Thursday, March 16, 2017

Antigua, BWI

Well, Chuck woke me at 6:30 to tell me he had found an excursion that I would really like – Stingray City! We were lucky enough to get on the trip, thanks to Chuck’s connection with the Shore Excursion crew. It was really great – took us to a part of the island that neither of us had visited before – off the beaten track of the yachting set. I had been to Stingray City before, in the Cayman Islands and this one was a bit different, but really good. The major difference was that Grand Cayman had a LOT more area and we were able to play with the stingrays more. Today, we were lined up for pix (see above) then cut loose to snorkel on the limited coral reef – but there were FISH to see! So I finally got my coral reef and brilliant marine life!

Back to the ship to change into dry clothes, then back into town for lunch and shopping. And to think, I could have slept my morning away!!

A good lunch at Hemingway’s. Funny that there wasn’t a single photo of old Ernie anywhere to be found. Lots of photos of Bob Marley and his kin. I asked the server if she thought Chuck looked like Ernest Hemingway & I don’t think she knew who he was!

Off to St Kitts – our last stop on this absolutely wonderful adventure!

Friday, March 17, 2017

Bassaterre, St Kitts

I’ve been looking forward to this morning’s excursion since we first signed up for it – Swimming with Dolphins!  Our large group was divided into smaller groups of ten and taken to rather large pools with two dolphins and their “ocean mammal experts”. Each group also had their own personal photographer recording the fun! We each had a turn at giving commands and enjoying the results. Among the activities were, cradleing, kissing, riding her flippers, being pushed by 2 dolphins at my feet while holding onto a swim board (I wasn’t totally successful with this one as those dolphins put a LOT of pressure on my very tender feet and not quite healed femur fracture) SO MUCH FUN!!!

After we were finished there (showering and shopping), Chuck and I left the organized tour and took a private tour around the island with a primary stop at the Carabelle Batik shop. It was interesting watching them making the batik but there was not a lot of original work going on and much of the product they offered was tie-died vs. batik. I’m not a huge fan of tie-die, especially those with 60s & 70s era psychedelic colors and Rastafarian colors. The shop was a bit like a Vera Bradley store – many different products all alike except for the different patterns. I wanted to get another sarong (got a great one in Martinique) but I wanted original batik and the ones they had on display were too short for my comfort. The sales person helping me said that length was all they had. As we were leaving, we saw some large pieces drying on clotheslines. A lot of the pieces were tie-died and the ones that were batik were the wrong colors (and only four patterns). On asking, we found out that these pieces were considered “fabric lengths” and sold in 2, 2.5 and 3 yard lengths. I finally found a pattern and color that I like!

After a rum punch, we were off to see the rest of the island. This was a re-visit for Chuck from about 20 years ago while he was working for his California clients. He was amazed at how much everything had changed since his last visit!

Back to the ship early afternoon and we set sail for Ft Lauderdale around 5pm. We have some adventures planned for tomorrow, but mostly need to think about packing up!

Sunday, March 12, 2017

High tide in the pool today! It was fun, like body-surfing! I couldn’t swim laps, though, for fear of riding the surf right into the pool wall! I was only in for a little over ½ hour, but my body felt like 3 times that much! Whew!! Chuck took a video, but I don't think you can view it here - must see my Power Point slide show.
Good day – did well at Chinese Mah Jongg, too. Didn’t win, but my score was definitely up there!

Monday, March 13, 2017

A VERY special day – even if I did have to get up really early. We took the “Ultimate Ship’s Tour” with only 8 other specially chosen passengers.

First stop, the Medical Center. Thankfully, we hadn’t been beyond the reception desk prior to this. The med center is really quite large with 6 treatment rooms including one ICU/Trauma room. They can do just about everything needed short of life or limb saving procedures (surgery, CTs, MRIs). We even got to see the morgue – well, not the inside, just the stainless steel refrig door. The doc wouldn’t say if it was occupied or not!

