Itinerary Dawn shore call at Salisbury Plain to visit the largest King Penguin colony in the world – CANCELLED Visit Prion Island to see the Albatross nesting grounds Find an alternate cove to visit instead of Salisbury Plain Today began at 5:00 AM (2:00 AM EST) in the hopes of visiting over 100,000 nesting pairs of King Penguin, thousands of Elephant Seals, and some Fur Seals, plus some...
Itinerary Try not to get too black and blue Arrive at South Georgia and visit Grytviken settlement Prepare for our first pre-Sunrise landing at 5:45 AM (2:45 AM EST now) Today is the first day the weather has fouled our plans. We were supposed to wake up in a protected South Georgian inlet, but we’re still at sea. During the night, the wind picked up to 45 knots and the seas broke the 20 foot...
Itinerary Cross the Antarctic Converge Spend some time on the Bridge See Shag Rock Get closer to South Georgia! We are in some cold waters (the coldest actually) and the air temperature is matching it. Everything is just above freezing and we’ve got one very nice breeze kicking right now! The boat has become a see-saw. Anything that isn’t tied down is crashing on the floor and I have a feeling...
Life at sea is easy when you’re traveling aboard the National Geographic Endeavour. Smiling faces, plenty of refreshments, and tons of space create an atmosphere more like a Hyatt resort. When spending time in the lounge, the library, the galley, or even sometimes on deck it is easy to forget you’re in one of the most dangerous oceans on the planet. The luxuries and warmth of the ship are...
Itinerary: Attend every lecture – especially Kim Heacox’s story about Sir Shackleton (more on that later) Get through all photos taken so far and process a few for the slideshow-showoff later in the trip Shoot some more sea birds off the back of the ship We’ve been at sea since last night. We’ve been going with the wind and the waves, so the boat has had an even rock. I have not felt bad once....
Itinerary: Zodiacs to Sea Lion Island to see huge colonies of Gentoo Penguins and Elephant Seals Stay Dry! Zodiacs to Bleaker Island to see Rock hopper penguins, Rock Shags, and more King Cormorants (Blue Eyed Shag) Continue my reputation for being the last person back on the boat I owe you guys a full story on yesterday, but I’m sorry to tell you to wait another day. We are currently on our way...
I promised a second update today, but I'm not going to be able to do it in full - sorry. New Island was incredible. We hit shore around 3:30 PM and I stayed till 7:30 PM (the last possible minute) shooting Rockhopper Penguins, Blue Eyed Shag, Black Browed Albatross, Upland Geese, and many other birds. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! I have never seen such dense concentrations of wildlife ever! There...
Looks like I’m going to do two postings today. Itinerary (morning): Wake-up to our first landing at Carcass Island Finally put some food down the hatch Get my mind blown by the wildlife on Carcass Island I woke up feeling fantastic! Breakfast was a treat, and everything tasted much better than usual. Outside the ship was land and the temperature was in the low 50’s with no wind – NICE! It was...
Itinerary: Attend lectures about sea birds and the Falklands Take pictures of the various sea birds following the ship Try not to blow chunks I left a comment on another blog article before crawling into bed last night. As I was typing that comment the boat started rocking, and it hasn’t stopped yet. I have never been sea sick, but over 12 hours of square waves is taking a toll. I couldn’t sleep...
Itinerary: Wake up super early to catch a plane from Chile to Argentina. Tour Ushuaia through Tierra Del Fuego National Park and take a catamaran tour of Lapatia Bay. Board the National Geographic Endeavour and get used to life at sea. Wow! I thought yesterday was action-packed, but today has been incredible! I could do without the 4:15 AM wake-up call, but it was worth it to have the time we...
Itinerary: Visit Photography Store, Walk around Santiago, Take a Tour of the City, Visit the Pre-Colombian Museum, Grab some cocktails with my shipmates….crash….hard. You get a double posting today because I had some down time earlier. Since my last posting, I took a stroll for a few miles through Santiago in search of a small camera bag. The new camera bag is part of a diabolical scheme to save...
Itinerary: Arrive in Santiago, Chile and tour the town. We got into Chile at 5:55 AM which is actually 4:55 AM Eastern Time. I definitely got some sleep on the plane, but I’m feeling the early wake up now. I have met most of the people on this trip and made fast friends with a few of them. I am by far the youngest person here, and am enjoying that fact because I get to soak in the wisdom! Chile...