Wednesday 10 February 2010

Day 29 Feb 10 - Scenic Cruising Darwin Channel & Chilean Fjords

As we cruise through the awesome and rugged region of the Chilean Fjords, which we continued to do later in the day, we are now firmly in what is known as Patagonia. Here is some background to the name.

Patagonia is a geographic region containing the southernmost portion of South America. Located in both Argentina and Chile, it comprises the southernmost portion of the Andes mountains to the west and south, and plateau and low plains to the east. The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón first used by Ferdinand Magellan (the great Portuguese explorer of the sixteenth century - who later took Spanish nationality) to describe the native people whom his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed the Patagons were actually Tehuelches with an average height of 5'11" compared to the 5'1" average for Spaniards of the time. These people populated the whole area of southern South America.

In his announcements 'From the Bridge', prior to us leaving Puerto Chacabuco yesterday evening, the Captain explained that the night before we had experienced top wind speeds of 68 mile an hour funneling down one of the fjords and this had caused the ship to toss and turn for a short period while the weather front passed over. He said these winds were now off the Falkland Islands.

He went on to say that we would have to once again enter the Pacific overnight as we went south before later in the morning reaching the relative shelter of the fjords. His prediction was for some stormy weather and he asked us all to batten down the hatches and leave nothing out in our cabins that might be prone to damage in the expected turbulence of the night.

Some time after dinner we left the fjords and inner Chilean Passage behind us and moved into the Pacific. Then at 11 sharp Maria and I were disturbed with the sound of everything in the cabin that could move, start moving.

Some heavy seas were now battering us and extra precautions were required to be taken to secure our effects. This sea state continued throughout the night causing us both, but perhaps Maria in particular, to have a very restless night's sleep.

The Captain had earlier indicated that we should be back in more sheltered waters within The Passage around 8.00 am. But since he had obviously slowed the ship down overnight I suspected we would be there much later that this time.

I left Maria trying to get some much needed sleep and headed up for some coffee and to see how the ship had coped overnight. It wasn't 6.00 yet but the Lido 'boys' were all up and setting up for breakfast although it was very unsteady underfoot as the ship was being pitched to and fro from a beam sea.

As it was still very dark the actual sea was not able to show off either its might or the size of the waves that were causing the erratic movement of the ship.

I ate some breakfast and then brought Maria down a coffee and some dry bread. She was a bit groggy but more from tiredness that anything else.

The best place on the ship to see what's happening ahead is the Crow's Nest at the very forward end on the 12th deck, so there I headed.

I was amazed to hear voices as it was only 6.15 am.

Setting up bar (as best they could under the circum-stances) was Annabel, one of our lovely Filipino stewardess from the Beverage Department and Arjim, Maureen's (our wine stewardess) husband. They explained that in preparation for more Chilean fjord scenic cruising, scheduled for 8.00 onwards, they were expecting many passengers up here in the Crow's Nest and were offering Bloody Marys and coffee. I didn't expect any takers as most people were probably either being sick or trying to catch up on sleep!!

At 8.30 the Captain came on the PA system to wake everyone up! Yes the sea had been rough all night, he reminded us, due to the previous storm that had passed through the Southern Ocean over the last few days. The maximum wave height had been 25 feet and occasionally two waves would 'hit' the ship at the same time making it doubly uncomfortable.

In addition to slightly changing course during the night the Captain had slowed the speed of the ship down to about 12 knots. He anticipated that we would not be in the sheltered waters of the Inner Passage until at least 1 o'clock. The forecast of a 'wobbly' ship could be expected until then, he concluded.

Apparently Captain Albert had been on the bridge all night which suggested that he had been on the go for close on 24 hours. I would expect that his own blog covering this period will make extremely interesting reading and I shall look out for it.

I remained in the Crow's Nest for a few hours leaving Maria to hopefully sleep unaffected by my presence in the cabin. Needless to say nobody did appeared up here to order Bloody Marys and I was the only one to have a coffee. What a waste for those poor hard working Filipino crew who had both been on duty the previous night until nearly midnight. They and their colleagues are just so hard working and always remain so cheerful irrespective of any adverse events that might come their way.