Next stop, back stage at the Princess Theater. Then to the galley, down into the bowels where all the real work gets done, laundry, supply storage, print shop, photo shop, engine control room and FINALLY where we really wanted to go – THE BRIDGE!! That was very interesting since it has been over a decade since either of us was on a yacht bridge. My how technology has changed! They DO still have a magnetic compass and “some” paper charts, also a sextant, but those relics have been made redundant by electronics. Even those have changed since we have had occasion to use them. No more big ship’s wheel! On the extremely rare occasions that the ship must be hand steered, the wheel is about 10” diameter.

Really a great tour and, to our surprise, our cabin steward came by later that day with two tote bags laden with gifts from most of the departments we visited!

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Barbados

Finally in de Islands, Mon!

We arrived in Bridgetown, Barbados late morning. How pretty are the waters here (not technically the Caribbean yet). And the air smelled so good.

Our excursion took us on an island drive and to visit two rum distilleries, FourSquare and Mount Gay. Our tour began at 11:30 – too early to have lunch first – big mistake. We tasted several different rums and saw the distillation process at both plants. Though the ambiance at FourSquare was nicer, the rum at Mt Gay was better. They ARE the oldest distillery on the island where rum was invented, after all. Of course I bought some!!

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Martinique

We arrived in Fort-de-France early this morning and REALLY felt as though we had arrived in the Caribbean. Our excursion today was a catamaran ride along the coast to Les Anse where we spent some time on the beach and in the water and some time cruising around looking for sea turtles – found quite a few. This trip was somewhat disappointing as we were told it would be a sailing catamaran and that we would be seeing brilliant sea gardens, coral reefs and colorful sea life while snorkeling. The outing was enjoyable but on a power driven catamaran with glass bottom hulls. The swimming was refreshing, but no snorkeling, coral reefs and the only colorful marine life was the Sargent Majors who came after the bread crumbs thrown in by our deck hand at the “Bat Cave”. That was pretty interesting, the bat cave, that is. Well the Sargent Majors also. Our captain and mate were identical twins named William and Willie!  I was pleased to be able to communicate somewhat with them in my grade school French!!

Bat Cave-Martinique

Tomorrow is Antigua. I probably won’t write about that visit. We aren’t taking an excursion as we have both been there before. Will probably just go ashore for lunch & shopping.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

First of five sea days in a row. On Saturday, we will cross the equator. I got back into my rhythm of swimming laps and water aerobics though there isn’t a fun group to exercise with. One of the pools ranges from 5’ to 7’depth – perfect for me, but not quite the 25 meters the pool at Palm Aire is. So I’m still doing my 40 laps, but those and the ½ hour of water exercise/stretching counts double maybe because it’s like swimming in the surf! The pool wate sloshes with the movement of the ship (which is surprisingly noticiable even though the seas don’t look more than 3-5 feet. Wind is basically on our nose now at around 15 knots).

Mah Jongg in the afternoon. So far, I am ahead around $3! Tomorrow, I shall learn to play Chinese Mah Jongg from the Memphis Mafia – a delightful group of friends from my home town. Well, technically Collierville and Piperton – just East of Memphis.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Day 2 of 5 in a row at sea

The usual, Swam laps, water exercise/stretching, enjoying the surf-like motion of the pool. And Chinese Mah Jongg! Fun to play and a different challenge than American Mah Jongg. Think I’ll see if I can find a group in Sarasota to play, maybe teach a table or two!

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Day 3 of 5 in a row at sea

Chuck woke me at 3:15am to witness the crossing of the Equator (he had been awake since about 11:30pm reading and watching the Lat/Longs slowly change. We watched the TV since it was too dark to see the Equator line in the water and got a photo at 03:35 at 00*00.01’S/041*49.28’W. Back to sleep for both of us for a few more hours!

Can you see the dotted line of the Equator?

