Beauty above, terror below…I thought I knew the Indian paintbrush…How could it hide this dark side from me? This was one of the day’s revelations aboard National Geographic Sea Bird while hiking with Jon Rebman from the San Diego Natural History Museum, digging into the botany of Santa Cruz Island. One of the intriguing aspects of excursions with Lindblad is the mix of people that come together for a time and the sharing and learning that occurs. Jon provided a unique lens and perspective with which to view the islands plant behaviors and adaptations. One of the hike’s insights was the quasi-parasitic nature of the Indian paintbrush, a beautiful plant that photosynthesizes but also uses its roots to sap nutrients from its neighboring plants: the paintbrushes dark side thus revealed. (Thanks for a great hike, Jon!)
11/6/2024
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National Geographic Venture
Cruising around Catalina Island and Southern California Coast, Channel Islands National Park
Today the adventurers aboard National Geographic Venture embodied the true spirit and meaning of expedition mentality. After gusts of up to 40mph and swells of more than five feet, the backside of Catalina Island was too weather restricted to be a good spot to perform land operations. Guests, crew, and staff pivoted quickly to a plan of wildlife cruising while heading for safe harbor by the shores of Malibu. Little did everyone realize that the unexpected way the day would unfold would be all the more joyful due to our new plan. Cruising brought sightings of many seabirds such as, brown pelicans, fulmars, and shearwaters presumably making their way south away from the Santa Ana winds that were filling in quickly. Guests enjoyed expedition staff presentations and trivia games before being treated to one of the most spectacular wildlife encounters a ship can experience on the California coast. An hour before sunset the ship wide announcement was made that we were surrounded by a megapod of Common dolphins. A megapod or super pod of dolphins is usually considered to contain one thousand or more dolphins, so this was a special interaction. After our final dinner and slideshow, we were treated to another sighting of this same species of dolphin, but at night in waters filled with bioluminescent plankton lighting up when agitated by the movement of the dolphins that were chasing fish in front of the bow of the ship. Today really was a sight to see.
