Jan 20 - Briefings
Today we headed toward the Falkland Islands. The seas were pretty smooth but we still had to get used to the rolling of the boat. There were several briefings in the morning and the afternoon to get us ready for our first zodiac excursions. We had safety briefings as well as education briefings on some of the things we expected to see.
Our Expedition Leader is named Sarah. She has been on other Quark trips with us but not as the Leader. She has a wonderful personality and does a good job explaining the complexities of excursion travel. There is always a Plan A but often you have to adjust to Plan B and then Plan C. The weather and the wind are critical variables that you have to be careful with. Safety is always a critical factor in everything we do.
We had to bring down all the gear we will be taking ashore with us when we visit the Antarctic peninsula. They went over everything with the goal of making sure that we did not accidentally carry a twig or a seed or a piece of pollen from somewhere else. Things like Velcro tabs were thorough worked over to get rid of any possible contamination. Trying to keep Antarctic free of outside infestations is an ongoing battle.
The briefings also covered things like birds and the other creatures we should see over our trip. We have an excellent ornithologist on the trip and his enthusiasm is infectious. He fell in love with birds at the age of 10 and he has pursued that passion throughout his life. There are more than a 100 species we will see on the trip but as we get closer to Antarctica the number goes down to less than 20.
Overall the first day on the ocean was very smooth and we were on our way.
Our Expedition Leader is named Sarah. She has been on other Quark trips with us but not as the Leader. She has a wonderful personality and does a good job explaining the complexities of excursion travel. There is always a Plan A but often you have to adjust to Plan B and then Plan C. The weather and the wind are critical variables that you have to be careful with. Safety is always a critical factor in everything we do.
We had to bring down all the gear we will be taking ashore with us when we visit the Antarctic peninsula. They went over everything with the goal of making sure that we did not accidentally carry a twig or a seed or a piece of pollen from somewhere else. Things like Velcro tabs were thorough worked over to get rid of any possible contamination. Trying to keep Antarctic free of outside infestations is an ongoing battle.
The briefings also covered things like birds and the other creatures we should see over our trip. We have an excellent ornithologist on the trip and his enthusiasm is infectious. He fell in love with birds at the age of 10 and he has pursued that passion throughout his life. There are more than a 100 species we will see on the trip but as we get closer to Antarctica the number goes down to less than 20.
Overall the first day on the ocean was very smooth and we were on our way.
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