Today, National Geographic Orion continued crossing the seas along the southern coast of the island of New Guinea. During the last few days, we have travelled across the Solomon Sea, Coral Sea, Arafura Sea, and Aru Sea. A sea is defined as a portion of the ocean that is partly surrounded by land. These four seas and the Torres Strait lie between the island of New Guinea and Australia, which were once were connected by a land bridge called the Sunda Shelf. During the Pleistocene epoch, the world was in an ice age and worldwide temperatures were colder, the polar ice caps were larger, and sea levels were 300’ lower. This drop in sea level allowed people to walk (and boat short distances) across the Sunda Shelf from Indonesia to New Guinea and Australia fifty thousand years ago!
We enjoyed another pleasant day at sea, spending time on the bridge, in the hot tub, attending expedition staff presentations, and were treated to a delicious barbeque and a lovely cocktail hour on the upper deck.
