Day 8 At Sea - Life's Bounty

Saturday 14 January 2023

We are now somewhere in the Southern Ocean, next stop Antarctica. We have been sailing all night and will be at sea for at least the next 3 days. So there is a much more relaxed rhythm (other than that of the rolling sea) with breakfast at 8.00 and a series of lectures and workshops planned throughout the day, with plenty of free time to read, write, sort out photos or whatever your pleasure might be.

Anne, Margaret, Michael (photographer) and I linger over breakfast luxuriating in being able to have more cups of tea without having to worry about when or where we could let it out again. There is wide ranging conversation and lots of laughter.

First lecture this morning is Ian talking about the Cetaceans of the Southern Ocean. Cetaceans are whales and dolphins. I thought I knew a bit about them but was blown away by the range of different types and how many I hadn’t even heard of. Ian’s presentation described the main species (especially those we are most likely to see) and included the diagnostic features for when we ‘see’ them – often all you will see is the blow, perhaps some back, a fin and/or tail and it is the various combinations of features that help you identify what whale it is.

Next up is Michael for his presentation on ‘How to best photograph wildlife portraits and behaviours’. This seminar was less technical than his previous one and included amazing photos from a whole range of different wildlife from his travels around the world. He included great ideas on what makes a good composition and tips on how to capture some of the characteristic behaviours of different birds and animals.

After chatting and putting in our entries for the iceberg sweepstake, it is time for yet another eating event. Each day and for every meal there are a range of buffet items to choose from as well as a full a la carte menu with multiple choices. Maître D Israel tells us that there are no repeats of any meal for the full duration of the expedition (except of course for those that are marked always available). Whilst that is certainly an impressive feat, it is also a bit disappointing as there are some items that we would have liked to have tried and of course those that we would love to have again (like the sticky toffee pudding yesterday). With so much temptation at every meal I think we are going to back a whole lot heavier than when we started, especially these days at sea where the most exciting things of the day are ‘where are we going to sit’, ‘who are the new people we are going to talk to’ and ‘what are we going to eat’.

There is a repeat Basic Camera Settings Workshop this afternoon and more birding time out on deck with the naturalists. I opt for a quiet afternoon in preparation for Agnes’ presentation on ‘The Albatross – lord of wind and waves’ later in the afternoon. This followed on from the previous session on seabirds and Agnes compared the different albatross species – features of the biggest ones (up to 3.6m wingspan and 12kg in weight) and the smallest ones. After fledging the juveniles can spend 5-10 years out at sea and it can be up to 22 years before they start breeding. But they are very long lived birds, living up to. 50-60 years (with the bigger birds at the longer end).

Our evening recap session is an extension of yesterday’s summary that gave us an overview of different aspects of Macquarie Island, including the geology (Bryan) with ophilite rocks, pillow basalt rocks and dyke columns; the island has been shaped by wind and water rather than fire (volcanos) and ice. Across 2 nights we heard more about penguins (Samuel), ocean currents (Julia), seals and seal lions (Ian) kelp (Samuel) and the history of the island (Richard). There are many different sorts of kelp but Samuel focuses on the large brown kelp that we see around all the rocks. It is a very nutritious kelp and you can buy it online to eat in salads etc. Samuel describes the structure (holdfast, stipe, blades – all making up the thallus) with a honeycomb interior that makes them float. They can grow very densely in an area and can grow to more than 10m in length (so heavy that they can’t be picked up by one person). The holdfast is so tightly stuck to the rocks that it is almost impossible to prise off. Because there are no roots it is assumed that nutrients are absorbed through the blade. Kelp is a good absorber of carbon.

We also hear that during the afternoon we have crossed into the Antarctic Convergence: the temperature has dropped considerably, the wind has changed to northeast and there is quite a fog that stays with us for quite some time. We celebrate with another Eating Occasion with wine of course.