Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 40 – Silver Wind, Falkland Islands can be found here.
(Today’s Chronicle for those interested.)
Sleep-in this morning, with an 8:45 am wakeup so that we make breakfast at La Terrazza by 9:15 am. Our son has rediscovered the wonders of peanut butter toast whilst our daughter had pancakes. No one seems overly worse for wear from the hour we lost the previous night.
My wife and daughter then head out to Yvonne’s first painting workshop, while my son and I take some laps around the walking track. We spot hourglass dolphins in the distance, but they’re gone by the time I get my camera. Still nice to see while walking!
We have very much lucked out with the weather during this crossing. Swells are a very modest 1.5 to 2 metres and it’s bright and sunny. It’s almost warm enough to not need a coat while walking. Almost.
The painting class wraps up, and it’s gone very well –
Our daughter notes, “This is my first example of the seascape. You start with wet-on-wet, and once we do our next art class I’ll start on the wet-on-dry to add in details.”
There should be three more workshops later this cruise.
The kids return to their room so we can order room service pizza and watch Disney’s Penguins. My daughter has seen it numerous times, but it’s the first time for my son. There’s occasional buffering errors with the ship’s television system, but the kids are able to fix it by rewinding 10 seconds whenever the error occurs.
I then remember something I forgot to mention yesterday – I had the chance to drop in on the Panorama event for the Silversea Passengers facebook group, and I really appreciated meeting everyone there. It’s lovely to hear from people who have enjoyed the pictures and reading the daily updates. It was also the first time I was called a “photographer”, which means a lot. Thanks again and see you onboard!
Off to golf putting, where one woman manages to jump the ball over the volcano, have it go halfway up the ramp then back down into the hole. Almost as impressive as Igor’s hole-in-one with the toilet bowl! Our son still manages to get third place, so he’s quite pleased with that.
Then it’s everyone’s favourite – biosecurity inspections! This was easier when all of our gear was essentially brand-new, but it’s still not particularly onerous to give the rain pants as rinse and scrub down the backpacks. Last leg the expedition team had cleaned everyone’s boots but this time we’ll be responsible for them ourselves.
Everyone cleans their kit. Inspection is called, but they’re doing it in descending order – zodiac group 6 to 1 – so I take the extra time to run a load of laundry. Amazingly, none of the washers or dryers are in use. On a sea day!
It seems inexplicable. Does everyone have free laundry? Are they handwashing in their shower? Are we on a cruise full of shape-changing aliens whose clothing is part of their bodies? Even this seems more likely than finding three empty washers on a sea day.
But we shant complain about our good fortune, only about the lack of tweezers in the mudroom as we join the line for boot inspections. In retrospect we should have headed down early to clean them, but I think deep-down I just really wanted the expedition staff to do it for me. Lesson learned!
(Seriously, though, it took perhaps 10 minutes and the expedition staff still did most of the work.)
A late arrival at trivia, but we still manage to get caught up on past questions. My son remembers that archery bullseyes are yellow, while Jane and I solve the following riddle:
Four jolly men sat down to play,
and played all night till break of day.
They played for cash and not for fun,
with separate scores for every one.
Yet when they came to square accounts,
they all had made quite fair amounts!
Can you the paradox explain?
If no one lost, how could all gain?
The answer is a musical band.
We did not know that sauce Lyonaisse mainly contains onions, or that the flamingo is the bird that eats with its head upside down – but we still manage to handily take first place. It was a tough one today!
Off for a bit more walking around the track, and then down to the Show Lounge for the evening briefing:
We’re pleased to hear that our pleasant conditions are expected to continue into the following day, and that we’re planning to visit Shag Rock where we should encounter additional birds and wildlife – particularly the cormorants after which the rock is named.
As usual, the expedition staff then goes through their recap presentations. Sam starts off with discussing Darwin’s stone runs – the rivers of quartzite in the Falklands – which scientists believe were created by powerful and extensive freeze-thaw cycles:
Tristan discusses the Antarctic convergence where the warmer water of the Atlantic meets the circumpolar current, creating conditions suitable for a vast amounts of life:
Kevin talks about the dropoff, which will occur when we reach the mid-Atlantic ridge. This deeper water is ideally suited to deep-diving whales, particularly the beaked whales:
He notes that we know more about dinosaurs than we do about beaked whales, and that scientists suspect many species of beaked whales have not yet been discovered.
Sara explains the four B’s of whale spotting:
Backs, blow, birds and – be patient!
Back to our rooms for a bit more homework, writing and a bit of screen time before our dinner with Chief Engineer Antonello Loi this evening. His duties run into the evening so we’re meeting at 8 pm, but if you ignore the time zone change it’s really closer to 7 pm – which makes it easier for the kids.
Antonello confirms that this is the calmest South Atlantic passage that he’s seen in his past 4 years on the Wind. He’d initially had some concerns about this route so late in the season, but so far it’s gone very well.
He further notes that the top swells in the Drake last year clocked in around 7.6 metres which is about as much as the ship can reasonably handle. At that point he’d recommend that everyone stay in their room for safety reasons. The Cloud is apparently expecting bad weather on their Drake crossing which is why they have left the Peninsula earlier than expected.
We mention that we are planning a trip to Italy in a few years time, and ask for his suggestions on where to visit apart from Rome and Venice. He recommends Florence and Sardinia – both sound like fantastic options.
Service during our dinner is exceptional, and the chef comes out to greet us. We thank him so much for the fantastic meals. La Terrazza is Antonello’s favourite restaurant onboard the ship, an opinion shared by many of the staff.
Our daughter asks if he might be able to arrange a bridge tour, and he says that he’ll see what he can do. Antonello also very kindly says to let him know if there’s anything he can help with.
Nothing comes to mind – there was a minor ‘bilge’ scent on the fifth floor when we first embarked, but that seems to have greatly diminished following our stopover in Puerto Williams. We also never expected that we would have the pool open a second time, particularly during our South Atlantic crossing.
The kids point out that the entertainment system should pause automatically when the Captain is making announcements. Antonello agrees and says he’ll look into it.
He also helps our daughter with the difficult choice between two different desserts – the coffee pannacotta and the chocolate torte with vanilla ice cream. Antonello’s recommended solution is to order both of them. We agree, and our daughter is thrilled.
Back to our rooms and off to bed. We run into Jamie along the way, who tells us how fortunate we are to have this experience as a family. We couldn’t agree more.
Continue reading Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 42 – Silver Wind.