South American Adventure Part 8: Days 15 & 16

Day 15 – Saturday, February 11th – Aboard the Crown Princess – Amalia Glacier

Today was the first of two “at sea” days, which means our usual rhythm of “eat, get off the ship, tour, get back on the ship, eat, and sleep” was changed to “eat, nap, eat, nap, eat, sleep”. I’m sorry dear readers, but it’s not that far off the mark. – It’s really more like: coffee, eat, poop, sleep, coffee, eat, sleep eat… - AFK

The seas were rather rough through mid-day, but it certainly didn’t stop our eating breakfast in the dining room. We see a lot of the same waiters at breakfast that we see at dinner (including our own Alex and Allan). These people work long hours for what I’m sure isn’t great pay, and we truly appreciate their positive attitude at the beginning and end of the day. Enough of the staff now know us that we are warmly greeted by Cary (from Peru) when we enter the Botticelli Dining Room for breakfast, as well as Carolina (from Argentina) when we enter the Michelangelo Dining Room for dinner. The head waiters and maîtres’ d also come and speak with us. It’s a mostly friendly crew, and they make every dining experience a delight.

One thing is clear: I’m hitting “cruise fatigue”. That doesn’t mean I’m tired of being on the ship, which I love. I treasure standing at the railing watching the sea roil beneath us and the beautiful landscapes go gliding by. I get a kick out of a whiff of the odd combined smell of salt water and diesel oil. And there’s something about looking up at the night sky from the ocean that just feels ancient and still full of wonder. -  I’m supposed to be editing this and now I can’t because I’m all misty ;-) - AFK

The fatigue is with the slight variations of the menu for each meal, the invariable pile of paper (with too many ads) awaiting us at our cabin each evening, and the ever-present push of the photographic staff. Here’s an example on the last one: during our time rounding Cape Horn, one of the photographic staff dressed up as a polar bear so that people could take pictures of themselves with the bear (there were similar themes of pirates and tango dancers at various ports). Anyone want to venture a guess on how many polar bears are in Antarctica? Anyone? The answer is: zero. They are in the Artic. And why try to divert our attention when we are circling one of the former great navigational challenges in the world? Grrr, indeed. -  Steve’s right – this was very annoying. - AFK

We attended Julio’s talk on Puerto Montt, Chile, our next port of call. Again, his droll delivery in his thick Castilian accent made for a fun hour’s activity.

I went back to the cabin, and Allan came down some time later with a new bauble in hand: a colorful pinky ring that would be the glitzy hit of anyone’s Gay Pride Parade (a rainbow of small square sapphires surrounded with teeny-tiny diamonds). It’s very pretty.

We had lunch in the dining room (a first on this trip) and it was…passable (barely – AFK). Again, the fatigue thing. And please don’t mention The Trough, where after navigating the crowded jumble of the self-serving area (rolls are here but butter is elsewhere), you have to walk tray in hand looking for a table. And there are no available tables. It’s either packed or deserted.  End of rant.

We took a nap in the afternoon, and as we entered the narrow channels of the Chilean Magallanes, the seas became calmer, and the scenery got much closer. Many islands were just sheer rock towering over green conifers below. The winds here were omnipresent, and the trees were bent and gnarled from decades of bowing to those winds. It was dramatic and raw. There was also no visible wildlife present, although I’m sure each island was an ecosystem unto itself. We traversed several channels, twisting and turning following our route to the Amalia Glacier.

When we first arrived at the glacier, it couldn’t be seen. There was a low cloud layer and it was raining. It didn’t help matters when Julio, narrating from the bridge, said, “Well, this is the first time this has happened in our last ten voyages”. But a few minutes later the clouds lifted, the rain diminished, and in front of us was a huge, ice blue glacier, with its two sources climbing up into the mountains above. The front of the glacier was easily 150-200 feet high; hard to gauge when the ship was positioned a mile or two away.

The decks were teeming with people dressed warmly taking many photos of the glacier, as well as selfies with the glacier in the background. While sometimes the mountain peaks behind the glacier disappeared under the clouds, the dramatic front could always be seen. During the ensuing hour, the captain slowly turned the ship around so that all sides could get clear views of the dramatic landscape. Glaciers live in cold places, and Allan got us some hot beverages to warm up again. I think I saw porpoises in the water, and tried to take some photos, but Allan said it was just the wake from our ship. I’m not so sure… - Kudos to Chuck for calling us and letting us know the view was much better from the Port side of the Promenade deck J - AFK.

