Lecture: The West Pacific Odyssey: travel by expedition ship from New Zealand to Japan by Stephen James

NEW VENUE: Meeting room 9, Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi Downtown, Hamdan Bin Mohammed Street, Abu Dhabi, UAE 

https://goo.gl/maps/cprTVV7rRVQ2  

LECTURE TITLE: The West Pacific Odyssey: travel by expedition ship from New Zealand to Japan by Stephen James

LECTURE SUMMARY: The WPO is a 31 day journey from New Zealand to Japan. It is on an expedition ship with only 35 passengers & 22 crew! It is a re-positioning journey from the Antarctic to the Arctic (where it spends the northern summer).

This journey is carefully planned to try and see some of the world’s rarest seabirds. Some of which are hard or even impossible to see by any other means.

From NZ ones goes to Norfolk Island, then New Caledonia, four different islands in the Solomon's,  eastern Papua New Guinea & finally Micronesia en route to Japan. Often these out of the way places are explored by zodiac landings, followed by rigorous hiking to the interior. Many endemic island birds are seen on each landing.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: I am 60 years old & retired. I have had a lifelong passion for nature & the great outdoors, which I indulge at every opportunity. I spent 22 years working in Abu Dhabi & virtually every spare moment was spent camping/birding.

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