Great pics Michele.
I know exactly what you mean about keeping your body steady on a ship when trying to take pics of the seabirds. -O
If you lean on anything, you pick up the ships vibrations and spoil the shot, if you try to balance, a freak wave topples you over.
I learnt to anticipate which birds were going to veer away out of range and which ones would come close - not always successful, but got better at it given time. Still not easy to stop the action though and the added reflections from the waves makes exposure calculations a nightmare.
Looking forward to seeing some more from your trip, I was gripped off when I heard about it, wish I could have been there.