After three exciting days exploring the Southern Line Islands, today was a day at sea in order to return to Mo’orea in Tahiti. This gave our onboard naturalists to present a series of presentations about the natural and cultural history of the region.
After breakfast, naturalist Martin Cohen presented an interesting talk on the natural history and value to local communities of coconut trees. The world-famous husband and wife National Geographic photographers, David Doublet and Jennifer Hayes, followed telling some fascinating stories about their adventures taking images of wonderful wildlife from all over the world.
Regrettable their talk concluded as lunch beckoned, but the break was followed by an extremely entertaining talk on coral reefs by naturalist Chris Cook. Immediately after afternoon tea naturalist Lucho Verdesoto captivated us with a presentation on the local perspective of Kiribati. This small island nation is at immediate risk of being inundated by rising sea levels. The highlight was a question and answer session between the guests and the four local officials on board.
After another fantastic dinner we were all treated to the now famous entertainment provide by the friendly and talented National Geographic Orion crew.
