At Sea 2

After dinner last evening, we went to the officers soirée. We met a lovely officer from St Andrews, Scotland, who is in charge of Human Resources. He rang Kieron, the Irish officer. Kieron arrived and we chatted. He brought us to meet his parents and girlfriend. We had a long chat with Kieron, who  had trained at the Maritime College, Cork. His  parents got a call two days prior to  sailing to say that there was a spare cabin, so they quickly arranged a flight to BA - one of the perks of being an officer’s parents. Kieron informed us that on present weather predictions, we might be as lucky as last week’s passengers and receive similar favourable weather - but there are no guarantees - the weather can change in an instant. He has promised CC a trip to the Bridge.  It is a restricted area! 

We attended the show thereafter. Belle Voci, two English sopranos were fantastic singers and most entertaining. They were recently placed 4th, if I recall correctly, in The Voice of Britain. Originally from the north of England, one was the waitress and the other the chef in their hometown pub. They decided to quit the day job and I think they will go far, such is their talent. 

Sailing along the shallow (250ft) Continental Shelf -         as a result one is aware it the roll.!!!

This morning we attended three seminars at 9,10 and 11. The first was an interesting talk by the environmental officer on board - a very capable Italian, young lady.  She outlined the history of the attempts to safeguard the preserve the Antarctic for future generations, with the first meeting of concerned parties in 1959 and the subsequent establishment of IATTA. The body now controls access to the Antarctic. Our ship, the  Eclipse is the largest ship to sail these waters and only two voyages per annum are permitted. Ours is the second and last of 2019.  She also gave us some insight into the recycling and waste disposal that takes place on board ship - a tall order with 4,000 on board including crew and passengers.!!! 

At 10, we were again highly entertained by MickyLive, outlining the topography of Ushuaia, our first destination on Thursday.

We’ve been in Usuhuia before - in 2003, when I recall skiing in the Andes, vaguely recall boarding a catamaran in the Beagle Channel, but have no memory of Tierra de Fuego National Park or the the train to the End of the Earth!! The vagaries of the human brain!!! 

At 11, Dr. Tom gave us a seminar on Penguins, Sea Lions and Sea Elephants I had no idea there were so many species of Penguin!!

The quality of the seminars is excellent - on board are historians, geographers and biologists who take the seminars. On arrival in Ushuaia, we will be experts and capable of recognizing the various species of wildlife. 

Lunch followed. Today, we shared a table for 8, a young Dutch couple who work for KLM and have taken 6 months off to travel. Another young couple from Texas were here with an Art group. Each day, the latter had lectures and met various artists. He was a very unassuming guy but when questioned he admitted to owning a few Picassos and a few Old Masters ! He was a guest of an Art Gallery - all expenses paid but as he put it - he’s probably already paid for it. On leaving, I advised him not to buy too many but he replied that it was too late for that!!! The final couple were Indian, living in Toronto  His uncle had taken him to Canada to attend Univerity. Returning to India  after college, his marriage was arranged and he is still married after 48 years.! 

On our return from lunch, the captain made an announcement that a passenger needed medical assistance and that an Argentinian Coastguard helicopter would land on the ship’s helipad to take the patient to hospital. We commenced sailing closer to the coast, quite a feat as we are already in very shallow water. We were asked not to film the event in deference to the patient and access to the ship’s decks was restricted during the 

Tonight we attended the Rock show, a group of  Italian musicians and dancers it was truly a  professional presentation. 

Afterwards, we attended the Captain’s soirée in the skyboard lounge. The sun was setting. 

Dinner and we retired to face another challenging day tomorrow!!!