Roundabout

"Call it morning driving in the sound and in and out the valley..." Yes.

"We have blown a rod in the port side engine, we have to turn around, I am sorry to say the trip is over before it can begin."

These are the first words I hear at 6:30AM, after a calm quiet sleep, from a very distraught David. His dreams of starting a guiding business seemingly as shattered as the ruinous engine itself.

David has just recently come from the engine room where the crew has been working to somehow get the ship righted.

I can't help but think of our little group, Neil and Liz excited to be travelling together, Liz and I and all the torturous travels we have endured. The logistics of trying to get home or pivot to Plan B.

I tell Neil the news. Both of us had been wondering why our nights sleep has been so calm when we were expecting a turbulent first night through the Drake passage.

The Captain, who is naturally more familiar with engines, gives us a briefing - it is not as bad as we first were told, the engine is fine but it is the "starter" (which is a lot more intricate than on a car) that is shot, but the fact remains they don't have the part. So we must wait for a pilot to lead us back through the Beagle which could be hours or days. Then we each must figure out hotels, flights etc. All with no cellular reception.

Once we hear that the pilot should be coming soon we purchase some Starlink data (hence the blog postings) to start working on logistics. We WhatsApp call our amazingly supportive wives, tell them the news and enlist their help to book hotels etc. They have been following us on CruiseMapper and have been wondering why we have not been moving for some time.

We are just about to open a bottle of wine to console ourselves when David quietly comes in and advises us the engineering team has machine lathed a tool to remove the broken part and then machine lathed the part. Unfreakin' believable. The engine has thus restarted and we will be able to cross the Drake with both engines working once again.

The Captain briefs everyone, assures us we will be safe and introduced us to the hero of the day - the Chief Engineer who has not slept since before we left Ushuaia. We will have one less day on the continent but all in all an amazing turnaround.

It is hard to describe the roller coaster of emotions everyone has gone through, but it was truly inspiring to see how everyone remained extraordinarily positive.

Under power once again, we make good speed and after supper head into the angry Drake waters for what promises to be a "proper Drake Shake". Sleep well everyone.Meer informatie