After a rough day at sea most of us woke up realizing the weather had improved overnight. The movement on board was a lot more comfortable. Quite a few took the chance to go to the gym before breakfast and some joined our wellness specialist Kim for easy morning stretches in the lounge.
At 1000 Tom Richie invited us into the lounge for his presentation: “The Falkland Islands—An Introduction to the Islands and Their Conflicted Status.” Tom shared with us his extensive knowledge about this fascinating place and its interesting geology, history, and wildlife. Being so passionate about the Falklands, Tom held us in the lounge for about an hour and a half, which didn’t seem to matter to anyone, as we all enjoyed the stories.
Throughout the morning the weather kept improving and by midday the sun was shining brightly. The hotel team decided to serve a BBQ lunch on the outside deck, which was a great idea. It gave everyone the chance to soak up the fresh air and embrace the sun. Even when lunch was finished, most of us stayed outside either reading a book or just with our eyes closed remembering the great moments we’ve had so far.
At 1500 our photo instructor Ian Strachan and the photo team invited us back into the lounge for a workshop: “Introduction to Light Room.” This was a great chance to learn about this powerful software tool aimed at helping us better organize and edit our digital libraries. We had the chance to ask lots of questions throughout the workshop.
At 1600 a special Viennese tea time was served in the lounge followed by our last presentation for today by Steve Egan: “Why Polar Bears Don’t Eat Penguins.” In this presentation Steve offered a comparison between the Antarctic and Arctic, which are apparently similar yet worlds apart. It was a great introduction to the Arctic as well, as a potential new destination to visit onboard National Geographic Orion.
As we had a long recap yesterday, with an informative Q & A session with the expedition team, we decided to just come together for a drink before dinner and mingle and chat with our fellow travelers.
As always, the galley team put on a sumptuous dinner in the restaurant and we were all looked after by our lovely bar and restaurant team. They are always so attentive and caring, and no request ever seems to be too much!
After dinner we had a chance to watch a fascinating documentary: “Chasing Ice” by James Balog. It has captivating footage of some of the world’s most active glaciers and explains how much their future could be changing.
By 22:30 most of us had crawled into bed and with thoughts about today and tomorrow off the Falklands, we were all gently rocked to sleep by the movement of the South Atlantic Ocean.
