At Sea

We are now past the middle of the long strip of land that is Chile. We have five more days in this country before we leave it behind for another one.

We woke up to a cool-to-cold morning, the decking on our veranda wet from the heavy fog blanketing us. Insignia was plugging along, sounding its foghorn periodically. Mid-morning, the skies brightened … high up, the sun broke through and we had some blue skies. But the fog eventually returned. It wasn’t until early evening that we actually got some serious clearing and bright sunshine, but by then we were at dinner. Yes, the days are getting longer as we continue our way south! (Just look at how bright it is in the dining room at 7:00p in the photo I’ve uploaded with this footprint.)

Yesterday, we embarked the expedition team that will be with us through our days visiting Antarctica. They will be presenting topics relating to all things that have to do with the Great White Continent … and the skies and waters around it.

This morning was the first lecture in the series … “Whales and Dolphins of the Southern Ocean” … presented by Stephanie Martin, who is a marine mammal scientist. Mui and I have been on a number of expeditions to the polar regions and have listened to lectures on this topic at least 10 times. I can say that today’s presentation would definitely rank in the top 3. Looking forward to the rest of the series in the days ahead.

After the lecture, I returned to the cabin, bundled up, and sat on the veranda to process photos and do a bit of writing. Despite the fog and the wind, it was actually quite comfortable … as long as the veranda was getting some sun. Once the ☀️ moved off and took its warm rays with it, I moved off the veranda, too. Methinks it’s time to pick up a couple of the lap blankets I spied on the pool deck to use on the cold days ahead of us.

Tonight was the Captain’s Cocktail Celebration. We were going to skip it, but decided to go to meet the new Master of Insignia … Captain Zuzic.

Afterwards, we had dinner with Kadi and Brad … new-friends who are fast becoming Friends … with a capital F. We actually met Kadi for the first time in Toronto when we were there this summer prior to our Canadian High Arctic expedition. Brad was in Alaska at the time, so we had to wait until they embarked in San Francisco to get to known him. Can I just say that the chatter was non-stop … and on topics that we all enjoyed discussing … travel being principal amongst them. It was a delightful evening.

Now to get a good night’s rest before tomorrow’s tender port. The swells we’ve had all day have grown considerably and Insignia is dancing her way down the coast. We’ll be rocked to sleep tonight.

———————————

By the way, the meet & greet for this segment was this morning … only 1 person who boarded yesterday showed up to join the 3 world cruisers who were in Horizons to welcome the segment cruisers. Not a very good turn out, I’m afraid.Read more