When we went to bed last night, the plan was for people to take Zodiacs right after breakfast and go to Serrurier Island Nature Reserve for walking, beach snorkeling, and general enjoyment, followed by lunch and lectures. We got up early, had breakfast, and changed into our swim gear – just in time to hear a PA announcement saying that the conditions were unfavorable for safe embarkation and disembarkation, so we’d be sailing an hour or so to another of the Murion Islands to go snorkeling there and to hang tight. So we went up to the lounge and talked to people for an hour and a half.

The PA sounded again: plan B wasn’t going to work, so they were going to move Meg Urry’s lecture on “Einstein, General Relativity, the Eclipse of 1919, and Black Holes” up to 11:30, to be followed by lunch and further information…but conditions didn’t look great.

Meg’s lecture was great, and we were lucky enough to have lunch with her. We were sufficiently discouraged about snorkeling to decide to have wine with our lunches; that was a mistake (though it was good wine!) because plan C was going to work – we’d sailed to the other side of Serrurier Island and it was safe to bring us ashore.

We joined the queue for the Zodiacs and spent about an hour and a half walking the beach on Serrurier Island. There were shells and birds to see, and it was nice to be able to walk farther than a few hundred feet without having to turn around!

We got up early this morning so that we’d be ready for our mandatory Zodiac briefing at 8:30; I stuck my head out to look at the weather and enjoyed the view of the pre-sunrise crepuscular rays and the crescent moon.

After the briefing, we went out for our first Zodiac tour; we circumnavigated Trimouille Island, which the British used as the site of their first A-bomb test back in 1952 – even now, they recommend not spending more than an hour a day on or near the island. We saw lots of birds, including the White-Bellied Sea Eagle and the Eastern Osprey.

We were supposed to go out snorkeling soon after lunch, but they were worried about the waves being too rough for people to be able to get in and out of the Zodiacs safely. So they repositioned the ship to the other side of the island and rescheduled Joel Weisberg’s second lecture on the “Birth, Life, and Death of Stars” to happen while we were moving. He’s a great teacher, and a lot of fun.

After the lecture, the expedition team lead got on the PA and announced that there would be a snorkeling trip – but he discouraged anyone but advanced snorkelers from participating because conditions would be difficult. We took the hint and repaired to the bar to make up for not having wine at lunch.

Tomorrow’s morning snorkel is supposed to be for everyone – a nice, easy beach snorkel. I’m looking forward to it!

We arrived at Dampier Port this morning at 7am and left the ship at 8:30 for a tour of the ancient petroglyphs in Murijuga National Park , led by Ngurrangga Tours, an Aboriginal-owned company.

They started the tour by formally welcoming us to Country and asking the elders for permission to take us on the tour; permission was granted in the form of a breeze, and we were off.

The petroglyphs in the park may be as old as 60,000 years; some are as new as 200 years. The one above means “everyone welcome”.

The tour was fascinating; I hope to post more photos when I have better connectivity.

After we left the park, we went to the North West Venture Visitor Center; the North West Venture is a major natural gas extraction operation (the economy of this area is very heavily based on extractive industries, including gas, iron ore, and salt; we were only the second cruise ship to visit in recent years). They served us a very nice morning tea (there was no actual tea, but the drinks and snacks were good). The displays mostly talked about the economic benefits of the gas industry, the science of gas, the engineering of the operation, and some geology; there were a few mentions of the environmental impact of the operation, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t see the words “climate change”.

Our final stop was a quick trip to the Dampier Lookout to admire the view and learn about Red Dog (who was, among other things, a fully paid-up member of the Transport Workers Union).

We returned to the ship for a light lunch and a short sail to a nearby anchorage, where we’ll have a lecture on the James Webb Space Telescope and Early Galaxies, dinner, and some stargazing.

We’re sailing towards our first port of call, Karratha, where we’ll explore the Burrup Peninsula and see ancient Aboriginal rock art in Murujuga National Park. It’s about 400 miles from our departure point, Broome, so we’re spending the entire day aboard ship. The seas were rough last night, but they’ve calmed substantially.

We’ve had two lectures already today; Richard Binzel of MIT started us off with “‘Everything’ About Eclipses”, and Joseph Heinrich of Harvard followed with “The Secret of Our Success”, discussing how culture and evolution have driven each other during human history. Later this afternoon, Joel Weisberg from Carleton will talk about “Naked Eye and Binocular Observation”, and he’ll lead our sunset and sky viewings this evening. The Captain’s Welcome Dinner is tonight, too.

We have a fourth lecturer on board, Meg Urry of Yale; her first talk is tomorrow before we dock.

They’re keeping us busy!

It’s been a long day; we got up early so we would be ready to leave the hotel at 8:30. We timed it so we’d be at the hotel restaurant just as they opened for breakfast – and so did the other 90 people in our group!

The flight to Broome was long but mostly boring. Our course took us over Alice Springs, which was receiving much-needed rain from the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Ilsa. The captain told us to expect turbulence but there wasn’t any – I didn’t mind being disappointed on that front!

The Caledonian Sky greeted us with drinks and food; and then there were more drinks and more food later in the evening. This could be dangerous.

We’re on our way to the Burrup Peninsula, arriving Monday morning (Rowley Shoals, our first planned snorkeling spot, took a direct hit from Ilsa, so we’re skipping it).

Connectivity aboard ship is not very good, so I may not be able to post very often. I see another retro-blog in my future.