Danzenbaker Tour Journal: Waking Up to Tubenoses

December 31: Our first day at sea

Sunrise came early today. Although my body fully desired six more hours of sleep, the many Sooty Shearwaters glimpsed out my cabin window was sufficient incentive to get up, go through the morning ritual, and climb two decks up the bridge and observation wings. I was encouraged to see that I was not the first to arrive. 

This Southern Royal Albatross is representative of several that visited our ship and line of camera lenses. With its 11-foot wingspan, it dwarfed other nearby species.

Several shipmates were already binning the birds. We quickly saw Sooty Shearwaters, Southern Giant-Petrels, Black-browed Albatrosses, and Wilson's Storm-Petrels, all very common species over the Argentine Shelf, which extends from Tierra del Fuego to the Falkland Islands. These common tubenoses were joined by Greater Shearwaters, White-chinned Petrels, Slender-billed Prions, and the occasional Chilean Skua. The unusually calm, windless conditions allowed for optimal marine mammal viewing. Early on one uncooperative Peale's Dolphin, seen only briefly, left us hopeful that more marine mammals would follow. 

After a hearty breakfast, at least three Cape (Pintado) Petrels made passes by the waiting lenses of a line of photographers stationed near the ship's stern. The ever-popular "Pintados" were once again a crowd favorite as they cooperatively followed the boat for the remainder of the day.

The Cape Petrel, formerly called Pintado Petrel in reference to the splattered black-and-white pattern on its wings, again garnered well-earned accolades as a favorite among the trip's passengers.

A full schedule of lectures then began. Presentations included Doug Cheesman's National History of the Falkland Islands, Tom Murphy's photographic composition workshop, Patrick Endres's introduction to Lightroom and the photographic workflow, my seabird identifcation lecture, and Edward Rook's first in a series of drawing classes. Our mandatory environmental protocol briefing was also given. Several mandatory meetings occur within 24 hours of our embarkation, including a lifeboat drill. Passenger attendance for this exercise is never a problem after the "Explorer's" well-known demise in Antarctic water several years ago. Lectures were only interrupted by timeouts for lunch and dinner and the sighting of a pod of Fin Whales. Though more cooperative than the earlier Peale's Dolphin, they left us yearning for more.

Later in the day, a Wandering Albatross, a Gray-backed Storm-Petrel, and Common Diving-Petrels increased the variety of the day's seabirds. Rod Planck gave his customary incredible presentation on Photo Tips and Ethics and Natural History of the Falklands. Shoe-horned between all these activities there was time for passengers to try on different types of boots for the many wet landings that will follow. After dinner, Craig Poore presented his rendition of the zodiac follies (amazing amount of material to cover) and the singing of "Auld Lang Syne" concluded this day at sea. We are primed for our first landing tomorrow.

All photos by Jim Danzenbaker