21 March, 2000

Our transit home has been calm so far. Just a gentle rocking from the seas. We continue to tie up loose ends and pack samples to be sent back to the university laboratories. This is a time for rest

for scientists who have been working so hard to gather samples the past three weeks. The trip home will take approximately four days. One day to travel out of the Antarctic Islands, two days in the Drake Passage and one day through the Straits of Magellan.

There are still some Cape petrels off our stern. These birds are infamous ship followers and eat almost anything thrown overboard.

They are widely distributed in the Antarctic seas and breed on the cliff edges of islands.

Cape Petrels off the stern