One professor in the group knows so much about seabirds that he can name every species we see. It’s fascinating to hear him talk about each one. We’ve also seen small dolphins swimming alongside the boat that jumped out of the water, along with two whales that breached at sunset last night.
Without a doubt, the most incredible natural sight I encountered this week was the massive kelp forests we sailed past. From a distance, the dark shapes floating on the water looked exactly like oil spills. After getting closer we learned that they were actually giant rafts of seaweed— I’d never seen such an interesting sight before!
In other nature news this week, we learned a fascinating fact from Ben over at the birdwatching club: frigatebirds (apparently we saw the magnificent frigatebird!) can have massive wingspans, up to 8 feet long! These incredible seabirds use their giant wings to soar effortlessly over the ocean for weeks at a time. They can even sleep while flying.
