October 6

Temp: 40 F

Weather mostly cloudy, 7 knot winds

Today was our first full day at sea, which was something new for me. I’ve spent time on boats— growing up fishing on lakes in Michigan, canoeing rivers, sea kayaking around Alaska, conducting murrelet surveys from a sailboat, and riding the Alaska Marine Highway for days at a time. But still, I’ve done nothing quite like this. Today was the first day that I did not see land at all. Besides one particularly harrowing crossing of the Queen Charlotte Sound in British Columbia a few years back, I’ve never spent much time in 12 foot seas. So far, so good.

See a map of the Healy's voyage.

And I have to add that it’s been a rewarding experience already. Today I saw three life birds. First, were Red-legged Kittiwakes which nest on the Pribilof Islands, 75 nautical miles away from our closest approach. Almost 100% of these birds nest on the Pribilofs and forage in the waters nearby. Next, we spotted several Least Auklets. And finally…drumroll please…we spotted a juvenile Short-tailed Albatross which circled the ship three times, showing off its 90-inch wingspan and heavy pink bill. This endangered species is a holy grail among birders—having a recent population estimate of only 1,200 birds—it is hard to find. Other species of the day included Crested Auklet, Pomerine Jaeger, orca whale, and northern fur seal.

In the evening, the ship’s “morale team” organized a bingo and movie night. I won twice, and am now the proud owner of a desktop foosball set, two movies, and a $25 gift card. Indeed, this does help keep up one’s morale! We finished the evening with The Hunger Games on the big screen in the hangar, and called it a night.