Daily Expedition Reports

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

Genovesa Island

May is a wonderful month everywhere on the planet. In temperate regions in the northern hemisphere it’s when flowers bloom and spring is showing its sweet hues, but here, at the equator, in the Galápagos Islands, it’s when species from the sea and from the land have the best of both worlds. It’s our transition season, therefore, flowers and leaves are still visible, and land bird species as well as land reptiles enjoy the abundance of seeds and fruits. But water temperatures are dropping and we are now bathed by the cool and nutrient rich current than comes from the southeast, the Humboldt. So there’s courtship in the air, an abundance of fish, sea birds inundating the air with their breeding calls, and air temperatures perfect for us human to enjoy.

Along the week we have observed different behaviors and species, but it’s like Genovesa concentrates them all at their best.

May 18, 2013 National Geographic Islander in Galápagos

Zapote & Supay Caños

Today is our last full day of exploring the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve in Peru, and it was filled with great memories, a lot of animal sightings, cultural experiences with the local inhabitants of the area, and excellent ice cream with regional flavors. We had an incredible morning to start with…a cool breeze and the perfect light for photos. We wanted to practice our photography skills, and we did it! On our early morning, pre-breakfast skiff ride, we shared the river waters with pink dolphins. The first hours of the morning are the best for wildlife as everybody is active while the sun’s heat is yet to reach its full power. So with our cool breeze we enjoyed monkeys, many species of birds, and the company of Amazon cormorants all along the river.

Some guests chose to explore the Zapote River by kayak, and they had the pleasure of close encounters with the famous wood stork.

May 18, 2013 Delfin II in Amazon

Tracy Arm and South Sawyer Glacier

After sunrise our ship entered Tracy Arm, a gorgeous, thirty-two-mile-long fjord that cuts and winds into the mountainous mainland. Several miles in, we encountered a young humpback whale and we slowed to watch it.

The ship stopped about two miles from the South Sawyer Glacier, and we got into small expedition boats to explore the icebergs and look for wildlife in this recently uncovered part of the fjord.

May 17, 2013 National Geographic Sea Lion in Alaska

Bodrum, Sailing

We awoke in the morning with Sea Cloud already tied up to the dock in Bodrum, a lively town on the Aegean coast of southern Turkey. Bodrum is known for being a Mediterranean cruise destination, with a welcoming culture, delightful cuisine, and complex history, continuing a long tradition of maritime connections with foreign lands.

In ancient times, the city that is now known as Bodrum was called Halikarnassos, which was founded more than 5,000 years ago.

May 17, 2013 Sea Cloud in Mediterranean

Petersburg

Another interesting day in Alaska, lovely gray skies everywhere! As we stood on the bow of our ship, the National Geographic Sea Bird, we watched a series of seabirds fly off, or paddle furiously with their wings, till they were a good distance from our ship. Geese, different ducks, and marbled murrelets. Off in the distance we saw the once great (we suppose) Baird Glacier, today reduced to a very thin slice of ice, with its front far inland, and having left huge amounts of gravel, rocks, and sand as a frontal moraine on the beach.

Then, as we approached, we slowly entered an incredibly beautiful cove, Scenic Cove, where a series of white-tailed ducks showed themselves off to us, as well as the high-walled cliffs with a few trees and, at the end, a small green meadow.

May 17, 2013 National Geographic Sea Bird in Alaska

Chinese Hat and Sullivan Bay

Today was a fun day as we woke up and found ourselves surrounded with lava flows. Today we were lucky for some of us were able to snorkel with Galápagos penguins.

Our day started soon after breakfast, when a Zodiac ride took us closer to the action and we saw all kinds of camouflaged wildlife over the brand new lava rock.

May 17, 2013 National Geographic Islander in Galápagos

Atun Poza & Pacaya River, Upper Amazon

If I had to start today all over again, I would probably do things exactly the same! What a phenomenal day we just had!

We started by waking up to a dense fog that revealed an Amazonian forest that we didn’t even know it existed.

May 17, 2013 Delfin II in Amazon