Tag: 2026
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Easter Island = Rapa Nui, Chile… Learn Something New Every Day
A Moai Statue stood sentinel over the tender pier where we first arrived on Rapa Nui — like it was waiting to greet us! The Rapa Nui say the Moai were carved to honor someone (a chief or leader) who had died. The Moai were set up on a platform, looking out over the clan,…
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4 days in a row at sea? Where are the Flat Friends going?
Our Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Timeline 1722: Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen became the first European to make recorded contact with the island! Because his ships arrived on Easter Sunday (April 5th), he cleverly (?) named the island “Paasch-Eyland” (Easter Island). He reported seeing great statues standing (Moai) and the inhabitants living their lives. 1774: Famous…
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Ferdinand Magellan and The Age of Discovery!
Flat Hal and Flat Halena feel like time travelers bouncing around time. Events make a lot more sense in order, so let’s slow down a moment. Ferdinand Magellan — 1520 — Discovered Magellan’s Straits between the Atlantic and the Pacific. (He saw a species of Penguin, named Magellanic for him!) HMS Beagle — 1831 to…
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The Flat Friends have been making stickers for the first segment of our grand adventure.
(As a side note: the Flat Friends had a lot of fun sharing the stickers we designed with our fellow passengers! Everyone enjoyed having a fun way to remember the amazing places we visited.)
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Ernest Shackleton did NOT reach the South Pole First
#flathal #ErnestShackleton #Antarctica He did NOT achieve his goal of walking across the frozen continent. It would be easy to look at his four expeditions and see where he fell short. But remember, he didn’t just a take journey or go on a grand adventure. He might have had fun along the way, but he…
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Sailing away from San Antonio, Chile… Where To Next?
The Flat Friends were already planning to do a little cabin organizing as we sail from San Antonio, Chile, even before the wind kicked up and delayed our departure. We are going to have four days in a row at sea, on a nice big ship, with over 1,000 other people. Imagine what it was…
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Flat Hal and Our Journals… Reflecting on San Antonio, Chile
#flathal #Chile #SanAntonio Charles Darwin famously kept journals while traveling aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin’s journals were more focused than ours, Flat Hal and his friends are curious about almost everything we encounter! Today in San Antonio, Chile, Flat Hal was excited to share with Flat Halena what he discovered about Tetrapods last year. When…
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Beaufort Wind Force Scale
Agreement On The Meaning Of Words Gives Them Strength In the early 1800s a man named Francis Beaufort understood this better than many. He and Charles Darwin were both on the HMS Beagle making discoveries. While Darwin was recording animals never before recorded, or named, by Europeans, Beaufort was creating a standardized language for sailors…
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On such an exciting journey it can be hard to fit everything on our minds into a single entry…
…we try to stay focused, and share the adventure the best we can. Here’s a special milestone moment from our San Antonio port call. Flat Hal and Flat Halena are pausing for a moment as we sail towards San Antonio For over a month the Flat Friends, along with just over 1,000 other passengers have…
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Puerto Montt, Another Port The Flat Fellas Photographed Last Year
Puerto Montt is a tender port. A place where the big ship stays at anchor, and smaller boats, called tenders, transport groups of passengers back and forth to shore. Some passengers really enjoy these little boats because they offer a chance to be down on the water, and feel the motion of the ocean. Others…
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Flat Hal Photographed Punta Arenas in 2025
Flat Hal thought an easy day on our ship might be fun when we docked in a city (Punta Arenas) that he and Flat Stanley explored together last year. Initially, Flat Halena thought staying onboard would be restful and calm, but as the day progressed we began to understand why weather can be such an…
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Flat Hal Sailed the Beagle Channel!
Sailing the Beagle Channel was amazing. Some of the surrounding mountains reach over 3,000 feet, and here we were, looking up at them from sea level. On our return to the city the Flat Friends decided to walk around before returning to the ship. In Ushuaia two monuments stood out as ways to get a…
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Ushuaia, Argentina, A Wildlife Tour At The End Of The World
Ushuaia has been nicknamed Fin Del Mundo, the end of the world, because of how far south it is in South America. For many, this community on the Beagle Channel serves as a last stop before departing for Antarctica. For the Flat Friends it was a return to civilization, and a chance to discover a…
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A Well Timed Day At Sea
At home, the weekend comes after five days of school, unless there is a holiday or something special, it is predictable. A routine we know, and can pace ourselves for — but when we travel sometimes we have four amazing, full days in a row, other times we get an easy day after each day…
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The Flat Friends Final Day Of Scenic Cruising In Antarctica Was A Huge Success!
