Goodbye to the "Little Red Ship!"

Friday, November 23, 2007 at 07:40 LT

With the rescue of all guests and crew now complete, the National Geographic Endeavour approaches the heavily listing Explorer. It is a very stunning and emotional moment as we watch the very first ship ever specifically designed for Antarctic expedition travel in her final death throws. She would manage to stay afloat for several more hours before finally succumbing to the sea.

It is really rather sad to watch (and film) the entire event. Of course many of the staff on board our ship had worked and known the Explorer throughout her almost 40 years in polar travel. Some thought that it was a fitting end to a ship that had carried so many people to the ends of the Earth; much better to die at sea (after safely delivering all her passengers for rescue) than to end up as scrap metal in a shipyard somewhere.

Our entire ship was silent as we slowly circled the dying Explorer. Captain Oliver Kruess of the National Geographic Endeavour gave a farewell set of blasts on our ship's horn in tribute to the "Little Red Ship."

A final view of the sinking Explorer with her passenger rescuer the Nordnorge behind. All passengers were safely transferred to a research base on King George Island and then flown to their various homes around the world, none the less for the wear, but with an amazing story to share!

For my part I got a glimpse of what it would be like to be a news reporter covering a world-wide breaking story. I sent images via satellite to one of my agencies in London, who quickly got them out on the BBC wire service. The images were immediately picked up and distributed worldwide to television stations and newspapers everywhere. My images were on CNN news, BBC news, several of their affiliates and even the AP. On Saturday November 24 my images graced the cover of the Saturday edition of the London Times, as well as being published in the New York Times and many other newspapers worldwide! Friends sent copies of papers with my images in them from as far away as New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, and Ireland. Literally hundreds of newspaper publications form this single event.

And now my fifteen minutes of fame have come and gone, captured in a few moments on a CF card at the bottom of the world. I can peacefully go back to doing what I do best, capturing moments of wildlife doing incredible things in amazing places. I guess it really isn't so different after all...

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The Rescue of 154 Explorer Guests and Crew

Friday, November 23, 2007

While the Chilean Navy helicopter continued to film the sinking of the Explorer, the rescue continued of all 154 guests and crew.

These images were taken from the bow of the National Geographic Endeavour as all guests were transferred to Zodiacs and then on to the Nordnorge.

Miraculously not a single person was injured or suffered from hypothermia during the roughly three and a half to four and a half hours that they were in the lifeboats and Zodiacs.

The rescue went smoothly and efficiently.

It was quite a traumatic event for all the guests and crew, but I cannot stress how lucky it was for everyone involved that the weather was calm and the seas relatively flat, not always the case in this part of Antarctica! In less than eight hours a raging gale would hit the area! A difference of a few hours could have spelled disaster for so many folks...

The ship had drifted clear of most ice floes, with only an occasional iceberg to be seen in the area.

All of the orange bags shown here are personal thermal protection devices that act similar to a sleeping bag that is slipped on over all outer clothing to maintain body heat.

As the lifeboats were emptied they were left to drift in the open seas. The Chilean navy would return later in the day to retrieve the empty lifeboats.

Quite a surreal scene to see the empty lifeboats floating among the ice near the still heavily listing Explorer.

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The Cruise vessel Explorer hits an Iceberg

Friday, November 23, 2007 06:30 Local Time

Here in Antarctica we were in for a huge surprise today. At roughly 01:30 local time (LT) the National Geographic Endeavour received a telex distress message from MV Explorer, call sign ELJD8, via Valparaiso Playa Ancha Radio. The nature of distress was “flooding." The ship had evidently hit an iceberg that had punctured the hull. The officers of the National Geographic Endeavour fixed the position of the Explorer at 62.24 S, 057.71 W, a distance of roughly 60 miles from our ship. The Endeavour immediately turned and started steaming at full power towards the stricken Explorer.

Just before 03:00 LT contact was again made with the Explorer, receiving a position update (62.23.5 S, 057. 15.1 W) and the message that the ship was without propulsion drifting towards the ice. The evacuation of all 154 people on board the ship was in progress. Fifteen crew members had initially stayed behind to try and manage the flooding, but by 04:50 LT all 154 guests and crew had abandoned ship.

