Wednesday – February 5, 2025
My “go to” source for everything (Siri) defines a fjord as “long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs typically formed by submergence of a glaciated valley”. Our captain in his daily status reports has been saying we are traveling in Chilean fjords. I’m not sure I agree based on Siri’s definition, but I’ll tell you one thing – IT IS MUCH SMOOTHER WHEN YOU ARE IN THE FJORD! These waterways along the Western side of Chile block the waves of the Pacific. When exposed to the raw force of the ocean it can get very bouncy. More on that later. Today’s featured photo shows a typical view of one of the fjords.
No sunrise video today – we were facing the West and weren’t advised there was anything of note we would be passing.
We arrived early for the World Cruise Games (start at 11:30 am) so got to watch a samba class. That video is in the stack for today. Today’s game was Pictionary – pick a subject from an ice bucket, draw it to elicit the correct identification from your team. The first team up (I believe it was Earth) had an excellent artist. She would draw and they would guess the answer almost immediately. The other 3 teams were not so fortunate. We didn’t get to hear who won or the next game because our contest ended after the captain began his noon status report. When the captain speaks it overrides all other P.A. systems. You’ll see several photos and videos for today’s game. I asked and found that the next game will be “Where’s Wally”. Have to wait and see what that means.
When we returned to our cabin we found a letter from the captain explaining why we would not be stopping at Puerto Chacabuco, Chile – same reason as Port Stanley, Falkland Islands. We understand they have to consider safety first and weather is out of their control. So on to Puerto Montt, Chile on Friday.
I put a screenshot of the weather in the stack. As you can see, it is continuing to get warmer as we travel North. If the sun would appear that would help – it has been cloudy since we left Ushuaia, Argentina.
Yesterday I mentioned we met Wasiim – he is from Mauritius (East of Madagascar). He said he thought his country had a satellite. I checked and they launched what is called a “cubesat” from the International Space Station in 2021. Cubesats are so named because they are cubic in shape. They are 10 cm on a side and weigh no more than 2 kg. As of late 2023 more than 2,300 cubesats have been placed in space.
This afternoon we had the 3rd PAzz session where a jazz group plays music while photos from the passengers are shown on a screen. This session covered our stops in Argentina. 102 photos were chosen from over 1,500 submitted. They selected 6 of mine to include in the show. I made a pieced-together video showing those they chose. They include a Russian church in Buenos Aires, a guanaco and 2 Magellanic penguin chicks from Puerto Madryn, a mountain top with glacier and clouds near Ushuaia and the End Of The World Lighthouse.
When we arrived for dinner we were not in a fjord so the ship was rockin’ and rollin’. We have had several theme nights during the cruise. Tonight’s theme was Mexico. Subagia looked good in his fiesta hat. He said he would not be wearing it for the remainder of the cruise – just tonight. Also included is a photo of a table mate who joined us in Brazil – Kelly. As we sat to begin dinner the ship was pushed by a wave with enough force to knock several water bottles and a full red wine bottle off their shelf. The wine bottle hit the tile floor and shattered. The restaurant manager (whom we met our first day on board – he got the 3 of us a table where we would be together) assembled the crew and lots of towels to clean up the wine. There are several photos of some of tonight’s meal choices.
The main stage production group put on a show tonight titled “A Night On Broadway”. Lots of video included that has the songs and acrobatics. At the end of the show our cruise director showed that she can jump rope – perhaps not as well as the acrobats but she didn’t fall down.
3 responses to “Chilean Fjord?”
Guess there’s rough weather everywhere. A little ice here this morning 7:30 am. Stan postponing going to work for a while. Schools running late. Got the Leonardos party tonite for Gems of Hope people. To be 38 degrees by noon. What a waste of wine, but it was red. No words about your dinner, dessert looked ok. 🙀🍷. Safe and smooth sailing.⛵️
Looks like good times even when stuck at see for days.
Interesting to see how cool it is there. I guess I just thought southern hemisphere would be warm this time of year.
How bad a time can you have when people are waiting on you all day long! The staff have been excellent and I’d swear there isn’t any dirt to be found on the ship because they are always vacuuming! I think the temp is low because of that big block of ice near us. Can you believe that some people actually want to travel there to spend the night in a sleeping bag directly on that ice! We are about the same latitude as upper Canada or Moscow, Russia. I think the temps here are similar to what they would experience in August.