At Sea
We’re heading south. Well, actually our course is 101˚, just a little south of an easterly heading, but we are making for South Georgia; soon we will cross the Antarctic Convergence and enter the Southern Ocean. On this epic voyage over 70˚ of latitude, we are really still making for the starting line. From the polar seas of South Georgia we will begin the main part of our journey, north through the southern temperate zone, into the tropics and across the equator.
But already we have completed our first landfall, in the Falkland Islands. We are beginning to settle into the pace of this long voyage, with busy days ashore bracketed by time at sea to consider what we have experienced and prepare for the next stop. On land we observe and photograph wildlife, come face to face with culture and history; on board the National Geographic Explorer we journal our experiences, work in the digital darkroom, participate in workshops to hone our skills in both realms and attend presentations that enrich and enliven our time ashore by filling out all our encounters with a greater depth of understanding.
The Falklands are surrounded by the temperate waters of the South Atlantic; looking into the sea here we find a realm of dense kelp forests, waving columns of sinuous strands and dark groves of miniature trees, all thickly encrusted with strange creatures of many kinds, busily feeding on the bounty of the late summer, preparing for the lean months of winter that are soon to come. Hermit crabs ascend the kelp trees, dragging their mates to optimal locations for releasing their larvae into the currents; sea slugs and squid are also making the journey up into the canopy of the kelp forests to deposit their eggs in the rich oxygenated currents that wash over this submarine landscape. Small clams have growth so densely over the blades of kelp that their weight has dragged the buoyant foliage down to the bottom; soon the kelp and the clams will both die back, ending the cycle for this year, ready to begin anew when the sun returns next spring.
All of this sets the stage. What differences will we see in the freezing seas of the Antarctic? What contrasts in the clear blue waters of the tropics? Our voyage is just beginning and there are 70 wonderful degrees of latitude ahead of us.
