Forging Towards the Falkland Islands

Today was spent completely at sea. It has been rough, but we are making progress. Earlier this afternoon it was announced that we were 417 nautical miles from the Falkland Islands. It’s still pretty far away, considering we are averaging 10 knots in rolling seas. Our ETA for Stanley is Friday morning. I filled my day with lectures, exercising, reading, resting, and eating. It feels like all we do is eat. One of my fellow passengers said she felt like an elephant seal, similar to this female that is molting:



Here is a photo I took with my waterproof camera earlier today from above the bridge. It makes you appreciate the ship’s pitching in the Scotia Sea. Fortunately, the stabilizers help decrease the rolling.



Passengers submitted their top five photos from South Georgia Island. We had a chance to view them tonight, and all agreed that the shots have improved greatly. The formal critique with Joel and Michael will occur tomorrow afternoon.

Here is a shot of King Penguins at St. Andrews Bay:



We are hoping to observe Magellanic and Rockhopper Penguins at the Falkland Islands.

The Navajo have numerous words in their vocabulary to describe rain. The Inuits have many different words to describe snow. Here, south of the Antarctic convergence, there are many different words to describe ice:

Sea Ice: Forms in oceanic waters (seasonal)
Glacial Ice: Forms from compacted snow compressed into ice (long term)
Grease Ice or Young Ice: A thin layer of fibrous ice crystals
Pancake Ice: Circular bits of thin ice with raise edges
Fast Ice: A solid layer of ice that becomes “fast” to the shore
Bay Ice: Fast ice that remains in place for more than one year (from freezing water and snow accumulation)
Shelf Ice: Bay ice that has persisted for many years and becomes very thick (up to 1000 feet)
Ice Floes: Pieces of broken fast ice
Pack Ice: Floes packed together that cover large areas
Icebergs: Ice broken off from glaciers
Tabular Bergs: Ice broken off from shelf ice

Here are a few iceberg photos:







We continue to carry on…