The Young Explorers goofed around with Captain Lemaire during their private bridge tour!

The sea was calm and the sky was blue, making for a wonderful day on the Le Boreal.

Several guests took advantage of the warm conditions to soak up the sun on the pool deck!

Young Explorer Coordinator Kristin Wornson explains how to dissect a squid during the afternoon program session with the kids!

A favorite pastime on sea days is reading, as illustrated by these two lovely guests in the lounge.

En route to South Georgia

12/22/2010

 It was very heartening to wake up and find that the wind had dropped and the sea was surprisingly calm. The ship is rolling ever so slightly but we are being slowed a little by an eddy in the usually westerly current.  

So it was a day of relaxation. Those who joined the naturalists on deck for the morning bird-spotting were able to shed parkas and bask in the warm sun. There was plenty to see with royal albatrosses, sooty and great shearwaters, cape petrels, Antarctic prions and other seabirds following closely in our wake.  

The lecture schedule started with Charley Wheatley talking about 'Fur-lined web-footed wonders of the Antarctic' – a lecture on the seals which we will encounter when we go ashore in South Georgia and Antarctica, or see dozing on ice-floes. Richard Harker gave his second talk on getting the most out of our digiatal cameras and Juan Carlos Restrepo, our geologist, explained the structure of our planet and the way that the continents wander around its surface (very, very slowly).  

This is a family cruise and there is a large group of young people, whose ages range from 7 to 18. They have their own program of activities, which are sometimes the envy of older guests. Today they dissected squid and had a pizza party. For them, like the rest of us, the cruise combines education with entertainment.  

As we are nearing colder Antarctic waters the captain announced the First Iceberg Competition. A bottle of champagne will be awarded to the first person to spot an iceberg at least the size of Le Boreal and report it to the bridge.