Monday 2 December 2013

Going to Antarctica, heading northeast (¿??!!!)

No: it’s not that our Captain has lost his bearings! We are in fact going to Antarctica but first are calling in the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, so we sailed out of the Beagle channel and instead of heading south, we took the northeasterly course past Staten Island.

 This morning we awoke to incredibly calm seas and a gloriously sunny day with just a light breeze. This was very nice for our passengers, who were slowly getting acquainted with the ship, and attended the lectures or enjoyed the sun in the outside decks without any worries about unpleasant movements.
Some of the lectures dealt with seabirds and whales, so it was very nice to have the opportunity to take a look at both of them in the wild: this afternoon, we were treated to the sighting of several whales, and all day long were accompanied by albatross, giant petrels and pintado or cape petrels following MS Fram. Passengers also heard about the geology of the Falklands/Malvinas – and this was a very enjoyable evening to spend thinking about their incredible journey across the seas, from South Africa to their current position, as the ship moved gently up and down all day long. The perfect spot for thinking about these serious matters was of course the bar on deck 7, where passengers could have a nice view over the arena of the islands' ocaenic travels, and enjoy the creature conforts Fram has on offer!