At Sea III

The temperature dropped down to 6 degrees today but the sea was remarkably calm with virtually no wind and no white caps. I maximized my time on the top deck watching the birds catch the updrafts along side the ship. We have some very pretty snow petrels following us now. They are so white that they almost glow.

No lecture this morning but we did have to attend a mandatory briefing on visiting the South Georgia Islands. As we found in Austrialia and New Zealand they are *very* concerned about introducing aliens to the environment. We had to examine all of our shore clothes, shoes, tripods and camera bags for seeds or any other organic matter and take the suspicious items to be vacuumed. We will have to repeat this process before landing in Antarctica along with very thorough boot washing after each landing.

After lunch the siting of the Shag Rocks (yes, the Shag Rocks!) was announced. This is a cluster of 6 rocks that rise up out of the ocean like some very nasty shark teeth.

There are rather eerie looking with waves crashing all around them. There is nowhere to land and the rocks are covered with a type of bird know as the South Georgia Shag.

I checked with a few of the expedition folks and they all agreed that we had unprecedented calm seas today.

Afternoon lectures included Frank Hurley Photographer and Mammals of South Georgia. I must say that some of the lecturers are not very good at organizing their material but to be fair they do make up for it with their enthusiasm.

There was a whale spotting just before dinner - a few water spouts only and she was gone. The coming day should bring more as we get closer to the krill. We are about 180km from South Georgia and have plans for two landings tomorrow.

The water is still devoid of white caps but the swells are increasing. I must be getting my sea legs as I manuvered back to my seat at dinner with a full bowl of soup and a plate of salad all intact!

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