Daily Expedition Reports

Kelp Bay and Chatham Strait VIDEO

“Good morning everyone, it is 6:45a.m., it’s a sunny morning, and we have killer whales in front of the ship! Please come join us on deck to view these magnificent animals.” This was our start to the day – sunshine, and the top predator in the sea swimming along with National Geographic Sea Lion as we entered Kelp Bay. Kelp Bay is the largest inlet on the east side of Baranof Island, with access from Chatham Strait, and a special place for our morning’s activities!

Breakfast was delayed a few minutes so we could continue to enjoy our traveling companions, but eventually we headed to our anchorage, and breakfast, thinking we had left the orca behind.

May 21, 2013 National Geographic Sea Lion in Alaska

Delos

This morning we sailed to the small island of Delos, situated in the center of the Cycladic Islands. We took the tender over to the island first thing in the morning in order to avoid the big crowds that visit midday!

Delos was the birthplace of Apollo—the god of music, prophesy, harmony, and light, and Artemis—the goddess of hunting.

May 21, 2013 Sea Cloud in Mediterranean

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

LeConte Bay and Petersburg

This morning we bundled up and boarded the expedition landing craft to cruise among icebergs near the mouth of LeConte Bay. The giant ice sculptures had floated nine miles down the winding fjord from LeConte Glacier. Some icebergs had caves, or large round holes, or carried rocks in their sides. There was ice with textured stripes and ice with beautiful shades of bright blue; it was a natural art gallery that changed with every shift of light and temperature. Small brown seabirds called marbled murrelets (small puffin relatives), bobbed on the green water, and in an instant they disappeared beneath the surface.

National Geographic Sea Lion traveled north 25 miles for a visit to the interesting and charming town of Petersburg.

May 20, 2013 National Geographic Sea Lion in Alaska

Folegandros & Poliegos, Greece

It was an idyllic, idle day as we ventured off the beaten track to discover the islands of Greece as many imagine them to be. Few travel beyond the world of tourist meccas, but the rewards are great for those that do.

There is something mesmerizing about mornings at sea just as the sun is rising.

May 20, 2013 Sea Cloud in Mediterranean

Tracy Arm – Ford’s Terror Wilderness VIDEO

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