Both the National Geographic Endeavour and the Norwegian cruise ship Nordnorge arrived on the scene at roughly 06:30 LT. People had been in lifeboats for roughly three and a half hours. As these photos show, the sea conditions were relatively calm and ice-free.

Immediately upon arriving the scene the crew from the Explorer began towing the passenger filled lifeboats towards the Nordnorge. I was on the bow of the National Geographic Endeavour filming the whole event. The Chilean Navy was also on the scene in a helicopter watching over (and filming) the entire rescue.

The rescue went smoothly and efficiently. Guests were transferred from the large and ungainly lifeboats into the Explorer Zodiacs and then taken on board the Nordnorge.

There was no panic and very little confusion as the transfers went smoothly and efficiently.

Guests on board the Nordnorge watched and filmed the whole event from the upper decks.

In very short order all 154 people were safely transferred to the Nordnorge. By 07:30 LT all guests and crew were safely aboard the Nordnorge. These images were taken from the bow of the National Geographic Endeavour. The Explorer continued listing and taking on water, finally sinking later that day.

Goodbye to the Hayden Wolf Pack

October 26, 2007
The last photo I took on this day, of one of the pups with the backbone from the elk kill. Only four days later the pack would suffer the deaths of both alpha male and female wolves and near total destruction of the rest of the pack at the fangs of the Mollies...

The last shot I have of alpha female 540F and alpha male 541M working the elk carcass side by side. We are all reminded now and then that life can be a dog-eat-dog event, it's not how many breaths you take, but how many moments take your breath away. Better get going!

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Wolves and Ravens

October 26, 2007
Some 8 or 10 years ago I attended an inspirational wolf lecture by photographer Jim Brandenburg who had filmed wolves on Ellesmere Island in northern Canada. I came away with an incredible respect for what it took to be near wolves, but one of Jim's statements given then has stayed with me even now; this was the idea that ravens would lead wolves to prey in the harshness of winter. The ravens were the far-reaching eyes for the predator and the reward of course was a shared prey.

Yellowstone wolves, particularly the Hayden Pack, don't seem to have the same appreciation for ravens as the Canadian wolves Jim had studied and filmed. Time and again I would see a member of the pack break loose and chase ravens off of the carcass, evidently not willing to share just yet.

The first image in this series is of alpha male 541M chasing ravens off his elk leg bone and here is the alpha female 540F seemingly unhappy with the ravens on this elk carcass. She not only chased, but barked and howled as the birds lifted off the carcass as she approached.

Often a great deal of energy seems to be spent on the "defense" of the carcass!

Here one of the pups chases ravens off... When the wolves had finally gorged and left the ravens swooped in and began feeding for themselves...

Goodbye Grizzly Bear!

October 26, 2007 at 07:24:14

What a time to have to change CF cards! I missed the push around the carcass to move the grizzly off, but just managed to get the final photos of the bear being chased into the woods!

Now maybe this bear was full, or just tired of defending this carcass against attacking wolves. In any event, off he scampers into the forest!

The last sighting of this bear before he is chased off. Time is 07:24:14, just 4 minutes and 14 seconds from when he showed up on the carcass. Not much time to enjoy a hearty breakfast!

And this ends one of the most amazing encounters of any wildlife I have ever been privileged to witness. These images have gone out to several of the wolf researchers in Yellowstone, but they are available to any others who might find them useful. So many of you fine folks who study and watch wolves have given so much to CT and I in our three years in the park that it is a pleasure to finally be able to give a little back. I will post a few more of the fun images of the pack feeding on this carcass and chasing ravens soon, I promise!

Of course these images are all the more poignant in that both the Hayden Pack alpha male and female, as well as several of their pups, were killed on October 30, 2007 by the Molly pack. This is certainly one of the last feeding events in the lives of these incredible wolves, only days before their deaths. I was in Antarctica when CT e-mailed me with the news of their deaths, and I can honestly say that the news affected me profoundly. What a moment in time...

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Haydens Regroup with Alpha Male 541M!

