Sea states, theatre treks and cruise ship living

Reading in the warm sunshine

As yesterday evening progressed, so the seas got more heavy and the weather closed in. The scheduled acrobats were postponed until this afternoon as the stage was deemed too unsafe for precarious balancing. We were not to be deterred though and Gabrielle, with trusty bands, braved the rigours of dinner really well. We were alarmed to see that nearly all staff have taken to wearing face masks and it’s evident that there are some cases of COVID-19 on board. This will come home more strongly if they decide that guests have to wear masks in the public spaces - here’s hoping that doesn’t happen. At the same time as all this, there was no internet since almost immediately after posting last night’s blog post, because the ship would not stay in the same orientation for more than five seconds at a time. 

However, we woke to warm sun and calmer seas - this is how the South Pacific should be - and we took full advantage of our now-Easterly aspect to enjoy the morning heat before beginning our programme of events. The albatrosses returned and I referenced the Rime of the Ancient Mariner to Gabrielle … and got a blank look for my pains. Didn’t they teach anything in schools in the 1960s to 70s? 

If you want a constant sea view then living on a cruise ship is the way to go. You get totally looked after and all is found including cleaning and linen. You get to wear your posh outfits on a regular basis and there is constantly changing scenery. You just need to do a bit of laundry occasionally! You also save on household bills, see a dramatic reduction in credit card spending, depending on how much of a high life you live and, best of all, avoid the British winter! To make it permanent, you’d need to negotiate an all-in cost for Wi-Fi and preferably alcohol too! For those who worry we might consider it, we shall not. It’s too disconnected from family and friends, although boy, do you see the world!

The buoy with the faintly visible antenna with dark flag element to its right

There was a little bit of excitement earlier this morning: a double buoy floated past. One was black with a white circle and the other was attached to it and had an antenna with a flag at the top. Could it be a Chinese submarine scoping shipping? Or perhaps it’s part of an oceanographic survey? In any case, it was bizarre, mid Pacific.

Fun facts: since midday yesterday we have travelled 392 nautical miles at an average speed of 18 knots. The weather is partly cloudy with warm sunshine and a temperature of 17 degrees C. while below the keel there are 2300 metres of water which is itself at 15 degrees C. We have 681 nautical miles to go to our next destination of San Antonio in Chile where we expect 22 degrees C. There were 50 knot winds last night, but now we have dropped to a 3 metre swell which will continue falling to 2.5 metres and 15 knot westerly winds. At midday, we were 45 nautical miles Southwest of Isla Guafo off Chile’s western coast.

Surprising fact: the South Atlantic is warm and the South Pacific is cold. This is due to the Antarctic currents.

The explosions that were heard as we went to our first glacier were explained today. Apparently it was to do with a build up of soot and detritus in the boiler and stacks. Some flames were spontaneously generated inside the boiler which resulted in the ensuing bangs. The process is apparently called “panting”. Whatever it was, it was a bit unnerving and the Captain finally recognised that by making an announcement. 

This is our third of four consecutive days at sea. So, one takes entertainment from lectures and today, also the acrobats who were postponed from last night because of the rough sea conditions. We’ve been constantly back and forth to the theatre today, which is at the opposite end of the ship, all of which gets our exercise count up. 

Our first talk was from Ben Church, the geologist who doesn’t want to talk about geology. He instead recounted at high speed his youthful adventures across the world. It was rather disappointing because we didn’t really learn anything other than that he was quite pleased with himself. 

Another interesting forensics talk by Tristram Elmhirst who, while talking about DNA profiling, emphasised that it is not infallible and no profile is unique. Indeed his own profile matches identically with someone else’s: his twin brother’s. He also was a forensic scientist - truly a family business. Alarmingly, his case study was set in Frimley, right near where we used to live. A brick thrown from the footbridge that we used to cross regularly killed the driver of a lorry on the M3. DNA profiling identified close relatives of the perpetrator, who was ultimately caught and who lived only a street away from where we had lived two years before the crime. Scary stuff. 

Not Gabrielle and Nick - easy mistake to make

Our final trek to the theatre was to see the acrobats. It was a fairly full theatre and, as we arrived, they were playing music from Cirque du Soleil. This was justifiable. Two very ripped performers did their stuff to some rather over-loud, but very dramatic music. The man was flinging his partner around with gay abandon … and then she did the same to him. Most impressive. At the end, the very stocky Stokey who is the compère was invited to do a turn with the male acrobat. He ended up with both of them balanced on the acrobat’s hands, suspended horizontally.

Then we had the monthly Hadley family conference call. This was rather episodic in that we think the string kept snapping. We resigned ourselves to seeing but not being seen. It was great to see and hear everyone and also to give some updates on what we were doing.

Now, we are getting very excited about our bridge visit with Captain Love tomorrow. No thrilling shows tonight, so probably a glass or two of vino, a meal and then back to the cabin. Gabrielle will up-catch you tomorrow.