Surf was up in the pools so no swimming for me today. Besides, we had the Crossing of the Equator Celebration to attend at 11 a.m. I got there an hour early and still had to look to find a chair. When I did, I parked it front and center beside a support pole under cover of the upper deck. Before long, several others had planted their chairs along side mine forming an official looking row for viewing. A Mah Jongg friend sat beside me – it was very important for her to have a good viewing spot as her husband had been chosen, along with a couple they knew, to be part of the ceremony. Crowds forced us to move our chairs up to the rope line, a bit more exposed to the elements which were beginning to sprinkle on us, but not enough to make us move. Chuck came along shortly and brought us a couple of towels, my visor (purple so I’ll show up in the videos) and my cane which turned out to be very helpful standing for the entrance of King Neptune and Queen Aphrodite.

The King and Queen were followed by their “men in black” and the special “pollywogs”, consisting of five passengers dressed like prisoners and all of the new crew members who had not crossed the Equator before dressed in togas tied with green ribbons (seaweed?). The “Captain” welcomed the royalty aboard his ship and the ceremony began: The first two “prisoners” were accused of lustful behavior and were sent to the barber to have their heads shaved(?)(which didn’t happen, thankfully for the couple) but they did have to suffer the indignity of being “slimed” with buckets of water of many different colors. The next “prisoner” was my friend’s husband, Bob. He was accused of “trickery” and sentenced to kiss the naval of a Nubian maiden (?) while blindfolded. After his eyes were covered, the young lady was replaced with a big bucket of whipped cream. The last “prisoner” was accused of “gluttony” and placed on the “surgical table” to be cured by removing organs and other body parts (surgery was concealed from view by “nurses” holding drapes around the surgical suite. The “doctor” then started throwing what he was “removing” (a string of link sausage, joint bones, yellow jello, and spaghetti noodles, etc) All this good fun was followed by the participants having to kiss a real tuna and the crew was then thrown into the pool! At the conclusion of the ceremony, King Neptune gave the “Captain” permission to continue our voyage by crossing the Equator (ceremoniously, of course). After the ceremony, all who wished were invited to line up and kiss the fish in order to become a “leatherback”.

After lunch, I returned to learning Chinese Mah Jongg. A really enjoyable afternoon; it’s nice to have a new challenge to learn! I did really well though I was the only one keeping score. Tomorrow, we have decided to all keep score which will make it more interesting.

Another formal night tonight. We shall have Chateaubriand and souffle’ in our suite.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

At Sea

Slept till 8:30 then went to a port lecture on Salvadore. We haven’t booked any excursions there (there were only 2 offered). Looks like we can walk to the market and old town. Cobblestone streets may wear me out!

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Salvadore de Bahia, Brazil

No excursion for us today. We opted to take a taxi to the top of the town and shop our way downhill. The Pelourhiho, the historic center of the city is up on a hill, accessed by elevator as well as the usual streets. The elevator is the most direct way to go from the harbor area. They say nobody in Salvadore will go to Hell as they have 165 churchs in this very small town. Historically, Salvadore is a mixture of the Portugese settlers and the African slaves that were imported. Salvador’s old town features some beautiful, albeit desperately in need of restoration, old buildings. This is one of the oldest cities in Brazil and home of a Carnival celebration more elaborate that the famous one in Rio!

On the shopping front, we discovered that everything on the top of the hill could be purchased at the Central Market at the bottom of the elevator on the way back to the Port.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

First of five sea days in a row. On Saturday, we will cross the equator. I got back into my rhythm of swimming laps and water aerobics though there isn’t a fun group to exercise with. One of the pools ranges from 5’ to 7’depth – perfect for me, but not quite the 25 meters the pool at Palm Aire is. So I’m still doing my 40 laps, but those and the ½ hour of water exercise/stretching counts double maybe because it’s like swimming in the surf! The pool water sloshes with the movement of the ship (which is surprisingly noticable even though the seas don’t look more than 3-5 feet. Wind is basically on our nose now at around 15 knots).

