Daily Expedition Reports

Ideal Cove & Petersburg, Alaska

Webster’s Dictionary has five definitions for ideal. Let’s focus on the first one: “something in its absolute perfection.” Yep, that does it. That was our morning landing in Ideal Cove. The sky was an endless blue, not a cloud on the horizon. The forest gave us every imaginable shade of green. The rippling sounds of the nearby stream were soothing to the soul and splashes of color from the spring flowers made for a lovely contrast. It couldn’t have been a nicer morning in the forest of Southeast Alaska.

At midday we repositioned to Petersburg, a real working fishing town, not a tourist destination.

May 21, 2013 National Geographic Sea Bird in Alaska

Isabela & Fernandina Island

What a wonderful day we had today.

Early in the morning we woke up navigating toward the largest island in the archipelago, Isabela Island.

May 21, 2013 National Geographic Islander in Galápagos

Christiansø and Bornholm Islands, Denmark

It’s official; the guide books always list the two Danish islands of Christiansø and northern Bornholm as the two sunniest parts of Denmark. Here they sit, lying out in the Baltic, 200 long km from Copenhagen, its capital city. Sometimes they are right; after all this is the only place in Denmark where you can grow figs. Still the destination where all the Danes like to come for their long six-week summer holiday to tan their bodies and lower their stress levels. Statistics boast over 600,000 visitors year-round. The Danes fantasize all winter long about coming here to sit in the sun, drink beer, and eat smoked herring (røget sild), very often in the converted smokehouse restaurants located on the northern coast near Gudhjem.

Instead, for our arrival to Christiansø, we are greeted with mist, fog, light rain, and a cool westerly ocean breeze.

May 21, 2013 National Geographic Explorer in Baltics

Tracy Arm – Ford’s Terror Wilderness

Sun bounced off the white snow-capped mountains rising straight out of the salty fjord waters as the National Geographic Sea Bird wound her way through a scattering of blue icebergs toward the face of South Sawyer Glacier. From our expedition landing craft, the cerulean ice enchanted us; smooth sculpted surfaces reminded me of art deco glass sculpture on a scale unimaginable by the human artist…such immense and captivating beauty that changes by the hour and will disappear in a week!

Out in the brash ice, harbor seals were abundant.

May 20, 2013 National Geographic Sea Bird in Alaska

Bartolomé and Rábida Islands

Today our Galápagos exploration brought us to the center of the archipelago: Bartolomé Island.  An early pre-breakfast hike to the summit of the island was the perfect way to begin our exploration.  Nature surprised us when we arrived, as a Galápagos sea lion was sleeping on the steps up the trail.  Farther into the island, the wonders of the origin of the Galápagos were displayed by the different volcanic structures found in the area: volcanic ash, lava flows, spatter cones, and lava tubes made it a perfect awe-inspiring moment.   

One of the most iconic elements of the hike was the pioneer plants found in the area such as the emblematic lava cactus.

May 20, 2013 National Geographic Islander in Galápagos

Lübeck

After a day at sea in which we transited the Kiel Canal from the North Sea to the Baltic, early morning saw us enter the mouth of the River Trave at Travemünde and make our approach upstream to the miraculously preserved mediaeval city of Lübeck, the “Queen” of the Hanseatic League cities. From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, the Hanseatic League dominated trade in northern Europe. The etymology of the word “hansa” is obscure but refers to a guild of tradesmen who functioned in a manner that presages today’s European Union, a trading community well-regulated by committees but never fully functioning as a political entity in its own right - which is not to say that it could not be highly effective in defending its interests, as in 1361 when the Hansa traders of Visby successfully withstood a siege from King Valdemar of Denmark.

Lübeck sat at the heart of a network of mercantile cities and (lesser) kontors that linked Bergen in the north with Bruges in the south and London (Steelyard) in the west with Novgorod in the east.

May 20, 2013 National Geographic Explorer in Baltics

Casual, Yanayacu River & the Rio Marañon

Our visit today is one of the few we will have on dry land, as most the forest in this part of the world is flooded. As we started our morning at 5:30, along the bank of the Marañon River, we rode the shores of a narrow stream packed with wildlife. We saw our first sloth and then another, and then another… we also saw iguanas and colorful caiman lizards. We came across different species of monkeys, including the tiny saddleback tamarin. They are locally known as “milk drinkers” due to the white of their faces, and we enjoyed our first photo challenges. There was a lot of bird activity along the shores, including caciques and egrets. All of this before breakfast!

After returning to the ship and eating breakfast, we went for a walk.

May 20, 2013 Delfin II in Amazon

Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier

“Instructions for living a life:  Pay attention.  Be astonished.  Tell about it.”  -Mary Oliver

We awakened this morning to typical Alaskan weather:  40-degree-Fahrenheit air chilled with layers of clouds and dense patches of fog.

May 19, 2013 National Geographic Sea Lion in Alaska

Kiel Canal, Germany

After a busy first day in Amsterdam, today we enjoyed the tranquil passage of the Kiel Canal through northern Germany. Originally opened in 1895, it took 9,000 workers eight years to build. Being the world’s busiest artificial waterway, we were due for some interesting ship watching. Of course, we would also enjoy some bird watching, and begin our set of presentations by our staff.

Around breakfast time we left the North Sea and entered the River Elbe.

May 19, 2013 National Geographic Explorer in Baltics

Tracy Arm & South Sawyer Glacier

Today, we awoke aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird to find the ship winding its way through Tracy Arm, a long narrow fjord that terminates at the magnificent Sawyer and South Sawyer Glaciers. The steep walls of the fjord, shaped by flowing Pleistocene ice, rose vertically from the silty-green water. Behind them, pointed peaks could be seen that were spared from the glacier’s erosive powers by their commanding heights. We continued cruising until we could see the South Sawyer Glacier, then dropped anchor and set off to explore the fjord in the expedition landing crafts.

From the small crafts, we observed pairs of Arctic terns dancing over the water in ritualized breeding displays.

May 18, 2013 National Geographic Sea Bird in Alaska