At Sea
We awoke for our last day at sea just south of Cape Horn, Chile. Approaching this famous landmark through increasingly stormy seas, the crashes of the waves were matched by the crashes of cutlery falling off the dining room tables. The wishes of some travellers for a ‘rough’ Drake Passage crossing were fulfilled, at least for a couple of hours. Albatrosses and petrels soared effortlessly alongside the ship as we looked up at the albatross sculpture on the Cape. Turning east towards the entrance of the Beagle Channel, the ship entered calmer seas. Glorious blue skies and sunny conditions provided us with good views of the numerous islands along the southern coast of South America.
The end of the expedition brings to a close the most recent collaboration between Lindblad Expeditions and Oceanites, a non-profit research organization collecting scientific data on the distributions and abundances of seabirds, seals and flora at many sites in the Antarctic Peninsula. On this trip, we visited 10 Peninsula sites, updating information for frequently visited sites and collecting new data for other localities. In all, we have inventoried well over 100,000 breeding pairs of penguins – and that excludes those at the Falklands and South Georgia. Without the support and assistance from Lindblad Expeditions, such efforts would be impossible.
Tomorrow we all fly home or on to other destinations. Tonight however, everyone will reminisce over the many wonderful experiences from this trip to the southern extremes of the planet.
We awoke for our last day at sea just south of Cape Horn, Chile. Approaching this famous landmark through increasingly stormy seas, the crashes of the waves were matched by the crashes of cutlery falling off the dining room tables. The wishes of some travellers for a ‘rough’ Drake Passage crossing were fulfilled, at least for a couple of hours. Albatrosses and petrels soared effortlessly alongside the ship as we looked up at the albatross sculpture on the Cape. Turning east towards the entrance of the Beagle Channel, the ship entered calmer seas. Glorious blue skies and sunny conditions provided us with good views of the numerous islands along the southern coast of South America.
The end of the expedition brings to a close the most recent collaboration between Lindblad Expeditions and Oceanites, a non-profit research organization collecting scientific data on the distributions and abundances of seabirds, seals and flora at many sites in the Antarctic Peninsula. On this trip, we visited 10 Peninsula sites, updating information for frequently visited sites and collecting new data for other localities. In all, we have inventoried well over 100,000 breeding pairs of penguins – and that excludes those at the Falklands and South Georgia. Without the support and assistance from Lindblad Expeditions, such efforts would be impossible.
Tomorrow we all fly home or on to other destinations. Tonight however, everyone will reminisce over the many wonderful experiences from this trip to the southern extremes of the planet.