For four days it has seemed like something amazing was just waiting to be discovered just outside our cruise ship. We sailed among whales… truly among them! They were on all sides of us, several everywhere we looked! Penguins raced alongside the ship, and posed for pictures on shore. We sailed near icebergs that seemed…
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The Sun Set And The Snow Moon Appeared!
Flat Hal and Flat Halena were really confused as they were taking pictures. Sunset was easy enough to recognize, and it was fun trying to capture the golden hues of the setting sun around the stark, frozen landscape of Antarctica. But less than an hour after the put away their cameras it looked the sun…
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The Flat Friends Watched An Iceberg Calving
Flat Hal and Flat Halena stepped out on deck to see if the sun was setting. It was 9 at night, and the sky was starting to change colors. An iceberg that seemed as big as a building caught our attention, so we decided to photograph it. Suddenly a loud cracking sound startled us. A…
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Flat Hal and Flat Halena ExperiencedSummer Snow Flurries In Antarctica!
Being told it is summer doesn’t make it feel like summer, no matter how many games we play. No matter how many feet of snow and ice we see, stacked up across countless miles, it is still hard to believe the Flat Friends have come to Antarctica. But somehow, it all began to feel real…
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Scenic Sailing in Antarctica
Overnight our ship seemed to aimlessly meander through an area we had sailed during the day. In reality this was part of the “safety first” motto aboard. The ship returned to water it had “scouted” during the day. The bridge officers knew of any hazards, how much ice was present in the water, and made…
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Photographing Whales in Antarctica!
Flat Hal and Flat Halena made a game out of seeing who could get the most interesting photo of one of the whales. At one point we thought we counted five swimming near the ship! We tried to get one blowing. We decided just because the human eye can see something doesn’t mean the camera…
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The Flat Friends Almost Missed The Penguin Colony!
It seems like the bright white bellies, and bold black backsides of penguins would make them easy to see, but Mother Nature knows what it is doing! These animals are able to blend in to the rocks, and water. At first glance it was hard to believe we had arrived at a much anticipated stop…
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The Flat Friends Are Ready To Begin Their Antarctica Sailing Adventure!
Flat Hal Returns To Antarctica With A Friend! Some experiences are so amazing the moment you get home you want to share it with your friends. Flat Hal had so much fun visiting Antarctica with Flat Stanley he couldn’t wait to share it with Flat Halena. Our first day it was foggy, and really hard…
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The Flat Friends Returned To (Port) Stanley And Our Ship
It was another three hours by 4×4 back to the ship… the majority of that time spent bumping along the trail and chatting with our guide and fellow travelers. Our visit was the end of January and Flat Halena was shocked the schools were just reopening after summer break! It never occurred to her that…
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The Flat Friends Picnicked Near A Penguin Colony!
