December 20
We had one day at sea before arriving at the Falkland Islands. We spent quite a bit of time out on deck in between meals, lectures and meetings. It was like a ballet of birds outside.
The Southern Giant Petrel is 6.6 to 17.6 lbs. and 71" to 83 " across the wings.
The Northern Giant Petrel is 6.6 – 11.0 lbs. and 59" to 83" across the wings. It's very hard to tell them apart in the air so they are all labeled just Giant Petrels.
The Black-browed Albatross is a medium-sized Albatross at 31" to 37" long with a 79" to 94" wingspan and an average weight of 6.4 – 10.4 lbs.
The Great Shearwater is 1.5 to 2.9 lbs.and 17" to 21" with a and a wingspan of 41" to 47"
back deck
warm & toasty
Giant Petrel
Black-browed Albatross
Black-browed Albatross
2 Giant Petrels
Giant Petrel
Giant Petrel
Black-browed Albatross
Black-browed Albatross
Giant Petrel
Black-browed Albatross
Black-browed Albatross
Black-browed Albatross
Great Shearwaters
Great Shearwater
Giant Petrels
Black-browed Albatross taking off
Black-browed Albatross
Giant Petrel
bow of the ship with Antarctica flag
We got our life vests today which are mandatory on the zodiacs. We also got our Muck Boots. Since I have 1 foot almost a size larger than the other (due to 2 surgeries), I debated which size felt best. I ended up taking them back the next day after the first excursion for the next size up. To get through the first excursion I wore a thicker sock on one foot and that just didn't feel right. The next pair felt great.
There is a definite rhythm
of each day starting with the soft voice of Shane, Christian or Hadleigh waking
us a half hour before breakfast is served with weather conditions and
approximate time of either a landing or a zodiac cruise or lecture if it’s a
sea day. Shane was very good at managing everyone’s expectations throughout the
trip. Soft language was always used, such as “we HOPE to visit such and such”
or “we PLAN to do something” Always reminding us that it’s an expedition and
weather conditions dictate if, when or where we go. Flexibility was definitely
needed for this trip as times and things were constantly moving. Most things
were listed as TBA (to be announced) It often made it hard to fit in a shower
or other bathroom needs…lol
The ship has
an open bridge policy so you could visit anytime. It was only closed for
certain times when they really needed not to be distracted. There was a pretty
decent library on board as well. The TV had a channel that played various
movies all day, another with the daily schedule, one with the lectures if you
chose to watch from the cabin instead of going to the lounge, another with
historical stuff or Nat Geo kind of shows.
me in the bridge
There was a
daily schedule posted about the ship as well as being on the TV. I will include them for each
day.
On
board the M/V Sea Adventurer - En Route to the Falkland Islands
Sunrise:
04:42 Sunset: 21:28
“I now belong to a higher cult of
mortals for I have seen the albatross.”
- Robert Cushman Murphy
07:00 - 08:00 A Continental
Breakfast is served in the Main Lounge
08:00 - 09:00 Breakfast is served
in the Dining Room
9:15 Please join our
Ornithologist, Mark, for his presentation “Seabirds of the Southern Ocean”
11:00 Please join Marine
Biologist, Mikolaj, for his presentation “Stowaways and Marauders - the Curious
Case of Island Biogeography”
12:30 Lunch is served in the
Dining Room
14:30 Please join Will for our
mandatory Zodiac Briefing in the Main Lounge – following this you will be given
your Zodiac lifejacket then called by cabin down to our disembarkation area to
be fitted with your rubber boots. Please standby for announcements.
This will be followed by our
mandatory IAATO Briefing in the Main Lounge!
This is a presentation on the
Rules and Guidelines we follow when making our landings in Antarctica,
including the special Environmental Conservation and Biosecurity Regulations !
16:00 For those participating in
the kayak program, Abbey and Sean will be hosting a mandatory preliminary briefing in
the Library on Level 4.
18:00 Please join the Expedition
Staff for Re-cap - our lecture team will share some knowledge and our Expedition
Leader, Shane, will give us a briefing and an update of our progress and plans for the
following day.
19:00 Captain Nicolay Tililyuk
and his Officers welcome you in the Main Lounge for Captain’s Welcome Cocktails.
19:30 Dinner is served in the
Dining Room
I forgot to mention that yesterday we saw our first Penguin (a Magellanic) swimming by the ship. The pictures are terrible, but good enough to tell it was a penguin. It was tight before sunset, so the lighting was terrible and these guys are fast!
How wonderful that you could visit the bridge most any time. You knew going into it that events would be flexible and you are both good about that. I love the jackets and glad you were able to figure out the boot situation. Did the morning announcements come over the loud speaker into your cabin? The lectures sounded interesting.
ReplyDeleteyes,the announcements came over the speaker in our room. (all about the ship as every room) He didn't come into our room...lol Yes, the jackets were not sexy, but functional.
ReplyDelete