After more than two hours of convincing the port security of Callao, Peru that I am important enough for clearance, they kindly and safely escorted me to pier one to visit the amazing Stad Amsterdam! I spoke with the Darwin philosopher onboard and I got some great photos of the ship! In addition, their El Niño expert, a professor at the University of Kansas, may be getting in touch with me to share more stories from the voyage.
To celebrate Darwin´s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his ¨On the Origin of Species¨, the Stad Amsterdam is sailing the same route with Darwin’s great great granddaughter onboard as one of the lead scientists. Their mission: to determine the future of species. Follow the New Beagle voyage on Facebook here. The ship leaves from Peru continuing its voyage to the Galapagos. The film crew onboard beams the footage from the ship’s satellites to the Dutch broadcasting network for the television series.
To celebrate Charles Darwin’s 200th birth year and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his “On the Origin of Species”, Darwin’s great great granddaughter, Sarah Darwin, is recreating the exact same five-year long journey. In the course of less than one year, on a modern version of the Beagle, the Clipper Stad Amsterdam, she will visit all the same locations as Darwin. The ship set sail September 1, 2009 from Plymouth, England due to return to England June 2010. While Darwin, 150 years ago, was studying the origin of the species, Sarah, a scientist herself, will be looking to study the state of the planet today…the future of species. Scientists from all over the world will conduct experiments onboard the sailing science lab using the most advanced scientific measurement equipment. The study will assess where the world stands today in light of Darwin’s evolution theory. Are we leaving behind an inhabitable world for future generations? Will the earth survive mankind?