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On Sunday morning, January 13, National Geographic Explorer departed Gothenburg for Astican Shipyard at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. The officers and crew for this one-week positioning voyage are delighted to be leaving the dark, cold winter of Gothenburg (39 degrees Fahrenheit) for sunny Las Palmas (71 degrees).

For the past two months Gothenburg has served us well – our interior design firm, Figura, is based in Gothenburg, as is the company that is responsible for the construction of the interiors. A lot of the engineering of systems and for the steel work involved in the project has also been done by Scandinavian firms, so there has been convenience and efficiency in keeping the ship there during this phase of the conversion.

Now the ship is headed for Las Palmas, to a shipyard we have used several times in the past for National Geographic Endeavour, a shipyard that is well-suited for this project. The planning and design phase is just about finished, and construction will begin as soon as the ship arrives this coming Sunday. So watch this space - these weekly updates will soon be showing you the physical transformation of the former Norwegian coastal ferry into the expedition vessel National Geographic Explorer. 

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