At sea between the Falkland Islands and South Georgia
We are on our way! What a great feeling to be at sea; a light, crisp wind as fresh as I have ever tasted, and just enough of a breeze to keep the sea birds interested in the good ship M.S. Endeavour. Tom, our Expedition Leader, and Captain Leif Skog have decided to take advantage of the favorable weather and head directly for the island of South Georgia for the first leg of our journey. We have a following sea gently pushing us along as we sail south and east toward the magical island of South Georgia, perhaps best known from the epic boat journey by Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men, after their ship, the Endurance, was crushed in pack ice far to the south in the Weddell Sea.
All around us are hundreds and hundreds of sea birds, gliding by effortlessly in the wind. There are all sorts of them too, from the tiny storm petrels dancing on the waves to the fast-moving prions searching for tiny bits of food to the black and white pintado (painted) petrels. We have the big birds all around us too like the southern giant petrel pictured here, and we have even seen quite a few of the massive wandering and royal albatrosses, surely the biggest flying sea birds in the world! How lucky can we be!
What was that announcement I just heard? OK, more later, but I must now go back out on deck. Something about whales ahead of the ship…
We are on our way! What a great feeling to be at sea; a light, crisp wind as fresh as I have ever tasted, and just enough of a breeze to keep the sea birds interested in the good ship M.S. Endeavour. Tom, our Expedition Leader, and Captain Leif Skog have decided to take advantage of the favorable weather and head directly for the island of South Georgia for the first leg of our journey. We have a following sea gently pushing us along as we sail south and east toward the magical island of South Georgia, perhaps best known from the epic boat journey by Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men, after their ship, the Endurance, was crushed in pack ice far to the south in the Weddell Sea.
All around us are hundreds and hundreds of sea birds, gliding by effortlessly in the wind. There are all sorts of them too, from the tiny storm petrels dancing on the waves to the fast-moving prions searching for tiny bits of food to the black and white pintado (painted) petrels. We have the big birds all around us too like the southern giant petrel pictured here, and we have even seen quite a few of the massive wandering and royal albatrosses, surely the biggest flying sea birds in the world! How lucky can we be!
What was that announcement I just heard? OK, more later, but I must now go back out on deck. Something about whales ahead of the ship…