Mah Jongg in the afternoon. So far, I am ahead around $3! Tomorrow, I shall learn to play Chinese Mah Jongg from the Memphis Mafia – a delightful group of friends from my home town. Well, technically Collierville and Piperton – just East of Memphis.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Day 2 of 5 in a row at sea

The usual, Swam laps, water exercise/stretching, enjoying the surf-like motion of the pool. And Chinese Mah Jongg! Fun to play and a different challenge than American Mah Jongg. Think I’ll see if I can find a group in Sarasota to play, maybe teach a table or two!

Sunday, Feb 19, 2017

Amelia Glacier and at Sea

This is a photo taken off of our TV.  The Amelia Glacier is between Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas. Actually LOTS of glaciers along this route.

Monday, Feb 20, 2017

Punta Arenas, Chile

Our last stop in Chile. We visited an estanza on  Riesco Island. The owner is a collector of all things related to farming in the area. Not only are the outside items brightly colored, there is also an inside museum of so many collectibles - fascinating. We were treated to a delicious lunch and a gaucho hearded sheep into the yard and gave us a sheep shearing demonstration.
And we met some guanaco - a kind of llama - indigenous to this region.

Tuesday, Feb 21, 2017

USHUAIA, Argentina

Early arrival at the dock in Ushuaia. I’m sort of getting used to waking up well before dawn! So many more mountains and glaciers to ooh and ahh over! Today, we travel to the southern-most termination of the Pan American highway (beginning in Alaska). Ushuaia lies on the Beagle Channel, named after the sailing ship carrying Charles Darwin. On the other side of the Channel is Tierra del Fuega (Land of Fire) named after the fires generated by the native Indians.

Wed, Feb 22, 2017

ROUNDING THE HORN!!!

Today is the day this cruise is all about! We rounded Cape Horn this morning and it was exhilarating to realize that we were as far South in this world that we will ever be 56 degrees South Latitude! The outside temp was a balmy 42 degrees F and the wind was blowing 75 mph with gusts to 100 "they" say! A very blustery day indeed! The Lighthouse at the End of the World is occupied by a family of 5. There term there is one year. We wondered what the Lighthouse Keeper did to deserve this exile!

Once again we went up to the Sanctuary on Deck 17 where, once again, we were the only passengers so the service was beyond excellent. Anthony, our deck steward, brought us the BEST hot chocolate ever, laced with Bailey’s Irish Cream. Hearty souls that we are, as we rounded the Island we realized that the apparent wind would soon be to our disadvantage and we could see the rest from the warmth of our cabin!

 Chuck took pictures of me at the most historical moments, we left a bit of Mom and my sailing friend, Marge, in the Southern Ocean. Mom would have loved the cruise and it was a fitting remembrance of the 5^th anniversary of her death. Marge would have LOVED sailing around the horn aboard ANY vessel! I think this may be the one destination that eluded her.

After the circumnavigation of Horn Island we set our course Northeasterly towards the Falkland Islands. The overnight crossing was amazingly gentle. After several rocky passages in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic gave us a break.

Thurs, Feb 23, 2017

Arrived at Stanley, East Falkland Island (there are about 600 of them, but East Falkland is the most populated and center of life in these islands. The population was doubled when our ship (of 3,000) unloaded! 2,100 live on the West island. We took a 2 hour tour of the island with our final stop at the Historic Dockside Museum. Very interesting artifacts telling the history of the island. Some of our favorites were the Symphonium

and the portable dental office. The drill was operated, not by electricity but by foot treadle! OUCH!!

After that tour, we took a shuttle out to the beach to see Penguins. Unfortunately, the path out to view the Magellenic Penguins was too treacherous for me to feel comfortable traversing so we only saw them from a distance before returning to town and back to the ship. Those are penguins behind me in this photo (this beach is also a mine field - literally - unexploded ordinance left over from the war with Argentina so many years ago. The penguins are light enough not to set them off, but the beach is closed to humans until they finish clearing the field.

The other penguin tours offered involved very bumpy travel over extremely rough terrain. Too bad, I really wanted to see the Rockhopper Penguins as well as the Gentoos. This may have been my only opportunity on this trip, but we are only a week into this voyage and my back is still getting used to the constant motion of the ship. No time to take chances with it!

