For a day at sea, it turned out to be a pretty nice one at that, and for several reasons. To begin with, the sun was out and the skies were cobalt blue, something we have not seen recently. That sure does a lot to boost everyone's mood. It was showing in the dining room at breakfast time with not only the guests, but the crew as well. Of course, it did help that we all had enjoyed being in port after so many days at sea. And we learned when we went to check up on the progress with the internet glitch (again), we discovered that most all of the crew as well as passengers, had to use the free WIFI onshore to do their emailing. So we are not alone with this problem. Sure hope it gets resolved soon.
Listening to the news this morning, we found out that several cruise ships have been involved with this new outbreak of coronavirus. Most of them are or were sailing in the Orient, or had infected people flying home from the same areas. Even one HAL ship, the Westerdam, was denied access to several ports in Asia. Forced quarantines for 2 weeks have been imposed on some Princess and Royal Caribbean guests we heard. That could be a problem in many ways, especially with passengers with limited medications. Who would expect that a 10 day trip might turn into a 24 day trip? This is the first time all of us agreed that we are glad we are not going to Hong Kong this year. The closest we will be is in Singapore, and now we are concerned about our 2 day stop there. Hope we are not turned away, not that we have that virus, but we probably have something going on. For about the fifth day in a row, we got a notice on how to properly sneeze or cough. And we have to add here that many folks do not know how to do this. The message to wash our hands and use hand sanitizer has been repeated over and over. Now we are fortunate that we packed two quarts of antibacterial hand soap with us for our room. Every time we leave our room, we wash our hands upon coming back.
Early this morning, we must have left the Strait of Magellan, and entered the Pacific Ocean. The ship began rolling with the giant swells, which we did not experience while in the straits and channels of the hundreds of islands. Around 1:30pm, we entered Nelson Strait and began the scenic cruising through the inside passages. The deeper we got, the scenery of the inlet revealed placid waters with views of the many active volcanoes that exist down here. Soaring high in the distance, we saw snow and ice-covered peaks that were part of the Andes, the range that runs like a spine down the center of the continent. Majestic is the only word that ran through our minds as we enjoyed the wildlife sightings along the way.
Even though the hatch was not open for access to the bow, we knew how to open it. For a while, we had the deck to ourselves. Yes, it was breezy with a coolness to it, but the sun made up for it. One of us went forward, and the other took a seat on the pontoon towards the back. No need to go from side to side, as the birds and seals were all around us. And due to our slow speed, it was as quiet as we have ever heard. Antarctic terns flew overhead, chattering as they checked us out. Never knew they made that much noise. Very small sea birds were sitting on the water, then flying as the ship got closer. They left streaks in the smooth bay as they flew close to the surface. It was so mesmerizing, we ended up staying until 4pm, missing lunchtime. Sometimes, food is not as important as taking in these sights. Our port lecturer reminded all of us that today's weather was something that happened only about 5 days a year. We seem to remember wind and fog the last time we did this sailing.
The itinerary had Amelia or Brujo Glacier site-seeing as well as Canal Sarmiento. However, something must have changed with that schedule, because we saw no glaciers. Could be due to the swells we ran into, the ship was slowed down, and the time for the deep inland sailing was reduced. If this was a substitute, then we were happy with it.
Sailing in a northerly direction, we got closer to the actual mainland of Chile. Then passing a very green and large island, Esperanza, we think, the lecturer described how sheep had been introduced to the island, and raised for meat and wool. There was no sign of them today, but it would have been a nice setting for them.
One small fishing boat passed by the ship, after having set two fish traps or nets close to the shoreline. With the amount of fur seals in this area, the fishing must be very good. These seals popped up every now and then, but dove pretty quickly, making it difficult to film. These days, the fur seals are protected, so they flourish in the fjords and channels.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon working in our room, which was warmed by the sun. Our plants are loving it. The soil we used was a rich mix for seed-propagation, so it holds water. However, with the dryness of the controlled air in the ship, the pots tend to dry out quickly. They require watering daily. The clue was watching the water level of the vase of flowers we have. It can go down four inches in one day.
Dinner was with Leta and Bill at their table for four. What a nice time we had visiting with them. We have sailed with them ever since 2007, and most all of the world cruises since then. And shared a lot of laughs as well. At 10pm, we decided we better leave, since the waiters were yawning by then.
There was a show this evening, but we missed it. A mentalist by the name of Alan Chamo performed his award winning show. He will be back for an encore, so we will check him out then.
One more day of scenic cruising in the Chilean fjords tomorrow, then we will be on our way to another port of Puerto Montt. And we do expect the temperature to be going up gradually as we sail north.
Bill & Mary Ann
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Report # 93 Scenic Cruising Nelson Strait February 7, 2020 Friday Mostly sunny & 54 degrees
