24 Feb 2017 – at Sea

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Hello from somewhere in the southwest Atlantic Ocean. We have been sailing all day and through tonight from the Falkland to our next port in Argentina. We’ve been heading in a northwesterly direction, which will get us to Puerto Madryn tomorrow morning. So today was a good time to rest and relax at sea. We will be gradually going north from now on, so the temperatures should increase over the next few days (today it was close to 70 degrees but with a mild wind across the deck).



First let’s answer the question from yesterday. What is the first country you come to when sailing east from the Falklands. The answer is “Chile”. Heading directly east from Stanley you would pass beneath all of Africa, below Australia and New Zealand, and you go all the way to Chile before you encounter any country. That is sort of the long way to get there, but that’s the answer.



We slept late this morning and then had a small breakfast in our cabin. Janet was already late for knitting, so she hurried off to the Stargazer Lounge to work on her needlework project. While up there “working” she saw a whale for a while (blowing spray into the air). Meanwhile David went to the theater for a presentation on Machu Picchu. It seems to be a very impressive place but this is probably the closest we will ever come to seeing that location – it’s quite a strenuous trip. It was offered as a land-excursion for the people who disembarked from the last cruise in Valparaiso (as we were coming onboard) and apparently there were a couple hundred people taking that option. David then stayed in the theater for a presentation about tomorrow’s destination. We have an afternoon excursion again, so he was looking for interesting things to do near the ship in the morning.



We got back together at the Botticelli Dining Room for the sit-down luncheon at Noon. It was the sit-down style of dining (not buffet or self-serve) but took an hour and half, so we cannot do this except on a sea day. The food was good but the room was kind of noisy today. They were also conducting another session of the Pub Lunch, but we will probably get another chance at that sometime later in the cruise. Our friends, Mike and Barbara McChord, plan to go on a British Isles trip later this summer - they can have authentic Fish & Chips at that time. We had sailed with them on the Alaska cruise two years ago, and we thought about them while we were sailing by the glaciers in Beagle Channel a few days ago.



After lunch we went back to the cabin. Janet continued working on her project and watching some shows on the TV while David went to the Promenade Deck to do some laps around the ship. He had been going to a gym on a regular basis before we left town, but he hasn’t been to the Fitness Center on board yet. This was his attempt to get back to some exercise. Then Janet took a nap and David did some reading on the balcony. Janet had been partway through an e-book on her Kindle when it disappeared last night, but this afternoon it returned – happy day!



Today was the Captain’s Reception for returning passengers. It was at 5:00 and everyone got a couple of free drinks and listened to a few short speeches. Last cruise we had won an attendance price, but not this time. Then we were off to the dining room for dinner. Tonight was “Formal Night” so we were all dressed up in our fancy outfits. They always seem to have two of our favorite foods on this night and that makes it hard to choose. We had a selection of appetizers and soups and then Janet had Lobster Tail with Crab Cake while David had Chateaubriand.



The show in the theater was one of the production shows with the ships singers and dancers. Since the shows always seem to be standing-room-only, David got down their early and had a good seat. With 3000 passengers and only 2 shows, it is obvious to us that the Princess Theater does not have 1500 seats. Anyway, David watched the show and enjoyed it while Janet decided to finish reading her book before it might mysteriously disappear again.



We don’t seem to have any new pictures to share today but David will try harder tomorrow. Good night.

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