At sea, Atlantic Ocean
Today was the first full day aboard the National Geographic Endeavour on a journey that will take us from Lisbon, Portugal to Salvador, Brasil; a distance of approximately 3,753 nautical miles. While it would be easy to view this journey as an Atlantic crossing, it is so much more than that. The concept of an Atlantic crossing from a northern hemisphere perspective suggests a journey from east to west, or vice versa. If we were to cross the Atlantic to the west from Lisbon, we would end up somewhere in the vicinity of the Delaware Bay, for Lisbon is at about the same latitude as Washington D.C. But as we set out from Lisbon for Madeira, our course was 225° - south-west. And while we will cross the Atlantic during this voyage, our journey is one that will take us more to the south than to the west, and will call at the archipelagoes of Madeira, Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands.
There is a good reason to be heading south at this time of year. For it is now autumn in the northern hemisphere. There are fewer hours of daylight, and temperatures are dropping as are the leaves from the trees. These seasonal changes result in events such as bird migration and today, at sea, we saw some evidence of this movement. Several small passerine birds; warblers, wagtails and larks flew past the ship but did not linger on our artificial island. Like us, these birds are now heading south for warmer climes to escape the onset of the northern winter. This was not a dramatic, large scale, migration of flocks of birds or herds of animals. But the same urge drives them on, undertaking remarkable journeys that seem to exceed the physical capacity of such tiny bundles of feathers in the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.
Throughout this voyage keen eyes on the bridge will keep a watch for wildlife. The sightings may be of migrant birds, of the wide variety of seabirds that make their living on the high seas of the Atlantic or other marine wildlife to be found in these waters such as the Atlantic spotted dolphins that joined our journey for a brief time today.
Today was the first full day aboard the National Geographic Endeavour on a journey that will take us from Lisbon, Portugal to Salvador, Brasil; a distance of approximately 3,753 nautical miles. While it would be easy to view this journey as an Atlantic crossing, it is so much more than that. The concept of an Atlantic crossing from a northern hemisphere perspective suggests a journey from east to west, or vice versa. If we were to cross the Atlantic to the west from Lisbon, we would end up somewhere in the vicinity of the Delaware Bay, for Lisbon is at about the same latitude as Washington D.C. But as we set out from Lisbon for Madeira, our course was 225° - south-west. And while we will cross the Atlantic during this voyage, our journey is one that will take us more to the south than to the west, and will call at the archipelagoes of Madeira, Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands.
There is a good reason to be heading south at this time of year. For it is now autumn in the northern hemisphere. There are fewer hours of daylight, and temperatures are dropping as are the leaves from the trees. These seasonal changes result in events such as bird migration and today, at sea, we saw some evidence of this movement. Several small passerine birds; warblers, wagtails and larks flew past the ship but did not linger on our artificial island. Like us, these birds are now heading south for warmer climes to escape the onset of the northern winter. This was not a dramatic, large scale, migration of flocks of birds or herds of animals. But the same urge drives them on, undertaking remarkable journeys that seem to exceed the physical capacity of such tiny bundles of feathers in the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.
Throughout this voyage keen eyes on the bridge will keep a watch for wildlife. The sightings may be of migrant birds, of the wide variety of seabirds that make their living on the high seas of the Atlantic or other marine wildlife to be found in these waters such as the Atlantic spotted dolphins that joined our journey for a brief time today.
