Unless you got up during the night, you may not have noticed the increasing motion of the ocean as we have headed back into the Drake Passage. Last night we heard about some accidents that have happened onboard. One involved a broken arm and several black eyes from falling. The worst case was a lady that fell and broke her hip while out on the bow a few days ago. All the more reason to be extremely careful walking anywhere and everywhere on the ship.
Neither of us had a problem sitting down while working on the computer most of the day. Only one of us has been faithful to the daily routine of walking the promenade deck in the morning. Very few people have been outside there due to the extreme cold or wet decks from rain or snow flurries. Most all the day's activities were conducted inside the ship, with the exception of pickleball. With the wind and rolling of the ship, we don't know if this activity really took place.
Captain Rens came on with his noon talk and hoped we all had a fantastic time in Antarctica. We are headed due north now, sailing through the Drake Passage once again. We are doing an average of 15 knots and have another 480 nautical miles to reach Ushuaia on February 4th. The temperature has come up to 41 degrees F with winds at 25 knots. There is a lot of motion due to 6 foot swells that are "confused". With the ship's stabilizers out, we will have the smoothest ride possible. Smooth?? Not exactly. Tomorrow they are expecting increased wind since a low- moving system is ahead of us. It will be warmer, if you consider 47 degrees F warm. It will remain cloudy.
Today's weather was dismal for the most part. High clouds and overcast stayed with us most of the morning. We were so busy working, we did not notice the rain drops on our railing and veranda deck. Some sun did appear, but there was no warmth in it. Just bright and glary. We do know that the sea conditions in this area of the Drake Passage can be 10 times worse than what we are experiencing. It might be a meclizine day for one of us. We hope to catch up on the port talks and lectures that we have missed. We assume the guest speakers will be leaving us in Argentina or Chile.
Dinner had some interesting items such as chilled lumpia, rice paper wrapped with pulled pork, toasted peanuts and hoisin sauce. Neither of us was game to try the tofu entr?e, but we did have different salads, and mains of breaded chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, but hold the spinach. We call it KFC chicken and it was quite good. It has to be a favorite of the crew as well. No dessert for either of us tonight. We happened to run into hotel director, Florin. He asked how we were doing regarding the leak in our room. So far, so good, we told him. He said the plumber informed him that he found an old drain that was causing the leaking. We asked him why we were not able to use our President's Club complimentary dinners for the Tamarind venue in the Pinnacle Grill. Just last November, we used some while on the Zaandam for that "pop-up". He admitted to fighting for that perk for our group but had no luck with Seattle. However, he promised to check into this again. Then he asked how we were liking the dining room dinner. We said it was even better than last year's menu. The head chef has been doing a fine job with tasty meals and very good baked items.
Doc Dixon with "Too Much Coffee" was the magician/comedian act this evening. Does anyone know what the game of Rummikub is? At 8:30pm, the Library filled with folks playing that game. It is nice that some different options are offered in place of the show, a movie, the bars or the Casino. By the way, the Casino has been mostly empty every time we pass through there. This is sure a different crowd from the last cruise we did in the fall to the South Pacific.
One more day of rocking and rolling, and we will be on solid land.
Bill & Mary Ann
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