October 26, 2007 at 07:22:48

Time to regroup! Four pups surround alpha male 541M, who has not been involved at all up to this point in the bear defense. He has been busy with this elk leg...

Seemingly still uninterested he busily gnaws the bone...

But the alpha female 540F gathers the whole pack together...

Here there are eight members of the Hayden pack, including alpha male 541M...

And 540F leads the pack back in against the bear. This image is taken at 07:23:38.

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Hayden Alpha Female 540F Harasses Grizzly Bear

October 26, 2007 at 07:21:18AM

So what is to be done with this darn bear? The Hayden Pack still wants to feed, but this grizzly is really putting a damper on their efforts.

The alpha female 540F takes it upon herself to circle the bear and try to force it off the carcass.

She is yelping and trying to gain the attention of the bear...

She continues coming in to draw attention from the bear...

But this is a BIG bear and she doesn't seem to be able to force it to leave...

The rest of the pack has just about given up but she has better ideas. Time is 07:22:11.

Hayden Wolf Pack and Grizzly Bear!

October 26, 2007 at 07:19:47AM

Earlier this morning CT and I were in Hayden Valley along the Yellowstone River looking for wolves when Bob Landis came racing by in his car motioning for us to follow him. He had gotten a call from road workers that wolves were on a carcass just west of the Tower Junction road. And here they are! Seven members of the Hayden Pack (the alpha male 541M is off feeding on an elk leg by himself) trying to dig up a buried elk carcass. Time is 07:19:47.

Are you watching CLOSELY? The first sign of trouble comes at exactly 07:19:58 as the ravens around the carcass lift into the air. What seems to be the trouble?

The answer comes into the frame at 07:20:00 in the form of a grizzly bear charging the wolf pack on the carcass! I am absolutely fascinated to watch the pack's reaction to the charging bear.

The pack scatters at the onslaught, but notice that the alpha female 540F is one of the last ones to run from the charging bear.

Due to the magic of my Canon motor drive the entire series of images from when the bear entered the frame to the last shot take less than 2 seconds...

Normally I wouldn't post so many "similar" images, but I thought you might enjoy studying the actions of individual members of the pack to this onslaught just as I did so I will let the camera roll...

Ending photo is at 07:20:02. Now what shall the pack do with this bear? Keep reading for the answer!

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Hayden Wolf Pack kill mule deer

October 24, 2007
The reason for all the earlier hurry now becomes evident. The pack crossed the river in order to get to prey - in this case a mule deer. I did not get to see the actual kill, I was watching as a ninth wolf came down to the Yellowstone River, but did not cross with the rest of the pack. The image above was taken at 4:01:34PM and the last wolf crossed the highway at 3:36:49PM (from the EXIF files of the camera), it took less than 25 minutes to find and kill this deer!

While the pack fed on the deer, the alpha female 540F had to keep one pup in line on two different occasions. Here she has pinned it to the ground after it made some transgression of wolf dining etiquette!

Here she is again dominating a pup that tried to pull off too much deer carcass.

WOW! This pup is totally pinned and the alpha female is growling and baring her fangs!

She finally lets the pup up with a last snarl.

The remainder of the pack finish off the deer carcass.

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Hayden Wolf Pack crossing the Yellowstone River

October 24, 2007
Wolves! After three years of hoping to see (and photograph) wolves closer than scope distance CT and I totally luck out with the Hayden Pack. Here is the alpha male 541M and two offspring surveying just where to cross the Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley.

The alpha female 540F brings up the rear as the whole pack comes down off a ridge to cross the river...right in front of me! It is now about 3:30pm local time.

Late afternoon light is absolutely gorgeous as the alpha male 541M first enters the river. Reflected light creates the double image!

Along with one of his pups the alpha male start across the river...

Side by side these two dog paddle across the river...

and together reach the other side. Notice that the alpha male started the swim behind his pup, but got to the other side first?

Time to shake off the water and get going...

Soaking wet they all look so much skinnier than with their coats at full fluff!

The alpha female 540F crosses in the middle of the group.

Gets to the other side easily. In wolf years she is rather old at 8.

