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.