DAY 18 Jan 30 - Sea Day Pacific Ocean

Another sea day as we head down the South American coast towards Chile, which when we dock at Arica tomorrow morning will be the fourth South American country we will have stopped at on this Grand Voyage.

As we left Puerto San Martin last night the Captain told us he had received permission from the Peruvian pilot for us to cruise slowly past the iconic 'Cande-labra' drawings and for our resident travel guide Frank Buck-ingham to gives us some more interesting facts about it.

It was a gorgeous evening and the position of the sun allowed us to maximise the photo opportunity this presented. I have therefore shown here a few of the different pictures that I took of this mysterious wonder. The port side of the ship was absolutely lined two deep with passengers appearing on deck with cameras at the ready for gazing at this unique sight. Unfortunately Frank was unable to add any more information that would enlighten us as to the origins and meaning of the prehistoric 'Candelabra' drawings. It is unlightly that the 'drawing' can be viewed easily from the air because of the angle of the slope on which its placed. The only way to really appreciate its majestic form is to do what we were doing and just sail past it.

At dinner we heard that our waiter, Nandang, was having to depart the ship at the next port of call and fly home to Indonesia where his mother was very ill. This compassionate leave had been granted by the HAL Head Office in Seattle. He will be missed as he was performing well and was aware of all our various idiosyncrasies!! We all hope that his mother does recover and is comforted by his timely return to her bedside.

I was quite tired at dinner after being up since 5.00 in the morning and without a nap during the day so was quite pleased to retire to the cabin shortly after 10 o'clock.

Maria was slightly more refreshed having had a nap earlier.

The bad news was that the clocks were being put forward an hour so by the time it was lights off, the clock was reading 11.45. So much for an early night!

Deden's animal offering was again a masterpiece as shown in the photo above.

At lunch time today the various members of Cruise Critic who had contributed to this Grand Voyage thread on the CC website, were holding a 12.15 lunch in the dining room. There were approximate 40 of us on board so it will be interesting to see how many turn up. It's a good opportunity to exchange information and hear any good rumours about the cruise that might be doing the rounds! Our hosts will be organisers Bill and Mary Ann.

In the event there was a good turn out of about 30 plus spread over four tables. The food in the dining room at lunch time seems to be excellent and a little more portion controlled than the Lido restaurant.

Most of our dinner tables mates seemed to have grabbed a table together (see the photo opposite) but we were pleased to be on a different table in order to chat with others that we didn't usually have the opportunity of meeting socially.

It was indeed pleasant to have the Canadian sisters Rosalyn and Jennifer with their spouses George and Robin present on the table. We had met them briefly before and chatted following originally 'meeting' them on Cruise Critic boards over the previous months. (Pictured here is Rosalyn and her sister Jennifer).

The four of them were due to be on the tour I have organised for tomorrow in Arica so I was able to update them on price and meeting point. I also took the opportunity to update a few others who were on this same tour tomorrow.

The other couple at the table were Don and Aileen.

All in all it was an extremely pleasant lunch and social interlude.

Next door neighbours John and Barbara from the UK had privately booked a a three day tour to Machu Picchu which of course they couldn't undertake because of the flooding and destruction of the surrounding area. Their privately found travel agents had now informed them that they would not be offer a refund and that they would have to seek financial redress via their insurance policy. Not an entirely acceptable situation.

It is believed that HAL would be refunding the whole amount to clients that had booked with them (at more that twice the price of the private booking) directly.

Although post-Lima there had been a net increase in passenger numbers of approximately 30, the dinning rooms and other public areas were showing no obvious signs of increased numbers.

After Valparaiso, numbers would again increase as the new cabins, and other ones taken out of commission because of the construction work, were made available for occupancy. Because of the number of single occupancies on board the actual passenger numbers were quite low for a grand Voyage of this nature.