November 12
After being unable to have our
final set of excursions yesterday we left for South America. As Kim and I
headed up for dinner in the World Cafe the waters began to pick up, in spite of
the captain announcing that we were headed out because of "....a favorable
weather window which will allow a comfortable journey across
the Drake Passage....." By the time we headed back to our stateroom
the ship was in "full motion" and we were more than content to watch
television from the comfort of our bed. Fortunately as we headed farther
and farther north into the open waters, the captain was correct.
Now....to be fair, if you've cruised before, imagine your worst time at sea
when you said, "WOW the waters were rough" and when you tried to move
around you were weaving around and always bracing on the walls and rails.
THAT was last night and today - and we were grateful for the "smooth"
sailing as compared to the last time across these tricky waters. Both of
us slept normally, and about 7:30 am when we were completely awake we both went
upstairs to the World Cafe and had coffee and a light breakfast. We then
moved farther towards mid-ship and to the comfortable furniture of the Living Room and spent about 90 minutes there.
The Internet - surprisingly - was strong and I was able to make and upload three short videos to Facebook for our followers to enjoy. I think they present a much better picture of our experiences than the still photos.
Because the motion was "ok" (and it was very interesting to me that it seemed like almost the entire guest population was out and about throughout the day - everyone weaving and constantly trying to maintain their balance!) we were able to keep our reservations for dinner at Manfredi's. At 5:30 we went to the meeting in the Aula (remember that's the big theatre/auditorium). Look at the crowd over our shoulders......it's packed. So, you say.....well, the ship is still "rolling" and you simply cannot walk a straight line and must hold on to which ever wall or rail that you find yourself weaving to. And yet, EVERYONE seems to be out and about at dinner, at the meeting, like it's no big deal. Have to hand it to the guests - roll with the punches, literally! At the meeting the captain came out - Captain Maggie (yes, a woman has been at the helm and she's not only done a superior job under difficult circumstances but has been an excellent communicator). In the background was a screen celebrating Viking's 25th year of business. Note the three ships - on the left a Viking Oceans, in the middle a Viking River Longship, and on the right a Viking Expedition ship. Yes, we've been on MULTIPLE of all three :). After thanking everyone for being such a good group of guests Capt. Maggie expressed her heartfelt thanks for everyone being flexible because THAT is what it takes in Antarctica. She then called out the entire crew (well, not the ENTIRE crew, some were still working!) and we had a toast to a fabulous trip!
Following the meeting and toast we headed down to Manfredi's for dinner. Fabulous as usual and when our girl, Modessa, brought our wine we asked for a photo op. It's been great! Not only was dinner great but looking out the windows was quite the show. First, sitting on the first level (there is a sub level below Deck 1 where the restaurant is to be fair) we were much closer to the water so the impact of the uneven and rough seas SHOULD have been more noticeable, but it was barely noticeable that we were shifting about. And THIS is what was amazing, because outside the waves were going from literally about the height of my head to about ten feet below me. I kept trying to catch this on film and these two shots capture it about as best as I could. On the left the waves are way up - at least fifteen to twenty feet high....moments later they've dropped down and are well below the window level. Yet we rode comfortably along enjoying dinner!
Tomorrow we are scheduled to arrive at Cape Horn at 9am and so there is a "Cape Horn Party" on the bow at 8:30 am. Of course we'll be there! Then we sail around the bottom of South America, where supposedly it will be very scenic AND are scheduled to arrive in Ushuaia around 8 pm. We'll spend one final night on board and then begin the travel day home on Monday morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment