December 16, 2017

December 15 was updated and pictures added

  Today is the first Sea Day of the 22-night cruise. There are 12 days of either being at sea, cruising the fjords or the Antarctic coast.

   We were rocked to sleep and are dealing well with the ship’s motion. No seasickness yet. We met our cabin steward, Yunus and his assistant Anton. The sky was overcast, it was windy, temperature 12 C and the ocean had waves from two to three meters. At breakfast, on Deck 4, we sat with a couple from Germany, Dieter and Rose. Then, at 9 am, we went to the first lecture, in the theater balcony on Deck 5, given by one of the three members of the Antarctic Expedition Team.  The speaker was Dr. Pater Carey, a zoologist working in Antarctica, and his topic was Chilean Wildlife. At 11 am, the second member of the Antarctic Expedition Team spoke about the Republica de Chile and its natural landscape and politics, noting that tomorrow is the second of the Chilean runoff Presidential elections. She noted that the northern Chile border latitude is 18.50 degrees south and the government claims part of Antarctica to 90 degrees south.  The thin Chile is 4620 kilometers long.  Chile’s top export is copper and it exports avocado and more kiwi fruit than New Zealand. The native people of southern Chile, the Mapuche, were never conquered by the Spanish but they have the same problem as other tribes of former colonial countries, that the treaties that they signed have not been honoured by Chile’s government.

   Between presentations we went for coffee up on Deck 8’s Lido buffet and had a view of the fog which was not too heavy. We could see about five kilometers, although the ship’s fog horn sounded when the visibility was reduced to less than two kilometers within half an hour. We walked through the pool area and the water was sloshing over the sides of the pool.  The sliding cover for the pool area had been closed and will probably remain that way until we get to Montevideo.  There is just one pool on this ship.

  At the captain’s noon announcement, he said the winds today were expected to be about 15 knots (26 km / hour) but this morning had gone from 15 knots to almost 50 knots in a few minutes. The waves are two to three meters high with lots of white caps. There are people suffering from seasickness. By the elevators, on each deck, are bags for seasickness. These elevators have the current day’s name on the carpet.  We checked since we do not use the elevators. There are only 102 stair risers to get from our deck 2 to the Lido deck 8.  The promenade deck is flat and goes all around the outside of deck 3.  Today the starboard side (the right side of the ship when facing forward) is partially wet from the spray of the waves.

   During lunch the sun broke through the clouds and during the afternoon there were several breaks of bright sunshine, but the wind remained strong. Before going for a walk outside, we walked up to the Crow’s Nest Lounge.  Here the Antarctic Expedition Team has a “base camp” with information of reference books and large maps of southern Chile and the Chilean claimed area of Antarctica. Then we walked on deck 3 with jackets and mitts.  Sometimes on the flat deck, we were walking either uphill or downhill depending on the waves. Whether on the promenade deck or walking inside the ship you could suddenly be walking sideways, so people were holding on to railings as they walked around the ship.

    At 5 pm this evening, there was a traditional Christmas tree lighting ceremony with people singing Christmas carols as they gathered on the three decks (3, 4 and 5) of the Atrium to witness the four-meter tree on the deck 3 atrium having its strings of white lights officially lit.

   Tonight, is Gala attire in the dining room. The ship’s photographers have setup places for people to pose for pictures. The dress code for the men is collared long sleeve shirts and long pants and ladies to wear a gown, blouse and skirt or a pantsuit.

 Only Jan and Doug and us sat at our table of eight.  Last night Joyce and Shin said that they hoped the seas would not be too rough and they already had attached their acupressure seasickness bracelets.  The waiters were dressed in white jackets and black pants for this evening’s service.  Our choices for appetizers were; Honey Pineapple with sliced strawberry, orange jumbo shrimp cocktail and artichoke & carrot soup. The entreé choices were Cracked Pepper Tenderloin with grilled jumbo shrimp; broiled duck breast and mushroom risotto. Desserts choices were Lemon meringue cheesecake and balsamic strawberries.

   Tonight’s entertainment was guitarist and singer, Andrew Diessner from Colorado. He had the audience clapping along with his variety of musical styles.  He had shows at 8 pm and 10 pm.

   After the show, the ocean seemed even rougher. Our cabin, midship and interior, is a location that has the least amount of movement but, you could feel lots of rocking, even jolts from hitting waves.  By midnight the ship had entered the narrows to take the ship into calmer waters.

Daily steps total: 13,035