Our day at sea passed enjoyably with all sorts of fun activities, from stretch class first thing to a variety of fascinating presentations. National Geographic photographer Ralph Lee Hopkins spoke about, “The BIG Year – Travels before the World Changed.” The imagery transported us to far flung places around the world and got everyone thinking about where they might want to go next. That was followed by naturalist Alex Seale’s presentation on “Terra Australis: Our Obsession to Find the Southern Continent.” It made us appreciate just how close Captain Cook got to discovering “the big white continent.” Before we knew it, it was lunchtime.
National Geographic Endurance has an amazing art exhibit onboard called “The Change Exhibit,” and in the afternoon, naturalist Marylou Blakeslee, photo instructor Michael Nolan, and expedition diver Emmett Clarkin guided everyone around the exhibit providing details on the individual pieces.
We had been sailing in open waters with overcast weather for much of the day when things suddenly changed as it tends to in the Antarctic. It started snowing quite heavily and we were back in the ice watching the icebergs loom out of the fog. It seemed fitting to hear our final presentation from expedition diver Emmett Clarkin on “Ocean Currents of the Southern Ocean – What Drives the Motion in the Ocean.”
the day wasn’t done yet. After dinner we hopped into the Zodiacs and had a fun landing ashore at Peterman Island. We all got to enjoy the snowy environment watching the Gentoo and Adelie penguins come and go. We also spotted blue-eyed shags for the first time on this voyage.
