Daily Expedition Reports

Glacier Bay National Park

What a delight it’s to wake up in the morning to discover distant snow-covered mountains as we sail through Glacier Bay National Park. The scenery is simply stunning on a day like today, where the sunshine enhances the vast natural beauty of Southeast Alaska.

Our first stop this morning was South Marble Island.

May 23, 2013 National Geographic Sea Lion in Alaska

Sailing the Cyclades

After a stunning evening passage under the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion the night before, it was difficult to believe the reports of a southwesterly gale on its way through the Cycladic Islands the following morning. But when we woke this morning, Aeolus the God of Winds was making a statement, and the winds were already fierce when Sea Cloud set the sails at 0800.

We were all amazed to see the roaring whitecaps on either side of the ship and the winds shrieking through the rigging, yet Sea Cloud was unbelievably stable and steady as Captain Pushkarev called for the lower and upper topsails and the courses to be set.

May 23, 2013 Sea Cloud in Mediterranean

Inian Islands and Fox Creek

This morning, those of us on the bow of National Geographic Sea Bird were greeted by harbor porpoises - little “puffing pigs” that darted about as they chased fish in front of the vessel.  But unlike the bow-riding Dall’s porpoises from the night before, these shy animals didn’t stay around for long so we continued on our way to our morning destination, the Inian Islands.

The Inian’s separate the inside waters of Southeast Alaska from the vast Gulf of Alaska.

May 23, 2013 National Geographic Sea Bird in Alaska

Santiago Island

Today we had an early start, and by seven o’clock we were disembarking on Santiago Island for Espumilla Beach, a peaceful area surrounded by mangroves, and home of hundreds of land birds.

For a welcome we had some blue-footed boobies diving just at our disembarkation area, trying to catch some breakfast with their dives.

May 23, 2013 National Geographic Islander in Galápagos

Klaipeda, Lithuania

Situated on the Danė River at the northern tip of the Curonian Spit, Klaipeda serves as the major port and is the third largest city in this Baltic nation of over three million people. Like many of the nations of the region Lithuania has a complex and diverse history. Linked historically to the Hanseatic League of the 12^th-15^th centuries Klaipeda, formally called Memel, has been a key area of trade and shipping even today. Today we would have the chance to experience many facets of this Baltic community from past to present.

One outing headed off towards the city of Palanga and an old neoclassical palace and Amber Museum.

May 23, 2013 National Geographic Explorer in Baltics

Inian Islands, George Island

The morning started out with blue skies and the sun shining, with a scrumptious breakfast of fresh fruit, French toast, bacon, sausage and delicious oatmeal.

We headed out on the small boats to explore the Inian Islands.

May 22, 2013 National Geographic Sea Lion in Alaska

Pavlof Harbor & Environs

What a morning! What a surprise! Orcas! Even before the morning wake-up call, we encountered orcas. We thought it was a small group, but after a while we noticed a series of killer whales blowing in the distance, then another group and so on… The pod we were watching could easily have been composed of 18 animals, adults and young, and very young. Males and females. We slowly followed them for a while, definitely modifying our early morning plans. Our whale expert, Dr. Andy Szabo informed us about their lives, their behavior and their food tastes. These animals were of the fish-eating groups, the so-called residents. Big pods compose these animals. Their behavior showed us that they were capturing their food, big salmon.

Whales were more interesting than breakfast, which at last was attended to.

May 22, 2013 National Geographic Sea Bird in Alaska

Isabela Island

The Galápagos Islands are a fantastic place of inspiration, and today we had a marvelous experience by visiting the most emblematic of the western islands: Isabela. By visiting Urbina Bay we started exploring the home of a natural realm found in the area, and a comfortable wet landing got us ready to get into the morning’s adventure. Once we started a hike into a dry forest, the first surprise of the island was a young giant tortoise that was resting under poison apple trees.

Farther into the trail, a symphony of nature was played by the different kinds of land birds found in the area: Galápagos mockingbirds flying from tree to tree, ground finches feeding on the seeds on the sandy ground, and Galápagos flycatchers that were so curious to come into camera lenses.

May 22, 2013 National Geographic Islander in Galápagos

Gdansk, Poland

As a special guest, ex-President Lech Walesa arrived early this morning to deliver a talk in the lounge. He was pivotal in organising shipyard workers into a cohesive force in the 1980s and establishing the now famous Solidarity Movement as an effective political party. He became President of Poland in 1995 and was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Charming and effervescent, his hour-long talk was a captivating personal insight. Following questions and photos we boarded our coaches and headed into Old Town Gdansk, passing on the way the Solidarity Monument which is sited near Gate 2 of the shipyards. This commemorates some forty workers who were killed in strikes and riots in 1970. It has become a place of pilgrimage and numerous bouquets of flowers add splashes of colour to the dark metal and concrete of the memorial. Close by is the Roads to Freedom Museum which charts and details the turbulent rise of the shipyard workers against the erstwhile Communist regime.

Visiting Old Town Gadansk today one finds it difficult to believe that the city was almost entirely levelled by bombing towards the end of the Second World War.

May 22, 2013 National Geographic Explorer in Baltics

Piraña Caño & Puerto Miguel & Cedeño Caño

This morning was cool and refreshing, and the entire landscape was inviting us to discover the secrets of the Amazon. We made our early visit to one of the small tributaries of the Ucayali River, the Piraña Caño. The water was black, soaking with tannic acid, as it has been collecting dead leaves and the level of the water has been dropping. More and more land is exposed, as rain fades away, and many trees are showing the high watermark of some weeks ago, other are falling and blocking navigation. We also saw a blue-and-yellow macaw along the riverside.

The goal of our breakfastless outing was to find the pigmy marmoset, the smallest monkey in the world, while riding our skiff boats for about one and a half hours.

May 22, 2013 Delfin II in Amazon