At Sea between Tristan da Cunha Group and South Africa
This was the first of four days we anticipate for our transit to Cape Town, South Africa. What a wonderful day at sea it was…beautiful conditions for the first day of Autumn (don’t forget, we who are aboard National Geographic Explorer are now in the Southern Hemisphere). Several aspects of the Southern Hemisphere seem odd to those of us who are Boreal-centric (as opposed to being Austral-centric). For instance, the major circulating current system of the South Atlantic flows in a counter-clockwise direction. And, you should see the stars…much of the night sky is totally unknown to many of us.
We have now left the latitudes characterized by westerlies, that is, winds that consistently blow from west to east. Since leaving the Tristan da Cunha Group, we have slowly been entering the latitudes dominated by the Southeast Trade winds (those which blow from Africa toward South America between 5° and 30° S latitude). The Southeast Trade winds tend to be considerably gentler than the so-called Roaring Forties, Furious Fifties, and Screaming Sixties that have been such an important part of our lives recently. Phew!
The water in which we now sail is quite deep, with the depth below our keel today varying from about 3,000 to 4,200 meters (about 10,000 to 14,000 feet). It is also crystal clear, which gives a hint that this part of the Atlantic Ocean is not nearly so productive as what we experienced in the Southern Ocean, during the first part of our voyage. Nevertheless, it proved to be a great day for bird watching, since we were escorted the entire way by hundreds of great shearwaters. There were other ship followers, too, such as spectacled petrels, soft-plumaged petrels, white-chinned petrels, white-bellied storm-petrels, and the occasional yellow-nosed and sooty albatrosses. Two pilot whales were sighted in the early morning, but at press time, we had not yet encountered any of the great whales. We will very likely find some as we continue on our way toward South Africa.
The smooth seas and bright, sunny conditions brought many people out on deck, some simply relaxing in the sunshine to bask in the warmth. This has heralded quite a change for the vessel from the past five months spent in Antarctica and high southern temperate latitudes. Conditions were perfect for setting up the big umbrellas on the aft deck and enjoying a cookout with some of the fresh yellowfin tuna caught yesterday near Nightingale Island in the Tristan da Cunha Group (Figure A). It seemed to be enjoyed by all, especially a couple female staff members (Figure B, far left).
As several of us were on the bridge watching birds and discussing navigation in the late afternoon, the call went out “There’s a life ring!” Sure enough, a lone bright orange life ring passed close to the ship as we sailed by it. A close look with binoculars determined it had a healthy growth of goose-necked barnacles, indicating it had been at sea for a long time. And, since there was no name visible on it, there was no way to check up on the vessel from which it came. We decided it must have simply been blown overboard from some fishing vessel, not wanting to imagine a more unfortunate scenario.