Sailed at 1800, this time NorthWesterly towards Port Madryn, Argentina. After a day at sea tomorrow, (sleeping in and an afternoon of Mah Jongg) we will arrive at dawn on Saturday.

Friday, Feb 24, 2017

At Sea (day 5 of 16)

A typical day at sea: 10 am Enrichment lecture (today on Machu Pichu) followed by a presentation on Puorto Madryn, our next Port of Call.

Nice to have the weather warming up. We have been very luck with easy seas in the Atlantic. Tomorrow we will probably pack up our winter clothes and start wearing shorts and capris again!

Sat, Feb 25, 2017

Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Evidently, an invitation was extended to the people of Wales to come to Argentina. Many did and made it their new home. There is a lot of European influence in this part of the world as the Germans as well as the Welsh immigrated here in the 19^th century. The architecture shows this influence.
Excursion to another estancia where we witnessed another sheep shearing demo - each one we see is slightly different from the last. This one involved audience participation in catching and landing the sheep. Fun! (to watch) This photo is a baby guanaco-check out those beautiful eyes!

Sun, Feb 26, 2017

At Sea

Typical day: slept late, Port Lecture on Montevideo, Uraguay, our next port of call, lunch then Mah Jongg afternoon.

Mon, Feb 27, 2017

Montevideo, Uraguay

Today we visited one of our favorite Estancias. They were excellent hosts and took us on a hayride to see their very large ranch. In our parade of haywagons were an antique Ford and a horse-drawn carriage. We were treated to typical regional dances and delicious beef and chicken cooked on the grill.

Tues, Feb 28, 2017

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Today is officially “Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Carnival, last day to party before Lent begins” One wouldn’t know it in BA. Except for the previous weekend being designated Carnival weekend and nearly everything was closed, people were out of town for the holiday. We were lucky because the normally heavy traffic was non-existent so we could explore the various parts of the city easily. The highlight of this day was the luncheon and tango show we attended. This photo was taken in front of and inside the restaurant.

Wed, March1, 2017

Buenos Aires, Argentina

This is the day that the first leg of our trip ends and many guests are leaving us including some of my Mah Jongg buddies. (But tomorrow we’ll have new ones). There are no organized excursions for those of us remaining onboard which is nice. Taking a day off!

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Buenos Aires, Argentina

San Telmo neighborhood store-whimsical

Vertical Garden

Giant stainless steel flower - motorized - opens and closes slowly!

Friday, March 3, 2017

At Sea

Saturday, March 4, 2017

At Sea

Sunday, March 5

Rio de Janiero, Brazil

Beautiful Dawn (yes, I was awake for dawn!) as we approached Rio we recognized Sugarloaf Mountain and the Christ the Redeemer statue, Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. Very excited for our day ahead visiting these world famous places.

And so the best laid plans…

Our meeting time was 8am (another reason for being awake at dawn). As per our usual excursion day routine, I went to the Princess Theater meeting place while Chuck went down to Deck 4 to be among the first ashore to make certain the bus was prepared for MY arrival. What nobody counted on was the Brazilian officials being difficult at the clearing in part of our day.

While we waited I read enough of my book to run my battery down, discussed politics a bit with a like-minded woman, and wandered down to deck 4 to get my charging brick from the bag Chuck was carrying. I thought he might be bored standing at the gangway for all this time (only 2 hours at this point). Well, he wasn’t! He was having a ball swapping sea stories with some of the officers (those that were not in meetings with Brazilian customs and Immigration). Another hour of reading, chatting and being updated every 10 minutes by the very cheerful Gerardo, one of the Shore Excursion crew when we finally got the news that we were welcome in Brazil!

Since we were delayed 3 hours on our all day excursion, the schedule got twisted, but to our advantage. Our first stop was lunch at a typical Brazilian restaurant where the servers rounded the tables with skewers of meat off of which they sliced directly onto our plates. SO GOOD!!!

