Sunday, January 28

Lots of "shrimp" jokes going around the ship as this morning they had to switch to reserve power while they cleared masses of shrimp out of all the engine filters. And one guess what was on the menu for an appetizer this evening...although even the Captain assured everyone that the shrimp from the filters would NOT appear in the dining room. (The Captain has quite a sense of humor, and when he comes on the PA to make announcements, starts off with "It’s me again," instead of the usual "This is the Captain speaking.")

We spent most of the morning and early afternoon cruising down the Messier Channel. Around 4:00 p.m. we sailed up "Iceberg Fjord" to view "Iceberg Glacier" – our first look at a real glacier, and some folks even saw a few penguins (of course on the other side of the sip from where I was at the time).

The show after dinner was very good. Jim and Ann Curry. Jim is a major John Denver devotee and was the one to sing his songs in the biopic about him. They did a number of his songs, both upbeat and ballads while the ship rocked and rolled back out in the Pacific. Later, just as I was going to sleep, one of my closet doors jumped its little stop thing and banged open. I figure it woke the back half of the ship, it was so loud. Then I had to use various bits of clothing to keep the glassware in the bar from rolling around after it fell over. Well, at least I’m not seasick...at least not yet, although if the crossing to Antarctica is much worse than this, I’ll be popping Dramamine like Life Savers!

Monday, January 29

We were supposed to visit another glacier early this morning, but because of a medical emergency (a passenger had a major heart attack yesterday and is still in critical but now stable condition), the Captain decided to skip the glacier and proceed as rapidly as possible to Punta Arenas. We were originally due there tomorrow morning, but should arrive about 7:00 this evening.

So we’ve been sailing down the Straits of Magellan all day with fabulous scenery. We’ve had occasional rain, and it’s pretty chilly out there. This morning I saw a fantastic double rainbow that appeared so close I was tempted to check my verandah for the pot of gold!