No Land In Sight

Our second full day at sea is full of bright sun, blue skies, and great big heaving waves. In contrast to yesterday, we can now see the horizon, and in the distance we have seen the occasional spray from a whales blow-hole. Our first sight of land will be the forbidding Elephant Island, very late tonight. After that we will be verging upon the land of ICE.

New species of animals will be on-hand. Like the predatory Leopard seal, that enjoys dining on penguin... often playing with their catch before eating it, just like many cats do with mice. Then there's the Crabeater seal, never eating crab, but preferring to feast on Krill. They live their entire lives on floating ice. And hopefully, fingers crossed, we'll see many species of whale that travel here to gorge at the Krill Buffet. There will be more, but I'd prefer to take it all as it comes!

Happy travelersHow about the community we've been sharing this expedition with? What of them? Who have YOU been dining with? I've estimated that the predominance of folks are in their 50's, 60's, and 70's, with the occasional representative from the 30's and 40's. I've also estimated that the vast majority of people are from the USA, with the pacific northwest getting the nod for most represented region. There are also small numbers, here and there, from England, Canada, Russia, Australia, and Romania. What do we all have in common? Well, it doesn't matter who you talk to, we are all travelers with fantastic stories of globe-trotting. The other item binding us together is an absolute excitement for this expedition; everyone is happy, everyone smiles, everyone is friendly and open to meeting, greeting, and sharing. That has been a very nice surprise... OH, and have I mentioned that, give or take, 20% are here as solo passengers?

As a short prelude to the coming attractions, lets watch this popular video clip from the internet. It's an astonishing account of a four day encounter with a Leopard Seal...