Then we went to Christ the Redeemer statue which involved boarding a train to take us up the mountain then up further via elevator and escalators until we finally reached the level of the statue’s foundation. This statue is 125 feet tall! There were hundreds of tourist all vying for the best spot to get the “money shot”. In anticipation, the tourism people had placed a few dozen mats with pillows around the platform where photographers stretched out to snap away in between dozens more photographers stepping over their prone bodies in an attempt to get THEIR shot clear of those damned selfie-sticks wielded by the rest of the population from old to young the latter of which are more interested in “pose cute” than the tourist attraction they are selfie-posing in front of.  

So, after about 20 minutes of enjoying the view (spectacular, by the way) and snapping a few photos of our own, we reversed course and headed down the mountain and on to our next destination.

Did I mention that the temp in Rio that day was 98 with 75% humidity?

I don’t do well in those conditions but held up pretty well until we headed up Sugarloaf mountain for sunset. Remember that we had been up since dawn and our delayed departure had us still out on excursion well past our expected return time. So now the heat and humidity took their toll. But I knew it would be cool and breezy at the top, which it was and the sunset was spectacular even though the sky was cloudy. We could see Christ the Redeemer lit up across the city which was pretty well lit up, too.

Back at the ship, I crashed and burned, every muscle in my body burning, every pore clensed with sweat – and couldn’t get cold water in the shower!

Zzzzzz

Monday, March 6, 2017

Rio, day 2

I slept till 1, had brunch then went for my first swim of the trip – felt SO good. None of the pools are really lap-worthy, but I did manage to get in about 20 short laps before the pool got crowded. So I did what I could remember of my AquaBelle exercises and stretches and was surprised to realize that an hour had passed!

We set sail around 3:30 – next stop, Salvador, Brazil

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

At Sea

Slept till 8:30 then went to a port lecture on Salvadore. We haven’t booked any excursions there (there were only 2 offered). Looks like we can walk to the market and old town. Cobblestone streets may wear me out!

Sunday, Feb 19, 2017

Amelia Glacier

Chuck very wisely reserved us spots in The Sanctuary on Deck 19 - protected from the wind (but not from the cold!) Oddly, we were the only ones there, which afforded us private service from the crew. They brought us hot cocoa with a shot of Bailey's for extra fortitude! The glacier was quite impressive! We saw many more as we travelled to the end of the world. Kind of neat that I have visited Northern (Alaska) as well as Southern glaciers!

Monday, Feb 20, 2017

Punta Arenas, Chile 

Our last stop in Chile. This was a really great day. We went to a Patagonia estancia & drive thru the city. Our first encounter with guanacos ( like llamas or alpacas) The owner of the estancia was a collector of lots of farm equipment from tractors down to plates and silverware rescued from abandoned estancias (farms). After lunch, we were treated to a sheep shearing in the yard by the restaurant. Wish I could figure out how to get my pix from Chuck's phone to the laptop. Will keep trying - look again next time!

Tuesday, Feb 21, 2017

USHUAIA, Argentina

Early arrival at the dock in Ushuaia. I’m sort of getting used to waking up well before dawn! Today, we travel to the southern-most termination of the Pan American highway (beginning in Alaska). Ushuaia lies on the Beagle Channel, named after the sailing ship carrying Charles Darwin. On the other side of the Channel is Tierra del Fuega (Land of Fire) named after the fires generated by the native Indians.

Wed, Feb 22, 2017

Today is the day this cruise is all about! We rounded Cape Horn this morning and it was exhilarating to realize that we were as far South in this world that we will ever be 56 degrees South Latitude! The outside temp was about 42 degrees F and the wind was blowing 65 mph with gusts to 90. A very blustery day indeed! The Lighthouse at the End of the World is occupied by a family of 5. There term there is one year. We wondered what the Lighthouse Keeper did to deserve this exile!