Just as a sunny patch was nearing the glacier, we stopped rotating and left the area. While it would have been great to see this on a clear day, I felt that we got a wonderful view and another positive experience on this amazing trip.  We went back to our cabin and started reviewing and editing some of the glacier photos. Then a short nap.

Dinner was enlivened tonight by the addition of Danny and David (the Aussies), but Mike wasn’t feeling well and skipped it. He didn’t miss anything (food was meh but the company delightful). Our waiter Alex managed to tell a very bad joke and then showed us a very good trick involving a cork, two forks, and a toothpick (these all being balanced from the very edge of the rim of a full glass of ice water! Dark Magic, and no denying it – AFK). Hard to explain – just watch the eventual video.

Went to bed early: I shouldn’t have, because it made the night’s sleep very, very bad.

It wasn’t the time we went to bed that was the problem, it was the non-stop creaking and groaning of the metal in the ship as we traversed the rough waters below. It was extremely disconcerting to listen to this as we lay there trying to fall asleep and I too had a very difficult night with poor sleep. - AFK

Day 16 – Sunday, February 12th – Aboard the Crown Princess – At Sea

I woke up this morning feeling very groggy and really did not want to get up at all. I would not have except that I had put out an order for coffee and juice to be delivered to the room at around 7:30AM. This is our regular routine and it saves me from having to trudge down to the International Café for a decent cup of coffee in the morning. The coffee has been fair to middling on this trip but the judicious addition of Starbucks’ Via Italian Blend instant to those first cups of the day have made a world of difference.

We met Chuck and Mike at their room and walked down to the dining room as usual and had a standard breakfast. After that it was back to the Princess Theater for Julio’s presentation on Valparaiso and Santiago, Chile. We got to see very little of either city when we were here in 2010, due to the terrible earthquake that rocked the region the day we were scheduled to leave for Santiago for that trip. There are a great many grand buildings to see and museums to visit in Santiago and we’re all very excited to see them.

After the presentation Steve came back to the room and I wandered back down to the Facets boutique to see what new offerings were being unveiled at 11:00AM… and to decide on whether or not I was going to get the matching multi-colored sapphire and diamond pendant to go with the pinky ring I’d purchased before. When the sales person asked I said I’d like to see it and he brought it out for me to view. It is a very delicate piece with two rows of sapphires in a rainbow of vivid colors that cross each other to form an “X” and the whole is bordered by very small white diamonds. The effect is very sparkly and I said I had to have it. He gave me a nice discount as he knew I bought the matching ring yesterday and I took it up to show Steve. Steve approved and so my set of new bling is going to be the gayest bling at Gay Pride this year.

We went back down to meet Chuck, Mike, and the Aussies for a light lunch in the Vines wine bar next to the Piazza (and the International Café). After a delightful hour or so of chit chat and all that we all split up and went our separate ways. Steve and I went for a very long nap.

The weather has been steadily getter better as we head North. I’m happy to be getting back into the sun again, even if it is only for a few more days before we head home to the gray skies of home J.

After our nap, Steve and I went down for a session in the Thermal Suite (the Lizard Lounge). It was quite busy down there and so we didn’t stay for too long.

Tonight was the second formal night of this trip so we both shaved and got duded up for dinner. Steve wore his tux and I (finally) got to wear my beautiful blue floral Robert Graham jacket and the blue floral shoes that go with it so well. One of the head waiters came running over to us as we were sitting at our regular table and said he wanted to compliment me on the jacket… then I showed him the shoes. He loved the effect and said I had great style. It’s always gratifying when someone goes out of their way to tell you that, isn’t it? I think so.

Dinner was the usual mixture of ups and downs: the veal ravioli with porcini mushroom sauce – very good indeed. The roasted tomato cream soup… well, Antolin’s at Pomodoro in Seattle has ruined us I suppose. There is none better. The broiled lobster and king prawns were very good also.

Our waiter Alex has been plying us with terrible jokes and, conversely, the most amazing magic tricks after each dinner we have with him. Tonight’s trick was to take two shot glasses and set them side by side, then put a raw egg still in its shell in one of the glasses. He said we had to figure out how to move the egg from the glass it was in to the other glass … without touching the egg or either one of the glasses. I said “Nonsense!”… then he did it – by blowing really hard into the glass with the egg and thereby moving the egg with air pressure into the other glass. Yes, we do have it on video which will be uploaded somewhere in the next couple of days.

Stay tuned… - AFK