Malpelo Island, off the coast of Columbia
We sailed north today, up past the shores of Ecuador and along the Columbian coast. And after so many eventful days of inland excursions, the leisurely pace of our day may have caught a few of us off-guard initially. Still, a day at sea is not entirely a day at rest (though you can certainly choose that option if you so desire, and several did just that, taking advantage of the extra time onboard by sampling the latest improvements in our line of LEXSpa treatments). The rest of us, however, spent the hours watching the sea glide past the hull as we gently pushed onward towards Panama and gathering in the lounge for a variety of informative presentations from our expedition staff.
Larry Hobbs both educated and enthralled us with his first hand experiences from years of research and wonderment with the world’s cetaceans. His passion for these majestic animals was hard to miss, and left more than a few of us a bit envious of his many encounters with some of the earth’s most popular mammals. While Larry may have left us in awe of his time with the whales and dolphins, our expedition leader, Tom Ritchie, had many of us rolling our eyes in disbelief from his tales of the superstitions surrounding the sea and those who have lived and died while working the world’s oceans and seas. Still later in the day, Pablo Corral Vega, our guest National Geographic photographer, inspired us with his experiences traveling through the Andes, from his native Ecuador in the north, on through to Tierra del Fuego at the end of the Americas. While his photos told stories on their own, they were made all the more poignant by his obvious love for the people he encountered along the way. He elegantly portrayed both the labor of love that life on the Andean slopes holds for the inhabitants of South America, a continent rich in both culture and challenge.
By the end of the day, we felt invigorated, refreshed, and ready for our next destination, Coiba Island off the coast of Panama, a stop that we were delighted to find is now ahead of schedule thanks to the excellent sea conditions we have experienced since leaving Puerto Lopez yesterday. And as the sun set off our port side, our timing seemed impeccable for we had only just come parallel to one of our only glimpses of land today, Columbia’s Malpelo Island. Beautifully silhouetted against the lavender sunset, the island offered a fitting image to end our day on, one that also hints at the promise of tomorrow.
We sailed north today, up past the shores of Ecuador and along the Columbian coast. And after so many eventful days of inland excursions, the leisurely pace of our day may have caught a few of us off-guard initially. Still, a day at sea is not entirely a day at rest (though you can certainly choose that option if you so desire, and several did just that, taking advantage of the extra time onboard by sampling the latest improvements in our line of LEXSpa treatments). The rest of us, however, spent the hours watching the sea glide past the hull as we gently pushed onward towards Panama and gathering in the lounge for a variety of informative presentations from our expedition staff.
Larry Hobbs both educated and enthralled us with his first hand experiences from years of research and wonderment with the world’s cetaceans. His passion for these majestic animals was hard to miss, and left more than a few of us a bit envious of his many encounters with some of the earth’s most popular mammals. While Larry may have left us in awe of his time with the whales and dolphins, our expedition leader, Tom Ritchie, had many of us rolling our eyes in disbelief from his tales of the superstitions surrounding the sea and those who have lived and died while working the world’s oceans and seas. Still later in the day, Pablo Corral Vega, our guest National Geographic photographer, inspired us with his experiences traveling through the Andes, from his native Ecuador in the north, on through to Tierra del Fuego at the end of the Americas. While his photos told stories on their own, they were made all the more poignant by his obvious love for the people he encountered along the way. He elegantly portrayed both the labor of love that life on the Andean slopes holds for the inhabitants of South America, a continent rich in both culture and challenge.
By the end of the day, we felt invigorated, refreshed, and ready for our next destination, Coiba Island off the coast of Panama, a stop that we were delighted to find is now ahead of schedule thanks to the excellent sea conditions we have experienced since leaving Puerto Lopez yesterday. And as the sun set off our port side, our timing seemed impeccable for we had only just come parallel to one of our only glimpses of land today, Columbia’s Malpelo Island. Beautifully silhouetted against the lavender sunset, the island offered a fitting image to end our day on, one that also hints at the promise of tomorrow.
