At Sea Along the Coast of Argentina
Today was another day at sea filled with information and relaxed experiences. The wind of yesterday had diminished and switched from on the bow to a following wind. Very nice views were had of large and small groups of seabirds both following the ship and flying past both in search of food or on their way to nesting grounds as this is the start of the southern hemisphere breeding season for seabirds of all types. The two birds pictured are a great shearwater and a black browed albatross. We are in the realm of the albatross and will have sights of more species on our expedition. The old whaler saying was the Roaring 40’s, Furious 50’s, and Screaming 60’s, meaning degrees of southern latitude where the winds near the southern tip of South America are strongest. The albatrosses and other tube nosed birds use these winds for very efficient movement around the great expanse of the southern Atlantic and Pacific.
Inside the ship we enjoyed presentations from Steve Maclean on the productivity of the Southern Oceans, Flip Nicklin talked about the history of whale observation and science, Kevin Freeny our videographer gave a talk and answered questions about shooting video on our expedition, and later in the afternoon Tom Ritchie gave a ‘precap’ on whale watching of the Valdez Peninsula which is our next adventure.
