Blogs from Oceans and Seas - page 92

Another rough night and day here at sea, but the wind is minimal right now, so it cuts down on the wildness of the ride. Just long, tall rolling swells as we pound through them. It makes it real interesting to run on a treadmill, do exercises on one leg, or lifting free weights while rolling up-and-down through the swells. It is Sunday so short gym workout today (as we will be off the ship tomorrow in Puerto Montt). Three troubling bits of news reached us today….. Not sure if we mentioned it previously, but the Argentines and the Brits are still not on very good terms regarding “Las Malvinas” (Falkland) Islands, which we are supposed to visit. Our ship, while belonging to an American company, is registered in Hamilton, which is a British protectorate. Rumors ... read more

Just a chill day. Winds are up to force six and the seas are getting rougher as we steam south in 8 to 10 foot swells. A lot of it has to do with our direction of travel now, which is steady on 140 degrees true, and we have averaged 21 knots (almost 25 MPH) since we left, which is humming right along for a tub this size. Worked out and laid in the sun. No sign of “Das Thong” today…. The sun is so close to us here (18 degrees south of the equator), we both put on SPF 60 sun block, and Steve still got burned after laying out a total about 45 minutes on front and back. Saw a great video of Machu Picchu (which literally means “Big Mountain”) today in preparation for ... read more

Where’s Che Guevara? My last 2012 blog from St Helena so I need to keep you up to date with events on the South Atlantic isle. Well, the weather reminds me very much of summer in England. A glorious, blue-sky day with a wonderfully comfortable temperature brings us out in our summer best – both clothing and temperamentally. We look forward to the summer and have a notion of what the next few months are going to be like. Only to be confounded by the reality of tomorrow – cloud, a very gentle shower and only the merest glimpse of blue sky. ‘This is the worst summer since, well I don’t know when…’ – sound familiar. Truth be told, the summer has been a bit of a disappointment so far – at least its warm but ... read more

Swells and winds are up a bit this morning, so a little more rolling around. Big graduation for us today! Although this will not really happen until tonight while we sleep, this will be our first crossing of the Equator on a ship, which of course, means that we were low-life, scurvy-infested pollywogs requiring punishment, which was altered at 1100 this morning. Called to the Sun Deck by the Captain of the ship, all pollywogs were required to attend trial by King Neptune and his Court, and supplicate to his orders for torture and punishment for our crimes against the sea. They picked a few passengers to stand in for the rest of us (Thank God), but the ship’s crew really took some serious gas. Neptune’s “Doctor” (ship’s physician) really got into “disemboweling” a ship’s officer ... read more

We were awakened this morning to an urgent loudspeaker call for “Captain to the Bridge!” It appears a few passengers reported a “small white boat” passing along the starboard side of the ship with “People waving their hands” in it. Uncertain of what was going on, under International Maritime Law, the Captain immediately rolled into a 180 to investigate. After a 20-minute search we came upon a small (10 meter) boat (see photos) with four dudes aboard who were tuna fishing, and were just waving hello at the “big white ship passing in the sea.” False alarm, but it gave all of us a thrill. If you recall, we had seen a small boat in a similar position on Day Four, and two more tiny mast head lights last night at about 2300. All we can ... read more