Shakes the water from her fur...

Good to the last drop!

The only black wolf in the pack, this pup is really beautiful!

Look at him shine as he clears the river.

The last one across!

Totally intent, just where the heck are these guys going so fast?

Across the highway headed west, eight members of the pack are now safely on the other side of the road. I just can't believe my luck at seeing the whole thing literally right in front of me!

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"Otterly" energetic!

October, 2007
This family of river otters kept me entertained early one morning as they went from muskrat lodge to muskrat lodge looking to see if the owners were home. Their curiosity seems to be insatiable, but of course the need for a hearty breakfast probably drove the inspections!

Nope! Nobody home here, time to check out a new location...

With no muskrats anywhere in sight the family returned to what they do best...fishing!

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Moose on the loose!

October, 2007
So what is as much fun as watching a coyote pounce on prey? Watching this bull moose contemplate just how to get over this three split-rail fence. He approaches and thinks about it for a minute or two, and then...

up and over no problem at all!

Just a different view of a rather stationary animal!

Does this moose really believe he is well hidden behind the sage?

Coyote Two Step!

October, 2007
Now I have really become enamored of the antics of coyotes. Living in the Sonoran Desert in Tucson, Arizona I get to see these guys all the time. They prowl my neighborhood looking for unsuspecting pets, they howl at the moon at night, and they even have the temerity to cross the road right in front of me whenever they please. Of course I never seem to have a camera ready to go to capture these events!

Here in Yellowstone National Park the first snows have come. The weather is turning frigid in the mornings. The foliage has all turned golden brown, and the coyotes are out in force looking and listening for small rodents in the tall grasses.

With total concentration this coyote leaps high into the air expecting to land on its prey for an easy meal, but...

there is nobody underfoot at the end of the first jump so with ears cocked forward the coyote immediately is airborne again!

Totally intent on its prey, oblivious to me, but the second jump yields nothing as well...

So much energy spent without success. Guess that's the way the (coyote) bounces!

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The Usual Suspects, framed unusually?

October, 2007
So how do you take a famous place that has literally been photographed millions of times, and put a twist on the photo or see it in a new light? Now I am the first to admit that I am NOT a landscape photographer and that I am much more comfortable with some wild critter doing something in front of the lens for me...but here goes; my attempts to see these famous places through a different light, see what you think!

Delicate Arch is an American West Icon, it is the quintessential arch in a National Park devoted to arches here in Southeastern Utah. How to make it a little different...

Sunset on one "leg" of the arch...

Owachomo Bridge under starlight, part of Natural Bridges National Monument in Southeastern Utah.

High noon at Wilson Arch, here a smaller hole to the side of the main arch looking to me like an alien life form eye...

The Big Dipper in the right half of the night sky in front of the Grand Tetons out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming...

The beauty of being able to shoot at high ISO speeds (here ISO 1000) to freeze moving stars and light up a landscape by moonbeams!

First light fog on the front range of the Grand Tetons...Ooooohhh it was bitter cold!

Ever seen a Fog Bow? Here the Grand Tetons peep out from under a fog bow over sage along the Gros Ventre River, Wyoming.

Snow-covered peaks behind fall colors outside Jackson, Wyoming...

What fun it is to experiment in a total new type of photography. Now I am not even tempted away from photographing wild critters, and I think the highlight of this road trip has been the animals (as you shall see in the upcoming posts), but it certainly is fun to change your "focus" every now and then! Pixels are FREE, go try it out for yourselves!

Road Trippin' in the USA!

October, 2007
Road Trip! With a little over three weeks to play with, and no particular plan at all in mind, CT and I head off in search of beauty in the American West. Our goal is just to go and see and take a few pics along the way... a far cry from my usual "focused" photo expeditions at sea!

Something about the open road really appeals to me. No time schedule. No tides or weather worries. Just the call of the road and a want to see the beauty of the country I live in, but so very rarely take the time to appreciate. We would hit all the usual spots; here the beautiful buttes in Monument Valley in northeastern Arizona.

Of course the Grand Canyon had to be visited, and only a sunrise or sunset would do! Here a view from the south rim of the canyon at Mather lookout.

