Day 34 – Sailing the South Atlantic Ocean

Today was another sea day, with conditions much like yesterday’s - rough, rainy, and windy. There was nothing on my agenda, so I planned to relax and catch up on the blog.

In the afternoon, we had an exciting announcement. Expedition Leader Oliver let us know that Iceberg A23a, the largest iceberg in the world, was visible from the bow and port side of the ship. I looked out of our window and saw two beautiful icebergs.

Two Massive Icebergs, but Not Iceberg A23a

I was surprised, however, when I learned that these were not the iceberg that Olivia was talking about. What I saw were just tiny icebergs that had broken off A23a. So, I looked to my right and saw what looked like land. That was A23a, and it was so huge that we could not see where it began or ended. In fact, over the next hour, we saw only 15 of its 32 nautical miles. That size is hard for me to comprehend.

This Is A23a!

More Detailed Images of Sections of A23a

It's Hard for Me to Believe that These Are Only Tiny Sections of A23a

Following our Daily Briefing, Expedition Team member Andrés gave us some background on Iceberg A23a. He noted that A23a broke off, or calved, from the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf in Antarctica in 1986, but only recently began freely drifting northward.

Background Information on A23a

This iceberg, which was as large as the state of Rhode Island in January of this year, is rapidly breaking apart and melting in the warmer waters of the South Atlantic Ocean. To give us a sense of the scale of A23a, Andrés superimposed Viking Octantis in front of an image of the iceberg. Unbelievable!

A23a Would Dwarf Viking Octantis

A23a is following a path known as “iceberg alley,” the ocean route where icebergs that calve off the Antarctic ice cap are pushed north by wind and water. We continued to see smaller icebergs that had broken off from A23a while we were eating dinner. It’s funny that I once would have considered these “smaller” icebergs to be massive. How one’s perspective can quickly change!

Drifting Along Iceberg Alley