Today we deployed one tag and attempted to capture two other seals. The 2nd attempt was cancelled due to problematic ice conditions and the 3rd attempt ended when the seal went into the water before we could capture him.

The weather continues to be amazing as we had another beautiful clear sunny day. The only down side is the wind picked up and even in the Lallemand Fjord, which is relatively protected, we had a bit of a swell that made life interesting on the ice floes.

We hope to catch more seals tomorrow as we will stay here at least another day.

[Addendum from shore support in California: Crabeater seals, despite their names, don’t eat crabs. They eat krill. Lots and lots and lots of krill – 80 million tons – and small fish and squid. After much of the whale population was killed off in Antarctica in the early 1900s, the crabeater seal population took off. Estimates of their numbers are around 30 million. Not a lot is known about them, because they live in the Antarctic ice pack. That’s a difficult and expensive place for humans to get to. The seals grow to be about 9 or 10 feet long, and can weigh up to 500 pounds.]