Knowledge on the Waves (Updated with pix)

From Mindy, dated 1 January:

Wind approaching S. Georgia Islands
 (click to enlarge)

Happy New Year!  We woke up to more smooth sailing.  There is a monster storm ahead of us, and we are going in the same direction, but happily at too slow of a speed to catch up.  This morning in the wee hours we crossed the polar front, where the water changes temperature rather rapidly from about 7 C to about 3 C.  At breakfast we were sailing in a southeast direction at about 11 or 12 knots with no measurable winds.  Air temp about 6 C, water 3.2 C, 1007 on the barometer.

Another day at sea brings more learning and sharing.  Ian Dalziel started the day talking about the origin of the Scotia arc and South Georgia Island. Several of the islands are made up of ancient turbidite sequences (gigantic rock slides and mud slides under water along coastlines that then get solidified into rock).  There are also some ophiolote sequences (several different types of igneous rocks that get formed in mid-ocean ridges). These are very exciting for geologists to get to see on dry land, and if we are lucky we may get to visit the ophiolote side of South Georgia Island in a couple of days!

We heard from Michael Moore (no, not that one...) about whaling - how it is done now, how it was done throughout history, how much it has been done and for which species.  Some commercial whaling can be traced back to the year 1050 (for E. Glacialis, which I think is the right whale).  Now the only countries that whale are Iceland, Korea, Japan, and the U.S.   The primary goal in the 1900s was the oil, not the meat (the meat was used for animal feed).  Now commercial whaling is more for the meat.  We'll be visiting the remnants of a whaling station on South Georgia Island, although most of the structures have been removed for safety reasons (they were falling apart and had asbestos in them).

Dr. Alley  (click to enlarge)

Richard Alley gave another lecture, this time on sea level rise.  He spoke a lot about assessing the risk, and what we know and don't know about sea levels in the future.  One cool takeaway (literally) is to understand the precision with which glaciologists measure ice sheets...imagine you and I meet back here again in one year, and I am going to say whether or not you've gained weight equivalent to 1/3 of a potato chip (yeah, sure, that's all I'm snacking on while you're gone - Ed).  That's how accurately we can measure glacial ice now.

Scott Davis, a professional photographer from Moss Landing, CA, led a photography workshop.  He covered aperture settings, speed, and ISO.  He also had tips for wildlife photography in particular, like getting to know the behavior of your subject so you can anticipate good shots, know your equipment before you get out there (I already failed that one), and change things up to create interest (perspective, focus, off-center, leading lines).

Tim Carr  (click to enlarge)

Tim and Pauline Carr spoke again about their time living on South Georgia Island. Very fascinating couple!  And they shared photos from some amazing adventures, like when they nearly single-handedly saved a church from being destroyed, trained with and hiked with military forces on the island, and curated a museum for the island.  My description doesn't do it justice, but their story is amazing!

Next Tom Murphy gave part 2 of his photography workshop.  He shared many of his wildlife and nature photos and described to us how he set up the photo and what techniques he used to get that great shot.  Some easy tips - to get snow to show up moving instead of single specks, use a speed of 1/15 or slower. For water movement, use 1/4 pr slower.  When you have two animals in a picture, focus on the one in front, not the back (if the one in front is blurry it is a distraction, but if the one in back is blurry it gives the photo depth).  Lastly if you want the moon in a photo, the best day to do it is 2 days before or 2 days after the full moon (the photo will turn out better and the moon looks less fake). (And when your thumb is covering the cell phone lens, blame your wife. - Ed.)

We ended the day with Jim Danzenbaker giving a talk about King Penguins.  We will see them in the morning, and it will be nice to know some of their characteristics.  Did you know that King Penguins are the 2nd tallest penguins in the world?  They are 1 meter tall and have foot-long fins.  They have been measured diving up to 300 meters deep (although most stay about 50 meters deep when they dive)!  If they want to they can move at about 12-15 km/hr.   We may be able to see an "egg exchange" between a male and female - these exchanges can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 10 hours depending on how experienced the parents are.  What we'll look for is a dirty penguin with a bump under its tummy (is guarding an egg between its legs and hasn't eaten or moved for 18 or more days) standing next to a fat and clean penguin (just came back from hunting and eating in the ocean) (better known as the South Georgian production of "The Odd Couple" - Ed.).  We hope to see some of these tomorrow during our landing!

Darcy spots land  (click to enlarge)

Land Ho!  (click to enlarge)

Stay tuned to find out about our next landing!  We still have to cruise a ways to get to South Georgia Island, but by lunchtime we should be there.  And because of the weather it looks like we can land on the west side of the island!  Very rare treat, indeed, because usually the weather prevents ships from going on this side.