If you are not a bird-minded person you might wonder at the sanity of those who would rouse themselves from a well-deserved and self-preserving nap to rush to the stern in rough and windy weather when informed a light-mantled sooty albatross is following the ship. Sanity however has nothing to do with it. Love of watching unique life forms spell out the details of their existence right before your eyes: that has everything to do with it. Since for most of us Drake Passage crossings tend to be few and far between, one does not let much stop one from viewing a sight such as this. When this bird's presence was noted, the word went out and the faithful rolled from bed and assembled on the stern, binoculars in hand, and waited out the looping, erratic flight of this beautiful bird until it approached the ship once more.
The windy environs of the Drake Passage, and indeed the entire southern ocean, are a haven for seabirds such as albatross and others adapted to fly long distances with scarcely a wing beat. In our first crossing southbound we enjoyed the wandering, black-browed, gray-headed and royal albatrosses, several shearwater species and petrels and prions as well. But we never saw a light-mantled sooty albatross. Now we have!
