A day at sea along the northern coast of Argentina
Today was a relaxing day at sea surrounded by a myriad of seabirds. Black-browed albatross and white-chinned petrels were wheeling around in full force, probably thinking we were a fishing vessel about to pull in our nets, but we fooled them, as we were just stopped for a little while to do some work on Endeavour’s engines. Many of the crew and some of our guests took to fishing in the relatively shallow waters here off the coast, but the crew, quite frankly, reeled in the bigger catch and they even had a grill set up on the aft deck.
Dennis Cornejo, our undersea specialist, sent our ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) with a camera which can go to over 800 feet, and our surface splash camera over the side of the ship to film the ocean bottom and its various inhabitants. Dennis and Art Cooley also conducted a plankton tow with a finely meshed net connected to a collection bottle. We later watched the phytoplankton and zooplankton on the television screens in the lounge via the video microscope.
Photographers with an adventurous streak took to the Zodiac boats to get a “bird’s eye view” of the white-chinned petrels and juvenile black-browed albatross pictured above. It is quite rare and a real treat to be able to get so close to these big birds, and many guests commented that this short boat excursion was a highlight of the trip.Text: Brent Houston, Naturalist; Photo: Steven Zeff, Lindblad Expedition’s guest
Today was a relaxing day at sea surrounded by a myriad of seabirds. Black-browed albatross and white-chinned petrels were wheeling around in full force, probably thinking we were a fishing vessel about to pull in our nets, but we fooled them, as we were just stopped for a little while to do some work on Endeavour’s engines. Many of the crew and some of our guests took to fishing in the relatively shallow waters here off the coast, but the crew, quite frankly, reeled in the bigger catch and they even had a grill set up on the aft deck.
Dennis Cornejo, our undersea specialist, sent our ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) with a camera which can go to over 800 feet, and our surface splash camera over the side of the ship to film the ocean bottom and its various inhabitants. Dennis and Art Cooley also conducted a plankton tow with a finely meshed net connected to a collection bottle. We later watched the phytoplankton and zooplankton on the television screens in the lounge via the video microscope.
Photographers with an adventurous streak took to the Zodiac boats to get a “bird’s eye view” of the white-chinned petrels and juvenile black-browed albatross pictured above. It is quite rare and a real treat to be able to get so close to these big birds, and many guests commented that this short boat excursion was a highlight of the trip.Text: Brent Houston, Naturalist; Photo: Steven Zeff, Lindblad Expedition’s guest
