At Sea in the Roaring Forties
Oh, how quickly it all changes. After nearly four and a half months in the far south, National Geographic Explorer is now sailing on a heading of 45 degrees, making her way northeastward. We spent the entire day in the so-called Roaring Forties, named for the broad band of what often proves to be rough seas and heavy winds within the southern latitudes between 40 and 49 degrees. Today, conditions were definitely not roaring. The winds were quite mild and the seas were relatively gentle throughout the day, although tiny whitecaps began forming in the early evening as the winds picked up a bit and shifted around to the north. The most noticeable aspect of the weather, however, was the warming temperatures encountered as the day progressed…so much so, in fact, that the Hotel Department offered a special ‘afternoon tea’ with hot dogs and beer on the Sun Deck. Some people even showed up in short sleeves and flip-flops (see Figure 1).
This was our second of what should be four days at sea as we continue on our way towards Tristan da Cunha. In addition to familiar seabirds, we are seeing some new species…most notably the beautiful yellow-nosed albatross. This is another mollymock species, quite similar to the grey-headed albatrosses we saw around South Georgia, but these yellow-nosed albatrosses breed in the Tristan da Cunha Archipelago, not South Georgia. Like all albatrosses, they range far and wide away from their breeding sites, even while they still have young in the nests.
We were also amazed and amused to see Antarctic fur seals this far out at sea, because we are literally hundreds of nautical miles from their home turf in South Georgia. This really shouldn’t be too surprising, since like albatrosses they typically range very far from their breeding area, especially the males who take no part in raising the young.
Our ship is in Temperate seas now, and as expected the productivity is considerably reduced compared to what we experienced in the first part of this voyage. We no longer have masses of seabirds following our vessel, but they are still out there and it is fun keeping our eyes peeled and binoculars always ready at hand.
A highlight of the day, in addition to several staff presentations, was the Falklands and South Georgia Slideshow that was exhibited in the Lounge just before dinner. It gave us all a chance to see what our fellow guests have been producing with their photographic efforts. The display was very impressive and it was quite interesting to look at things through each others’ eyes.
