At 5:15 in the morning, the first rays of sunshine illuminated dark shadows of clouds on the horizon. Accompanied by the gentle sound of the sea lapping the hull of our ship, sunrise broke through the clouds and welcomed the first day of our expedition.

As the day passed by, we kept an eye to the sea as a masked booby circled our ship and a pod of common bottlenose dolphins passed in the distance. Tropical rain showers marched by and over us, beautiful to watch from the comfort of our fine ship. Our natural history staff shared their incredible depth of knowledge with presentations on seabirds, smartphone photography, and their journeys working with Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic.

Today, cruising along the coast of Northeastern Brazil, we set the stage and built anticipation for an incredible journey across the Atlantic Ocean.