Sunset at Hopi Point, looking east.

Goosenecks State Park in southeastern Utah. A classic example of what a winding river can cause, this is a classic example of an incised meander.

Sunset over the Needles Overlook.

Reflected light on water from the Grand Teton Mountain Range, outside of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

These images were shot from the Schabawacker Landing on the snake river.

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September, 2007
"Believe me, there is nothing, absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about with boats." So wrote Kenneth Grahame in The wind in the Willows. I have to agree. Here is a Lindblad Zodiac full of guests in front of a waterfall in Kynoch Inlet, Southeast Alaska.

As a photographer I am always looking for that moody light that gives boats a place to operate in, a sense of where they live and work.

On a foggy day in September in Alert Bay, British Columbia the mood and lighting were perfect!

Flat calm waters and working boats in the harbor lend to a sense of time and place.

Every now and then it is good practice to photograph things other than animals, just to keep stretching towards new horizons (especially when it is foggy and there isn't an animal to be seen or heard anywhere nearby!)

Brown bear twins

August, 2007
So here is the answer to our little dilemma of why the young bear in the stream took off so fast, these two bears are much bigger and wanted the same spot in the stream! Our little bear smelled them long before we could even see them, and took off running.

It is very rare for brown bears to even tolerate each other, let alone fish together. I have been watching these same two bears for three years now at this stream, and I believe they are siblings only weaned from their mother this year. The first year away from mom is the hardest on brown bears, as they learn how to fend for themselves without her help.

But these bears seem to be doing just fine, as they are plenty fat and seem to have no problem gathering up salmon from the stream. Now our little bear earlier may have quite a hard winter ahead if it doesn't learn how to fish when the big boys are around!

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more images of incredible wildlife!

An aware brown bear!

August, 2007
This very young brown bear has come down to a salmon stream here on Chichagof Island to fish, but is obviously very wary. He continually looks over his shoulder nervously, not at us in our little inflatable boat, but towards the forest lining the stream.

Suddenly he is off and running trying to get out of the stream!

And he doesn't stop there. At full speed he runs along the beach and into the dense undergrowth, disappearing from sight. What has made our little bear take off like this?

Black Bears in Southeast Alaska

August, 2007
While it is very common to see coastal brown bears at many salmon streams here in Southeast, I don't get to see anywhere near the number of black bears. This fellow was lazily foraging in Scenery Cove, looking for berries to munch.

I am always surprised at just how well black bears can climb, and often spot them high on cliffs and surrounding rock walls here in Thomas Bay just outside of Petersburg.

This black bear is fishing for coho salmon at a stream near the Mendenhal Glacier just outside of Juneau, Alaska.

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August 26, 2007
Here is a really fun series of images of a mother and calf breaching in front of the Point Retreat Lighthouse on Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska.

Note how the calf is still fairly yellowish in coloration in those areas where mom is white. This indicates a fairly young calf, probably just learning to breach!

Mom lands VERY CLOSE to her calf as she comes down from her breach, this little baby must have been pretty excited at the sound of mom crashing into the water just behind it!

Orca Super Pod!

August 26, 2007
This morning in Chatham Strait and Lynn Canal on the western side of Admiralty Island there was a meeting of many pods of Orca - all northbound. These events are always an exciting time as groups come together to socialize and possibly mate.

There were many tens and possibly over a hundred diffeent animals spread out over several miles. Small groups could be seen on both sides of the channel...a true superpod!

This adult bull breached several times just as several groups approached Point Retreat on the north end of Admiralty Island.

Orca bulls mate outside of their own pods so perhaps this animal was demonstrating his physical fitness to the other Orca in the area.

What beautiful form and technique! Surely all this energy must have enticed a female from another pod!

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Transient Orca pod T88

August, 2007
The transient Orca pod T88 consisting of 6 animals in total. The pod was sighted off Cape Strait and followed to Beacon Point along the east coast of Kupreanof Island just outside of Petersburg, Southeast Alaska.

Not one, but two newborn calves in this group! One of these calves is only a few weeks old (still very creamy yellow in eye patch and belly coloration - not yet turned to white.)

