Scotia Straight - Jan 29, 2020

From the Falklands we head due south, we are past the tip of South America or past Drake Passage and at at the time of writing, we are into the Scotia Straight on our way to the Antarctic Peninsula. The ship is certainly rocking but not as bad as it could be, I would say we are in about 20 foot swells. Fun fact - the waters from the Pacific round and go through the area between South America and Antartica, kind of like a funnel and if there is some major wind from a storm or otherwise the seas can get really rough. There is also the Southern Ocean that circulates around the Antarctic, cold water from the Antarctic that also circulates in a clockwise direction. We are anticipating some fog as these two bodies of waters converge, once we are through that we will be in the Southern Ocean, sometime in the middle of the night. They are calling for some decent weather tomorrow, yeah, as we sail into Admiralty Bay on the Shetland Islands, from here we will be cruising in the Bransfield Strait on our way to Deception Island - this is the island where we will be crashing the Penguin Party, lol. Should be an awesome day, an early day but an awesome day.

It was very nice to be welcomed in these waters by some whales and some Albatross. Funny, I went to go for my deck walk and saw a guy with his camera, there were two whales he was taking pictures of. I ran downstairs grabbed my camera and took a quick shot out the window to get the last one before they disappeared. I did my forty minute walk with only seeing a few whales way off in the distance, looking forward to seeing these amazing animals once again.

We had, The Heroic Age Of Exploration Commemorative Dinner tonight in the main Dining Room, very nice job done by the dining staff here. Tonight’s entertainment was an excellent Spanish Flamingo guitar player, Adam Westcott. A few pics of today, hope you enjoy… 

Quote of the day - “Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win”. - Bernadette Devlin

Stanley, Falkland Islands (UK) - Jan 28, 2020

The Falkland Islands consist of two main islands, East and West although the archipelago consists of over 700 islands. With its location combined with the weather here the Falklands have an abundance of wildlife. Literally millions of petrels, albatrosses, penguins, gulls and cormorants inhabit these islands. There are also a plentiful amount of marine mammals along the coast line. For most people when they hear of the Falklands they relate it to the war in 1982. For several decades the Spanish and the British went through a succession of expulsions and postering of the Falklands. The last of these  came in 1833, when Britain forced out the Argentinian colonists - Argentina having taken over as the Spanish influence in South America was waning. The Falklands then remained under British control until 1982 when Argentina invaded and occupied the islands for 74 days before Britain wrested them back. The War cost 910 lives, including 3 Falklanders. Today it remains under Britain’s control but Argentina still maintains a claim to the islands. There still remains a bit of tension between the two nations as there is no trading with Argentina which is actually unfortunate as the Falklands trade extensively with Chile, right next door.

Today, we were stirred out of our slumber at about 7:45 with an announcement from the captain, “we have deployed both of our anchors and have launched our tenders but the weather is not looking good, we are in contact with the harbour master”. Shortly after 8 Captain Mercer came back on and announced that with the 45 mile an hour winds and the water breaking over the tender pontoon, the Harbour Master has closed the port and therefore we will need to cancel our call to this port today. A difficult decision to make but the right one. We were here last year and did have a fantastic day walking amongst the penguins at Volunteer Point, so for us we were okay with this decision, for others though, I heard of one couple waiting in line for tender tickets at 5:30am, which is in fact completely unnecessary, but I do feel bad for those who were looking so forward to this port - we are currently at one landing in three attempts. I saw the weather report yesterday, which read, 30 mph winds with rain in the morning giving way to clouds and sunny breaks in the afternoon - so, we were okay with not getting the wind driven cold rain in the morning and were going to head out around 11 for a walkabout. As far as the early tender ticket people go, yes the ship is pretty full but some people just get up early, thats what they do - there is apparently a lido pool side coffee drop in session beginning at 4:30 every morning. So rather than meeting by the pool they go down to the Ocean bar and grab a coffee and wait in line of their tickets. Hey, if you need to get off that early, then go for it, we usually don’t get to sleep until 12 or 1am, so unless something big is planned we are not usually on the first tenders. Now unfortunately where we are located on the ship, there are a few 5:30 am door slams from these inconsiderate guests, I guess they figure that if they are up, then everyone should be up, yeah thanks. And no when we come to our room late, we do not slam our door, its just not right… 

A few pics from our day as it wrapped up with the fun 50 and 60’s group the Runaround Kids, I also included a few pics of our time ashore last year for those wondering what the big deal is with Volunteer Point, hope you enjoy…

Quote of the day - “Only strength can cooperate, weakness cannot cooperate, it can only beg” - Dwight D. Eisenhower

And from last year at Volunteer Point

At Sea - Jan 26, 2020

A very nice Sunday at sea. The weather has certainly turned as we are experiencing some rocking and rolling tonight cancelling the Amsterdam singers and dancer shows this evening. Highlights of the day where the introduction of the Antarctic Team, headed by Dr. Peter Carey, great to see Peter again as he was with us last year on the Prinsendam. To round out the team we have Jason Kelly and Gabriela Roldan - both very experienced in the Antarctic, we look forward to their lectures. Tonight was also our Black and White Gala night, so lots of fun along with another great meal of beef wellington. Our pillow gifts tonight include a special 2019 edition of the Antarctic Cruising Guide (authored by Dr. Peter Carey and our other guest speaker from last year, Craig Franklin) and a full 2020 Grand World Voyage fleece set of toque, gloves and scarf, great as I did not bring mine from last year hoping that we would get new ones this year, so yeah.  A few pics of our day, hope you enjoy…. Our adventure has definitely changed gears as the chatter around the ship is all about getting out our cold weather clothes. From our lecture today on the Falklands, I think the the high on the day of our visit is going to be a balmy 15 degrees celsius - brrrrrr.

Quote of the day - “Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save” - Will Rogers 

Montevideo, Uruguay - Jan 25, 2020

Founded in 1726, Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, it is the largest city with a population of about 1.5 million people. Ciudad Vieja, the old city, is located where we are docked, with narrow streets, large plazas and elegant colonial architecture. So to back up a bit, Uruguay, is placed in a tiny buffer between Argentina and Brazil. It is one of the smallest countries of South America, geographically, slightly larger than England and Wales combined with a total population of just over 3 million people. The coastline boasts impressive beaches, while in the north there are rolling hills and grasslands, similar to the Argentina pampas and southern Brazil. Most of the people are descendants from Spain and Italy, giving this city a very “European” feel.

This is our third visit here so it was easy stroll day as we wondered the familiar pedestrian friendly streets stopping at the many piazzas taking in the Saturday local markets. We did stop into the art store that we purchased a piece of art from last year looking for a second piece in the series. It looks like the series is sold out with only one piece left similar to the one we brought home last year. Montevideo is a very nice city and worth a good visit as it has plenty to offer. Clocked into close to 15,000 steps once again before returning to the ship for a late lunch. Tonight is the celebration of Chinese New Year in the Lido Market Place, nicely done with the suckling pig and hanging ducks with everything else being offered on the menu. Right at the chime of 5:30 pm the line ups formed to enjoy this Chinese feast - Gung Hei Fat Choi, to all. Fun Fact: In the pictures you will see many old fishing boats in the harbour that have seen a better day, they are slowly decaying and about to sink. These boats were caught illegally fishing in the Uruguay waters and where levied a large fine for doing so. The owners of these boats didn’t think the fine was worth the cost of the old boats, so they did not pay them and left the boats abandoned. Over there next few years the Uruguay government is set to get rid of the boats as they becoming an environmental hazard. A few pics of our day, hope you enjoy…

Quote of the day - “Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth” - George Washington