We awoke to our first day onboard the National Geographic Orion as we rolled across the Drake Passage.  It had been a relatively mild night, with the odd little bump as a wave slapped the side of the ship.  But looking out of the porthole in the morning, it was clear we were sailing through a pretty mild Drake Passage.  Having a reputation for being a rather rough piece of water, it was nice for us that it wasn’t living up to its reputation!

We had a rather full programme of presentations throughout the morning, with Brent giving a talk on the seabirds of the Southern Ocean, and as if they had heard, we had a great show of seabirds behind the ship straight after.  Both southern royal and wandering albatrosses were showing well – the two largest albatross species – with the wandering being the world’s largest flying bird, with a wingspan of 3.6m (11.8ft).  Additionally, giant petrels, black-browed and grey-headed albatross, and blue petrels, Antarctic prions, and Wilson’s storm-petrels all made an appearance.

Rich then gave an excellent presentation on expedition photography, outlining some compositional tips and tricks, in an effort to help us take home some better images.  And we then broke into groups to meet with one of the photographers to go through some additional tips in breakout sessions.

After lunch we spent more time outside, as the conditions moderated even more. Then Chris, our National Geographic Photographer, gave an incredible presentation on the cultures he has worked with and the projects he has worked on. We all took away something from his presentation.  Following afternoon tea, Caitlyn gave a great overview of some of the species that exist in both the Arctic and Antarctic – bipolar critters. Incredible to think that some species manage to get to both places, and others actually migrate between them every year.

And then it was time to get dressed for the Captain’s Welcome Cocktail Party.  Captain Martin hosted the party, telling us about his involvement in this ship before it was even built, and now he is here as the Captain.