Day 12 - 23 July - At Sea to Russia - Day 2

The calm waters were back and the low clouds persisted throughout the day. At noon we encountered fog and as soon as the Captain gave his noon update, the every two minute fog horn started blowing. Sometime in the afternoon it stopped. In the evening the skies lightened up during the Orange party and we were treated to an orange sunset. We also left the shallow waters above the continental shelf and are now traversing water that is 11-12 thousand feet deep.

Critter wise, at dinner and afterwards we saw several instances of the porpoises or dolphins that just leave a wake on the surface. During the Orange party we observed a pod of whales (likely minke, but the naturalist couldn't identify them concretely).

The schedule today was pretty light and included Al Trullijo being interviewed at the 9am coffee chat; Lottie Davies showing great pictures from the north; an Ask the Captain session right after lunch; a presentation by Al Trullijo on Latitude and Longitude & Why we lose Tomorrow; Gloeta on Animals that Glow in the Dark. My wife attended the sushi making demo that conflicted with Ask the Captain. After a Lido dinner with Matthias, a Coptic bishop, Jason Kelly provided an Evening Insight talk on Killer Whales, the Wolves of the Sea.

One interesting factoid came from Al Trullijo's coffee chat. The presenters have the option of receiving a daily stipend and staying in a crew cabin or they can receive no stipend but stay in a passenger cabin AND bring a guest. Al has his wife with him on this cruise.

BBC Earth II was shown on the Main Stage but we skipped it as we have seen it several times. Our evening was concluded by attending the Orange party in which everyone is encouraged to wear orange which is the national color of the Netherlands.

Me, Kay (EXC staff), and Angela

Tonight we gain an hour and lose a day because we have crossed the international date line. Some may wonder why we gain an hour a day for so many consecutive days, and it's largely because Alaska spans 4-5 time zones but we only were in one of them so we have to catch up before reaching Petropavlovsk, Russia.

                        Sun setting after 11pm

Also those of us on HAL or independent excursions or those with a Russian visa or who are from visa free countries need to surrender our passports tomorrow for inspection during the clearance process a couple days from now.

So tomorrow my posting will actually be the day after tomorrow. Stay tuned! And don't lose any sleep over our time changes.