We awoke to a beautiful sunny day on the Southern Ocean on our way to South Georgia. Stefano gave us a wakeup call with our activity options for the day, and we started heading down to breakfast.
After a delicious breakfast, some of us took to the decks and observation areas to watch the wonderful variety of seabirds following the ship. At 9:00, we were invited into the Ice Lounge for naturalist Rob Edward’s lecture on, “Welcome to the Lithosphere: Geology of the Falklands and South Georgia.” We learned about the three main types of rock and how we see them expressed in the Falkland Islands. It was extremely interesting.
After the lecture, we returned to the decks and observation areas. More and more birds joined us throughout the day. So far, we have seen black-browed albatrosses, light-mantled sooty albatrosses, wandering albatrosses, Cape petrels, and many other prions. With perfect timing, Jamie Coleman invited us to his lecture on, “Seabirds in the Southern Ocean.” He taught us all sorts of interesting things about the seabirds in this area and how to identify various species.
Next on the agenda was lunch. We all enjoyed our meal with perfect views of birds dancing over the waves in the sunshine. We had some free time for the afternoon, so many of us returned to birdwatching or relaxing in various spaces on National Geographic Endurance. The sea was very kind to us and had a lulling effect over the entire ship.
Later, we were invited to teatime on deck 8 and were delighted with a beautiful display of sweets and savories. This prepared us for our final lecture of the day with Conor Ryan on, “Whales of the Southern Ocean.” We learned about the whales we might see in the upcoming days and how to identify them. We were invited to cocktail hour and recap and then enjoyed a wonderful dinner. All in all, it was a very relaxing day aboard National Geographic Endurance as we readied ourselves for tomorrow when we start preparations for our next destination: South Georgia!
