At sea bound for Valparaiso, Chile

Yesterday we were up early for our tour in Punta Arenas to see the penguins. The ship had arrived and was anchored a bit off the coast so we would be using tenders to get ashore. We had our usual breakfasts in the Mauretania Dining Room and then checked in at the Grand Lounge for the tour. We had our #4 stickers on to identify which group we would travel with.

The Captain came on the loudspeaker and said he was very sorry but we would not be cleared for Punta Arenas. The Chilean officials said that their policy was that no tenders could operate if the winds were over 30 miles per hour. We were already having gusts of 35 mph and the forecast, once again, was for increasing winds expected to reach 50 miles an hour in the mid-afternoon when many passengers would be returning to the ship. So, this time it wasn’t the Captain’s decision, but the result was still cancellation of the call at Punta Arenas. Everyone was very disappointed because this was the last port this voyage to see penguins in the wild, but everyone also chooses to be safe. The winds did indeed pick up as forecast with higher seas as well. As we rocked a bit in our more than 70,000 ton vessel, I was very happy not to be bouncing about in a tender.

The good news was that with our change of schedule we would be cruising through the Straits of Magellan in daylight instead of in darkness. For more than 10 hours we cruised through the fairly wide straits with high rocky terrain on the islands on both sides of the ship. There were a few hanging glaciers and snow-capped higher peaks in the background. The light made beautiful patterns of golden browns and greens on the rocks and vegetation and we saw one spectacular very low complete rainbow arc in the mist. There appeared to be very few trees. Once again albatross accompanied us. Earlier I went to the library to see if I could find the poem about someone killing an albatross. I thought that it was Coleridge, and so it was in “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.”

The ship had the satellite feed for the Super Bowl. It was aired in both one of the bars (for smokers – many Europeans still smoke. Fortunately for the rest of us, the smoking sections are small.) and in the Theater on a very large screen. I enjoyed the evening by myself, but I think it was the wrong Super Bowl to decide to miss! Everyone has been talking about what a fabulous game it was and everyone seems to be glad that the Giants won the game.

We are in the cabin right now, and later plan on attending one of the lectures, going to lunch in the dining room (usually we have lunch in the Lido on Upper Deck for buffet), exercising in the fitness center, having tea in the Queen’s Room on the Quarter Deck, followed by getting dressed for dinner and a show in the Grand Lounge and the Putting on the Ritz Ball back in the Queen’s Room. I plan to wear my heavily sequined top and long dark skirt and Jerry will wear his tuxedo with matching black and white patterned cummerbund and bowtie. There is a grand buffet in the Lido at midnight and they said to bring cameras, but we have only twice stayed awake long enough to get to a midnight buffet on all of our cruises. Don’t expect to see photos of that! Counting a swimsuit and sleepwear I will have changed clothes 6 times by the time I go to bed tonight!

Day before Valparaiso (February 5, 2008)

It wasn’t until the Cruise Director, Warren Smith, mentioned last night at the show in the Grand Lounge that today would be our sixth day at sea that I realized the cumulative effect of canceling two ports. This now matches our longest scheduled number of consecutive days at sea from Osaka to Honolulu.

We did go to both the Ritz Ball, where we actually danced a few times, and to the Grand Buffet in the Lido where I took many photos of the ice carvings, food sculptures, and artful desserts. We ate a plate of berries, melons, pineapple and called it a night.