Traveling with mom in the "echelon" position - the calf is pulled along in mom's slipstream, making it easier for the calf to keep up!

The adult bull is T87 - estimated to have been born in 1963. The notch in this bull's dorsal fin is a dead giveaway to his identity!

Both mom's with their calves tucked in right beside them. What a treat!

Simply a Steller life!

August and September, 2007

This young Steller Sea Lion has gotten "caught" chasing after salmon fishing gear. The hook in its mouth should eventually rust and break free, but I saw this same animal with this same gear at the same haul-out on three different trips to Sail Rock in Frederick Sound spanning almost a month. Young sea lions the world over get curious about anything in their environment, often with painful (and sometimes fatal) results.

These young bull Steller sea lions are mock-fighting by playing king-of-the-mountain on top of a rock which is quickly disappearing to the high tide! Mock-fighting teaches valuable skills for future use when it comes time for these males to actually defend a portion of shoreline against other males intent on breeding.

Mock-fighting teaches valuable skills for future use when it comes time for these males to actually defend a portion of shoreline against other males intent on breeding. It is rare that either combatant would be seriously injured, but it is seriously fun to watch these guys push and shove each other around!

With a seeming joy of life this Steller sea lion loved to "porpoise" behind our Zodiac, leaping and twisting in our wake!

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Bowriding Dall's

August, 2007
Dall's porpoise are among the fastest of all cetaceans on the planet, capable of bursts of speed of almost 40 miles per hour. The two porpoise pictured here are bowriding in Chatham Strait, southeast Alaska. The water is so perfectly clear and flat that the image of me hanging over the bow is reflected back to the camera.

In this image note how the water around the body of the porpoise is being "lifted" as the porpoise surfaces to breathe. This is causing the ship's bow to appear to divide into two equal parts. The correct ship's bow shape is reflected in a second mirror image within the body of the porpoise itself. Serendipity at its best!

A perfect "barrel" of water caused by the splash from this Dall's porpoise surfacing to breathe.

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Dinner time in Southeast Alaska

August and September, 2007

One of the events that has me returning year after year to Southeast Alaska is watching and filming humpback whales as they cooperatively bubble-net feed on small fishes such as herring. In my mind I play out the ritual of these huge leviathans coming together with a strategy in these dark waters to outsmart a small fish. I mean think about it, literally hundreds and hundreds of tons of whales working together to catch a tiny fish that only weigh a few ounces each!

Coordinating these intricate moves among such large animals is really mind-boggling...

Can you imagine 20 humans trying to do the same thing? It would go something like this; "OK guys, we are going to all swim together underneath our prey, blow bubbles in a circular pattern to corral the fish, then rush towards the surface side-by-side and open our mouths up at the very last second to trap the fish. AND we are going to do all this so close to one another that if a fish manages to get away from one of us then it will end up in the mouth of another." Yeah, right!

Yet that is exactly what happens time after time with these groups of whales. Research is also showing that it happens year after year with the same animals and that only a very small percentage of humpback whales in this area have developed this wonderful trick for catching their prey by the mouthfuls.

Each animal knows just where it belongs in the group, and what its role is for the benefit of itself as well as all of the other humpbacks in the group.

When it all comes together it is a perfect ballet, a symphony conducted by true artists...

And of course the herring don't seem to have a chance. If you look closely at this image you will notice the tiny fishes trying to jump out of the open mouth of this humpback. Note: the pink part is actually the upper pallette, where the baleen plates act as seives to trap the fish.

Humans from all walks of life have been enjoying these feeding events for years now. Perhaps you might come to Southeast Alaska and witness it for yourself? You won't be dissappointed...

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Heads or tails?

August, 2007
When whale watching the most obvious way to find a whale is by the huge spout, or blow, as the animal exhales when surfacing. When conditions are calm this blow can be seen for miles as it hangs in a fine mist in the air...a tell-tale sign of a whale below it.

The other giveaway when looking for humpbacks in particular is the fact that these whales love to lift their flukes out of the sea just before diving to help drive them under the water. The flukes often rise high into the air and can be seen for great distances...