a helicopter that had been combing the area the past few days, searching for clues as to the fate of the ship.

On Tuesday of this week, the Berserk was sailing just off the coast of Antarctica when storms brought high winds and heavy seas to the region. Officials were first alerted to trouble when the ship activated its emergency locator beacon, but due to the bad weather, rescue operations were not able to get underway for more than a day. Since then, all attempts to hail the missing ship have failed and the emergency beacon stopped transmitting its location. At the time of its disappearance, three crew members were believed to be onboard. Two others were located yesterday, alive and well, on the Antarctic continent itself.

The life raft was said to have a torn canopy and was missing its first aid kid and survival knife. Officials said that there were no indications that it was occupied at any point, so it is impossible to determine if someone used it to escape from a sinking ship or if it simply floated free on its own.

The search for the 14-meter long, steel hulled yacht continues today, but it seems increasingly unlikely that the Berserk, or her remaining crew, will be found alive.

[Photo credit: Barbara Viega]

Norwegian yacht goes missing off Antarctica

by Kraig Becker on

A Norwegian-flagged yacht known as the Berserk has gone missing off the coast of Antarctica after activating its emergency rescue beacon yesterday. The 14-meter, steel hulled ship was last known to be sailing rough seas in the Southern Ocean approximately 18 nautical miles north of the Scott Research Base and was believed to have been carrying as many as five passengers at the time.

Rescues ships have been dispatched out of New Zealand to look for the missing yacht, but all attempts to contact the crew have failed and the emergency beacon is no longer transmitting its location. Bad weather in the region is hampering rescue efforts as well, with 75 knot winds and 6 to 8 meter swells reported in the vicinity.

The ship is captained by Norwegian sailor Jarle Andhoey who is a seasoned skipper with years of experience under his belt. There were three other Norwegians and a British national on board the Berserk at one point, although two of the passengers may have been dropped off on the Antarctic continent to attempt a journey to the South Pole. Details as to who was exactly aboard the ship at the time of the distress call are still unknown.

Weather conditions are expected to improve later in the day and search planes and helicopters may be employed to help find the missing the vessel. Rescuers are still holding out hope for good news, but considering the poor weather conditions and the loss of the signal from the ship’s beacon, the outlook is a bit grim at this time.

[Photo credit: Berserk Expeditions]