Just after sunrise, a group of pilot whales and Fraser’s dolphins were spotted, and thus began a relaxing and rewarding day at sea. Flying fish, dolphins, tropicbirds, boobies, and terns were spotted as well, but the highlight for sure was the largest animal on Earth, the blue whale. We got close looks at one whale and admired its color, two blowholes, tiny dorsal fin, and many cookie cutter shark bites. It was a great surprise for many of us. This was an exciting encounter.
As we continued to the Banda Islands, we enjoyed a colorful sunset off the back deck. We look forward to tomorrow!
Mike learned early on that the best way to escape Ohio was to become a marine biologist. During college at Wittenberg University he attended a semester at Duke University's Marine Lab — that time only confirmed his love for all things oceanic and ma...
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It’s the second beautiful day of our crossing. The weather has been exceptional with sun and a following sea. We had some spotted dolphins near the ship today and visits from a few birds, including brown boobies and white-tailed tropicbirds. As is our custom on sea days, we had several presentations. We heard from Michaela Skovranova about Southeast Asia and conservation followed by a special presentation by our captain. Captain Martin shared all kinds of information about the ship from the Azipods to infrared cameras to charts and navigation. After lunch, we had a departure briefing, a pilates class, and a presentation about climate change from Joe Holliday. The day had several special moments. Our naturalist and resident birder Santiago Imberti has spent a lot of time on deck this voyage – despite blistering heat. He occasionally hears seabirds vocalizing, which they rarely do while on the ocean. It’s even more rare to have recordings of those calls, so Santiago uses his audio equipment to capture what he can. We had the chance to listen to his recordings of a few short calls from white-tailed tropicbirds overhead. We’ve had visiting scientists Jom Acebes and Tim Gardner with us all voyage. Today, they used the Science Hub screens on Deck 8 to share photos of some of their sightings, including the spotted dolphins. Our route across the Coral Triangle is a scientific rarity, and the data they have collected will be some of the first of its kind from this region. We enjoyed an outdoor barbecue tonight in preparation for the Crew Show! We anticipate a big day tomorrow. A full day in Palau and the last full day of our voyage.
As we woke up, we noticed a group of nine frigatebirds cruising under some wispy clouds. We are still in the Raja Ampat region, a diving and snorkelling paradise. It is difficult to reach other than by sea and therefore relatively untouched. It is very exciting to see the richest biodiversity in the world for ourselves. The nature of an expedition is that plans can change. Yesterday, we could not visit a local village, but expedition leader Lyle Gwin made possible a visit to another colourful village today, Sawandarek. After breakfast, we ferried over in Zodiacs. The region is not very developed, and the villagers were looking forward to meeting us. The culture of Indonesia is just as diverse as the sea life. We had time to wander through the village and interact with children and adults, and some of us opted to go snorkelling nearby in the local reef. We returned to the ship for another expertly prepared lunch with many choices. Snorkelling was planned for the afternoon, but we learned that crocodiles had been sighted in the area. We invoked plan B, which turned out to be an excellent choice: a Zodiac cruise through the many limestone rocks covered with tropical rainforest and inhabited by a number of bird species. They also have an endemic palm species here, Wallaceodoxa raja-ampat, of which we saw plenty. We investigated the mangroves and found orchids and many rainforest plants. Another unique perspective of this special area opened up for us. We returned to the ship after taking more photos and then we got ready for the final night. Captain Fred is always entertaining in his speeches during cocktail hour, and this was followed by a very special farewell dinner. Tomorrow, we have to say goodbye, but this experience will stay with us for a long time. We look forward to our next expedition.
We awoke in the dark and set out across the water under a crescent moon and a blanket of stars. Crossing the dock, we entered a small village that was just beginning to stir and start the day. After one more crossing over a bridge that spanned a small tidal channel, we moved uphill through the forest as pale light began to seep up along the horizon. The forest rapidly came to life with the ethereal, bubbling calls of hooded butcherbirds, the emphatic whoops of helmeted friarbirds, and the raucous rattles of common paradise kingfishers. Just at dawn, we reached a hilltop with amphitheater seating pointed skyward. We had arrived at the display grounds for red birds-of-paradise. Our primary target soon made a noisy entrance: a crimson flash heading for the treetops. Over the next half hour, three of these gaudy males paraded through the high branches as they chased each other, preened, called, and shook impossibly long, wire-like plumes…all, unfortunately, in vain. Despite having a large audience, their desired audience (female red birds-of-paradise) never appeared, and they departed to feed. We headed down to the village. We stopped to admire spice imperial pigeons, Gurney’s eagles, and radjah shelducks along the way. Back in town, we were greeted by children on their way to school and people starting the workday. All had time for a quick “hallo!” and a few photos. Back on board, we joined the rest of our company who had opted for a more reasonable start time. In the afternoon, we traded the spectacular birdlife on land for the kaleidoscopic world under the water. We took shifts drifting at the edge of some of the world’s most diverse and spectacular corals. The array of forms and colors of life in this part of the world cannot be accurately described, and if it weren’t for the snorkels in our mouths, the sea would have been alive with gasps of awe and wonder. A late morning presentation on reef fish identification by Mike Greenfelder gave us the tools we needed to start describing what we were seeing. Above the waves, you could hear snippets of, “…a large angelfish with a golden saddle and blue spots…,” “…a tiny wrasse – red with white saddles…,” and, “…I don’t know what it was, but it’s my new favorite!” A lucky few even spotted a pair of dugongs! Back on board, we wrapped up the day with the famous Orion Crew Show! It was a wonderful evening filled with a wide array of dances, musical numbers, and comedy acts from our talented crew – bartender by day…bartender and lead singer of the house band by night! Despite the pre-dawn wakeup, everyone stayed up and showed out for drinks, dancing, and laughs all the way until the end.
