At Sea Approaching the Falkland Islands

Our second day at sea was quieter and foggier than the previous. We awoke to gunmetal gray skies and water as the winds had lightened and the fog had crept in. Our progress showed us to be arriving off of East Falkland in the evening. The day was taken up with interesting presentations including one by Rachel Sussman on the oldest living things. This was a chance to see her work from all over the world collecting images of very old organisms. One of these was a moss that grows on Elephant Island alone, and is thousands of years old.

There was a photo critique by the photo staff of guest images so we could see how we have improved over the last few weeks. Later in the afternoon there was an author signing by our onboard writers and videographers in the bistro during teatime. David Cothran was present to sign copies of undersea footage he has shot over the years when in the undersea specialist role on board. Peter Hillary, our global perspective lecturer also signed copies of his book. Tom Ritchie signed editions of his book containing many stories from his decades of travel, and finally Lisa Trotter signed copies of her book “Below Freezing,” the first dive guide to the Antarctic.

Later we anchored off the coast of Port Stanley and looked forward to our next day’s adventure in the capital of the Falkland Islands.