At Sea - Traveling to the Falklands

Looking at the Yoga Studio's window wall of glass from the ship's bow on Deck 8

 

Wednesday, November 1 - A Day at Sea

Today was a full day at sea, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We're heading northeast to the Falkland Islands. We were up early to attend the 7:30 AM wellness class.  I had expected a yoga class, but this one was really only gentle stretching for about 45 minutes.  It felt good, and with all the rocking from the waves, I don't think yoga poses would have worked.  The Yoga Studio is at the bow of the ship on the 8th floor observation deck. I was watching the sea and the birds through the large floor to ceiling windows during the whole session. I saw many great petrels and some black browed albatross.  At the end of the session, we had a smoothie and then headed to breakfast.

Great spot for morning stretch class

Heading northeast to the Falklands, waves were 5 to 15 feet

Photographing the beautiful sea birds following the ship - these are giant petrels

At 10:00, we had a mandatory landings briefing, to learn how to safely use the zodiacs for transport.  Then we had a session on Avian Flu - which has just reached South Georgian Island. We have to follow a specific protocol  to clean all our outerwear every time we land and return. I'll do a separate post on the biosecurity procedures we followed. 

While waiting to be called down to Deck 3 to practice the decontamination procedures, I got out my camera and tried it on some of the birds that are flying by.  I took a decent photo of the Great Northern Petral (red beak) and the Black-browed albatross.  Also saw many Cape Petrels, which are smaller, with white and black patchy colors.

Next, we chose to have our lunch upstairs on Deck 8 at C Green's. This area is named for the original cook, Charlie Green, on the Endurance.  It offered a lighter fare than the main restaurant for breakfast and lunch. It became our favorite place, and we had virtually all our breakfasts and lunches up here during the voyage. Today, I had a Caprese salad and a roasted squash and kale salad for my main courses and rosemary creme brûlée for desert.

C. Green's restaurant on Deck 8

Squash and kale salad

Caprese salad

Rosemary creme brûlée

We had two lectures in the Ice Lounge this afternoon. The first was a talk by Nathan Kelley, the Lindblad photography consultant, on smart phone photography. Later, we learned from MacDuff Everton how he became a celebrated National Geographic photographer.

After the talk, Michael and I went up on the bridge.  It’s on the 7th deck and has a large, 270 degree view of the horizon.  It’s open 24/7 and they have a few dozen binoculars available to use for watching for whales, birds, etc.  You can also go outside on a deck that wraps around in front of the bridge for better photos of what you’re seeing.  The naturalists like to hang out up here, and they keep a log every day of the birds and mammals that we are seeing on the expedition.  The daily tally is transposed to a sheet that is kept posted on the eighth floor library.

Captain Wood on the Bridge

The Bridge looks like a set from Star Trek

Michael and naturalist Jamie Coleman look at the sea bird and mammal sitings list

Standing on the Bridge outer deck and looking at the waves below

Photographer Nathan Kelley gives a talk filled with photographic pointers

Tracking our progress toward the Falkland Islands on the monitor in our room

Majestic seabirds following the ship