December 21, 2017
Today is the longest day of the year in the
southern hemisphere. The latitude position
this morning was 50.49. The ship is in the Chilean territory of the Terra Del
Fuego. The name mean Land of Fire, since the first explorer saw the campfires of
the natives on shore. We awoke to another cloudy day, which is to be expected
while cruising along a rainforest. The temperature was 8 C and it was
windy. During breakfast, we passed through
rain and later the sun popped through the clouds momentarily. The day was
mostly overcast and cool with occasional light rain.
We requested, on the third day, that the
newsletter with Canadian news be delivered to our cabin, since it was not
usually printed and we needed to wait in line at the Front Desk to ask for a
copy to be printed. For the past few days, it is in the slot by our door by
noon.
The day is a cruising day through the Patagonian
channels. We saw just one small sailboat
in the afternoon. The scenery is rugged and rocky with steep shorelines. The
waves were not more than one meter with a few white caps. Sometimes you could
clearly see the mountains tall enough to be snowcapped and at other times, it
was raining so hard that the shoreline, about one kilometer away, was hard to
see.
Walking on Deck 3’s Promenade Deck was a
popular morning activity to view the scenery without getting wet. As we strolled along for an hour this
morning, we happened to notice three dolphins on the starboard side racing the
ship. Other shipboard activities were
the Antarctica Expedition Team Lecture, Naked
at the End of the World: The Natives of Tierra del Feugo; a presentation by
Joe Devlin about his magic; some Microsoft classes on Microsoft Edge and
Getting to Know Cortana; a cooking class; an art auction; a slot machine
tournament; a Texas Hold’em tournament; a “What
On Earth” game show with audience participation based on a BBC show;
Afternoon Tea; different games during the day such as bridge, mahjongg, Giant
Connect 4 by the pool, tennis on the Sports deck; Spa and Acupuncture seminars;
then at 4, it was Happy Hour - buy the second drink for $2.
We spent the afternoon reading in the
Explorers Lounge by the library. Our first borrowed book “An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth” by Canadian astronaut, Chris
Hadfield, was completed, with a Clive Cussler book and a David Baldacci book in
the process of being read.
Just before dinner the ship arrived at Summer
Pass. The ship was travelling in a
channel about three kilometers wide, but at this point the water is quite
shallow and it is best to go through at high tide between the marker
buoys. They indicate the deepest part of
the channel. Heading south, the green buoy is on the starboard side and the port
side has a red buoy. The ship had to go very slowly since the water under it
could have only 1.5 meters of clearance from the bottom. We had 2.5 meters. There is a phenomenon
called the “Squat Effect”, where if the ship travels too fast it could displace
the small amount of water under it and cause the ship to ride lower in the
water (like it is being pulled down), so ships slow down. The captain called it a “Speed Bump”. About 15 minutes further is the wreck of the SS
Leonor, it started raining and it was dinner time, so we did not stay on deck
to see it.
Throughout dinner we would look out of the
window and either see a ray of sunshine or pouring rain, as the weather had
been like most of the day.
Dinner appetizers chosen tonight were French
Onion Soup, Crab & Shrimp Crostini and Sopa de Zapado. The main course was Brazilian Shrimp Salad or
Wiener Schnitzel with potatoes, asparagus and carrot. Dessert choices were Orange Polenta Cake with
orange sherbet and Snickers Cake with Macadamia Nut ice cream.
About 7:30, as we were leaving the dining
room, the ship entered the Strait of Magellan at the western end. The strait is
over 10 kilometers wide and the sea became rougher with 3-meter-high waves for
the first hour, then the waves got smaller.
This strait was first noted in the explorations of Ferdinand Magellan.
Sailing ships began to use this route around the tip of South America to avoid
the severe weather around Cape Horn.
Tonight’s show featured the ship’s dancers
and singers in a production called Rock Legends.
Total steps
16,062
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