Our 4x4s took us back down the hill and across the water to a beach, and an area with picnic tables. The drivers parked around the tables, blocking the wind, and encouraged us to bundle up and go photograph penguins while they set out lunch. (Hot soup, hot drinks and sandwiches.) Can you identify the…
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(Port) Stanley, Falkland Islands —- A Chance To See Penguins
Last year, Flat Hal and Flat Stanley saw Gentoo and King Penguins in the Falkland Islands. This year Flat Hal and Flat Halena signed up for a longer tour, in a 4×4 vehicle that went off road. It took them to see FIVE different kinds of penguins! Can you see the trail for our vehicles…
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The Flat Friends Explored Montevideo, Uruguay
Last year, Flat Hal, Flat Stanley, and some new friends from the cruise ship explored Montevideo together by foot. They walked as far as they could, or so it felt, then walked some more after having a good meal. This year the Flat Friends took a bus tour, and ventured further from the pier. Grapes…
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Sailing Into The Sunset
#flatstanley #flathal #geography #west The Flat Friends went forward on one of the upper decks tonight to take sunset pictures. It looked like we were sailing into the sunset — or aiming for it? Remembering our research about the stars, and Peter Pan, they got curious… if a ship points its bow towards the setting…
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Punta del Este, Uruguay
#flathal #flatstanley #uruguay #puntadeleste Flat Hal and Flat Halena are visiting a town that usually has 12,400 people. But today, there could be almost 450,000 people here! Why did everyone show up? Because it’s beach weather! Even though it is January, it is summer in Uruguay. Since we crossed the equator to the Southern Hemisphere,…
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Gatsby Night At Sea
#flathal #flatstanley #gatsby #fscottfitzgerald The party is named after a character named Jay Gatsby from a famous book. In the story, Mr. Gatsby was a man who wanted to get the attention of a friend he hadn’t seen in a long time. To try and get her to visit, he threw the biggest, shiniest, and…
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Another Sea Day Discovery
#flatstanley #flathal #phytoplankton A striking sunrise started off a pleasant, if somewhat bouncy day at sea. It was drizzling rain just 20 minutes before this picture, offering clouds for the sun’s rays to illuminate. Later in the day the Flat Friends noticed this portion of the ocean between Brazil and Uruguay has areas with a…
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Sailing Into Rio De Janeiro Is Simply Inspiring
#flatstanley #flathal A mix of modern & older buildings wait to greet the Flat Friends when we step ashore. Birds race around our ship as we sail in, escorting us to our dock, & high up, overlooking everything is a statue this remarkable community (& the world) came together to make. Nearly a hundred years…
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Two Days At Sea
#flathal #flatstanley The Flat Friends have been enjoying two days in a row at sea. At home, every weekend is different, the same is true of sea days. The easiest way to show how different they can be is the sunrise yesterday (a bit dark, moody and gloomy, above) compared to the sunrise today (vibrant,…
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Recife — A Second Visit For Flat Hal
#FlatHal #flatstanley Flat Hal and his pal Flat Stanley visited Recife, Brazil, less than a year ago, on this same cruise ship. Some of the same officers, staff and crew were aboard, so there have been a lot of familiar faces, and friends onboard. With a lot of exciting ports still ahead, the flat friends…
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Belém, the Gateway to the Amazon
#flathal #flatstanley Imagine a city so big it has tall skyscrapers, millions of people, and busy streets filled with cars—but it’s located right at the edge of the world’s largest rainforest! That city is Belém (pronounced beh-LEM), Brazil. Many people think the Amazon is just tiny villages and trees, but Belém is a huge city.…
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Where in the world are the Flat Friends on St Patrick’s Day?
We interrupt your regular distribution of journal pages for a real-time newsflash! The Flat Friends are traveling this year on St. Patrick’s Day. It might take a while, but eventually, you will find out how we got here! For now… HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY! There is no end of fun on a cruise ship! Today…
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Crossing the Equator!
Today the Flat Friends sailed from the Northern Hemisphere into the Southern, by gliding across an invisible line known as the equator! We made certificates to celebrate: By Royal Decree:To all Mermaids, Whales, Sharks, and Flying Fish of the Deep:Be it known that on this day, the vessel carrying Flat Hal and Flat Halena has…
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Canceled Port Call At Devil’s Island
#flathal #flatstanley Devils Island was originally a prison, off the coast of French Guiana. Now it is mostly jungle and ruins, with a small hotel at the top of the mountain. We were unable to visit because the island was having issues with their water supply… it wasn’t safe to drink! The Flat Friends couldn’t…
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Barbados: From Pirates to a Proud Nation! 🇧🇧
#flathal #flatstanley We’ve learned all about the pirates and privateers who used to sail these blue waters. But a lot has happened since those days of “Letters of Marque” and hidden treasure! Here is how Barbados became the amazing country it is today: Barbados TodayThe “Pirate’s Triangle” is now a place where people from all…
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Bridgetown, Barbados… No Real Pirates in Sight
#flatstanley #flathal The pirates and privateers of the 1700s would be shocked! Flat Hal and Flat Halena sailed from Florida to Barbados in just 3 days. On the ship, these young travelers spent their time playing games, making friends, and reading. Pirates didn’t have much time for fun. They spent their days pulling heavy ropes,…
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Flat Stanley Went Home!!
#flathal #flatstanley Flat Hal had so much going on during his final 2025 adventure with Flat Stanley! Between preparing to say goodbye to his friend after nearly a year of travel and exploring new shores, his journal isn’t quite ready to be shared. It’s currently a collection of memories and pieces that still need to…