Once again we went up to the Sanctuary on Deck 17 where, once again, we were the only passengers so the service was beyond excellent. Anthony, our deck steward, brought us the BEST hot chocolate ever, laced with Bailey’s Irish Cream. Hearty souls that we are, as we rounded the Island we realized that the apparent wind would soon be to our disadvantage and we could see the rest from the warmth of our cabin!

 Chuck took pictures of me at the most historical moments, we left a bit of Mom and my sailing friend, Marge, in the Southern Ocean. Mom would have loved the cruise and it was a fitting remembrance of the 5^th anniversary of her death. Marge would have LOVED sailing around the horn aboard ANY vessel! I think this may be the one destination that eluded her.

After the circumnavigation of Horn Island we set our course Northeasterly towards the Falkland Islands. The overnight crossing was amazingly gentle. After several rocky passages in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic gave us a break.

Thurs, Feb 23, 2017

Arrived at Stanley, East Falkland Island (there are about 600 of them, but East Falkland is the most populated and center of life in these islands. The population was doubled when our ship (of 3,000) unloaded! 2,100 live on the West island. We took a 2 hour tour of the island with our final stop at the Historic Dockside Museum. Very interesting artifacts telling the history of the island’s history. Some of our favorites were the Symphonium (picture) and the portable dental office. The drill was operated, not by electricity but by foot treadle! OUCH!!

After that tour, we took a shuttle out to the beach to see Penguins. Unfortunately, the path out to view the Magellenic Penguins was too treacherous for me to feel comfortable traversing so we only saw them from a distance before returning to town and back to the ship.  The other penguin tours offered involved very bumpy travel over extremely rough terrain. Too bad, I really wanted to see the Rockhopper Penguins as well as the Gentoos. This may have been my only opportunity on this trip, but we are only a week into this voyage and my back is still getting used to the constant motion of the ship. No time to take chances with it!

Sailed at 1800, this time NorthWesterly towards Port Madryn, Argentina. After a day at sea tomorrow, (sleeping in and an afternoon of Mah Jongg) we will arrive at dawn on Saturday.

Friday, Feb 24, 2017

At Sea (day 5 of 16)

A typical day at sea: 10 am Enrichment lecture (today on Machu Pichu) followed by a presentation on Puerto Madryn, our nest Port of Call. Evidently, an invitation was extended to the people of Wales to come to Argentina. Many did and made it their new home. There is a lot of European influence in this part of the world as the Germans as well as the Welsh immigrated here in the 19^th century. The architecture shows this influence.

Nice to have the weather warming up. We have been very luck with easy seas in the Atlantic. Tomorrow we will probably pack up our winter clothes and stow them away!

Saturday, Feb 25, 2017

Puerto Madryn was settled in 1865 by Welsh emigrants who were fleeing religious persecution. They established this town, then many moved on to build new colonies. The estancia we visited was different from the one in Puerto Arenas, Chile. The gaucho dresses in the typical flat top, wide brimmed hat that we associate with gauchos. But he didn't do any horse tricks - perhaps in Buenos Aires or Montevideo! The land there is extremely arid - clay and sand with many fossils (not allowed to take). The owner of the estancia allowed the livestock to wander wherever they wished, including the visitors hall! Funny to see sheep just wantdering around!

Friday, Feb 17

Got to our debarkation station in plenty of time for our tour of Puerto Montt and a true Chilean "Estanzia" complete with lunch and Chilean wine. Alas, it was not to be...Word had come back to the ship that the port was on strike and that 2/3 of the Crown Princess guests who were already ashore were stuck on buses, unable to get past the demonstrators. After negotiations, Princess cancelled the tours and refunded our money. Many stayed ashore and walked around town in the cold rain till they were either bordering on hypothermia or the last launch back to the boat was ready to go.
I rounded up a couple of fellow Mah Jongg players and we got a game going! NO joy for me, tho.

After dinner in the dining room, we stayed up late to attend a really great magic show! The magician Michael ? encouraged us to attend his stage show tomorrow night. "a cross between David Copperfield and Cirque de Soliel" Kathy, from Western Australia joined us at our table. A lone traveler, very nice lady.