The temperature today is in the low 50s with winds of 27 knots, skies are cloudy and there is a fine drizzle in the air. The Captain said that it is quite difficult to predict the weather in these parts as it can change quite rapidly.

Maria stayed in bed all morning managing some much needed sleep. I had my blog to prepare and newspapers to read so I was well occupied. People were up and about but everywhere round the stairwells and other appropriate spots there were little paper bags strategically place just in case!! The forward two elevators had jammed as had happened once before in rough seas so exercise was the order of the day.

Yesterday evening we were visited by a steward TWICE; on each occasion bearing presents. One was a bottle of lovely Californian sparkling wine and the other a beautiful bunch of flowers nicely displayed in an colourful arrangement. The gifts had been ordered by daughter and son-in-law, Amsy, Paul, and grand-children Jackson and Alabama.

They were to wish me a happy birthday which was rapidly approaching. Now you couldn't receive a better surprise in the middle of Patagonia than that, could you?

It really has made my birthday a special occasion this year.

They are the youngest part of our family and resided in Brighton England running a most excellent B and B called Motel Schmotel. Well worth a look up on the Internet and also on Trip Advisor to see the extraordinarily high ratings they enjoy.

I took the opportunity of photographing the gifts and attaching it to an e-mail I sent back thanking them for their thoughts and their good wishes.

The saga of jeans in the main dining room continues so I assume that HAL have decided against enforcing their own recommendation as to what the different dress codes means on a Grand Voyage. It should be remembered that prior to this voyage we were all given the guidelines for (a) Formal Nights and (b) Smart Casual Nights.

In the case of the later it clearly stated that shorts, jeans, tank tops, hats on men and tee-shirts, to mention but a few scenarios, were not expected to be worn by passengers in the main dining room at dinner time. It is therefore HAL who have raised the question of what people should wear not us the mere passengers!! HAL do point out that the Lido restaurant however has a much more relaxed regime regarding attire.

It was therefore because of these guidelines that our table of ten discussed the matter of the few who did appear in the dining room with obvious disregard for these guidelines. The consensus amongst our group seems to be that if it is not going to be enforced by the ship's dining room management then the guidelines might as well just be dropped.

At one o’clock we stared our entry into the Fallos Channel, part of the Inner Passage, and the seas instantly modified as predicted by the Captain in his earlier address this morning.

Then following the Captain’s usual 1 o’clock announcements, Frank Buckingham took over the mike and gave a full and very interesting commentary on where we were now heading and what we should look out for. He really is a font of knowledge.

We listened to him in our cabin on channel 43, which also shows a camera picture of where the ship is heading. It is therefore a rather pleasant way of staying in touch when the weather outside is less than exhilarating.

The calm of this afternoon will probably change when at 6.00 pm we again leave the protection of the inner waters and head out to the Ocean for a short period of time before then turning back into the Trinidad Channel. Our recently acquired chart now comes into its own in showing the intricate details of the surrounding country.

Frank has also just advised us that we should very soon be passing the Norwegian Cruise Line ship, the Norwegian Sun, on its way up to Port Chacabuco from Puerto Arena. I must say it was quite something as both ships loudly saluted one another by sounding their impressive horns as they passed.

6 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Paul. Hope that tomorrow will be a better day weatherwise. We are really enjoying the blog. We head to FL tomorrow. It will be warmer than TN but certainly not a heat wave.
    Orlin and Barbara

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  2. I am sorry for my comments... I was wrong. I wish your trip well.

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  3. Between your diary and the Captain's, I feel as if I'm there onboard. Thank you for taking the time to write.

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  4. A very happy birthday to you Paul - I am enjoying the blog very much. The picture of the blue iceberg is amazing. It seems incredible how relatively quickly you have moved through the different climates as you go south. Keep up the good work. Love Nicci

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  5. Happy Birthday Paul! Hope you had a good one. The weather might not be very good with you at the moment, but the travel news at home this morning included an item about roads into Eastbourne being blocked by snow!!

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  6. Wow, Birthday wishes = free advertising! Thanks for the mention!!! Happy Birthday again, we all love and miss you so much. Love Amsy, Paul, Jackson & Alabama xxxxx

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