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!