Friday, November 27, 2009

At sea, a little rock’n and roll’n, More talks, Thursday, November 26 (U.S. Thanksgiving Day)

We are at sea all day today, headed for South Georgia Island--on the open ocean. More naturalist/staff talks to keep us out of trouble.


The first talk of the day was about the Shackleton Expedition in the early 1900s. More talk about ships getting caught in ice, ships being crushed by ice. Shackleton had taken the long-boats from his ship, his crew pulled them across the surface ice, launched them and got to Elephant Island. This is the island we spent much of yesterday trying to get through the pack ice to see.


The second talk was about plate tectonics. The talk started by noting that a 17th century Anglican bishop had calculated the exact date God created the earth--on a Saturday, 4004 BC, at sunset. (A couple sarcastic notes--would god work on the Jewish Sabbath? at sunset where? He calculated it using the bible and “other sources.” That the extreme fundamentalists pin their belief of a “young earth” on a calculation made in the 17th century Anglican bishop is beyond me. (The talk then explained plate tectonics and how Antarctica ended up at the southern pole and why it has been stuck there.)


Next talk is 10 tips for improving travel photography with Rolf Hopkins (the Lindblad staff photographer on board). If I get around to it, I’ll write a post specifically about his talk. As a teaser, two bonus tips are:

“If you want to take better photos, stand in front of better stuff.”

“Find the best light and shoot what’s in it.”


Happy Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. Dinner options included a traditional turkey dinner. I had the grilled salmon.

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