frantic36

There was discussion earlier about clothes layering so I took some photos of the three layers then the next including jacket and zodiac life vest. Not my most flattering photos. The gloves on the table finish it off. Surprisingly for me I found I was okay to take my gloves off briefly to take photos with my phone. My large SLR the gloves were fine on.

Last night after dinner we saw some spectacular landscape as we sailed to our next destination This morning we woke early as we are in the first group starting at 8am to do an hour zodiac ride around some Islands. I can't remember the name but I will find out. We are keeping our coffee to only one this morning till after our ride, though it is looking very grey out there but hopefully visibility will improve.

Yesterday we did our first landing at Portal Point. It was the first time, apart from one short walk in Alaska walking from helicopter to snow sled, we actually did a trek on the snow. We decided to attempt the hill and it was challenging and fun. I did manage to slip and land on my bottom once going back down the hill but could get up again easily. Sorry the photo is upside down. The view at the top was worth it. On the way up we saw this very relaxed Weddell Seal. This landing was about the scenery not the wildlife though we saw the Weddell Seal, a Crab Eater Seal and some Skua birds.

My husband wears a tux because he likes too and looks good in them, no cummerbund or vest though. A few other people we know also wear them. The formal night was the second night after leaving San Antonio and from what I can see on the schedule there isn't another one this segment. Last night in the MDR saw a definition of "elegant jeans" and they looked very similar to what my husband wears when we visit my sister's farm to help out.

Yesterday's photos picking up the jackets etc. There were quite a few others around as well. Todays scenery and the zodiac captains checking their vessels prior to taking passengers.

We had a long Antartica briefing yesterday morning which was mandatory to attend as we have to know the strict protocols while going ashore. Iggy did a wonderful presentation, with clear slides, photos, videos and some humour to help. It was over an hour long and some will need to be repeated as I saw a few eyes closed to the end of the talk.I tried to post some pictures but internet is weak so photos won't upload to cruise critic. The good news is that I have resolved my download problem from iPhone to Mac so when internet is good enough I can post them. To answer @florisdekort's question, yes there was jackets and boots delivered from Venture to a research facility via zodiac and then later that day when we arrived our zodiacs went out and picked them up and brought them back to the ship. So now my husband and others have their cold weather jackets. When connection permits I did get the fuzzy photo of them coming back in the zodiacs. Just an aside I must admit I was surprised after the talk to hear a lady complaining to Iggy that she hadn't ordered anything because Seabourn hadn't told her to. I found that surprising as we got multiple emails reminding us and asking others later they said the same thing. In cases like this I wonder if it is a failure on Seabourn's part, the travel agent or if emails went to spam and thus the communication failure? First zodiacs are heading out now with passengers.It is grey and cold out but the scenery is stunning.

Ariana in Colonnade said that one of the waiters managed to save a passenger who fell plus the wine bottle the waiter had in his hand. Much calmer in MDR for lunch though a few glasses fell.

That will be interesting to read. My husband is in finance for ourselves and reads charts most days so I will get him to look over it.

Hopefully you will get on one of the Seabourn ships soon and will be able to see for yourself how things are. On a positive side note I wish to share a Seabourn moment I had the other day. I must have injured my right leg the other sea day while walking on deck. The next day when we got to Punta Arenas it was very painful. I dosed myself up with analgesics and we walked to the Crematorium and did some snack shopping for crew. On the way back the analgesics stopped working and I limped aboard the ship. The Assistant Maitre D' in Colonnade saw me limping and on hearing of my problem went and got my some epsom salts from her personal supply and told me how she used it to soak her legs when she first started onboard. I did a long soak that afternoon and it did improve and by the next day my leg was fine. Though I soaked it once more to be sure. The staff have all been lovely to my husband and myself. There are some glitches and more training needed but overall they always smile and say hello.

I just realised photo 1 is upside down unfortunately. Here is what the base looks like properly. I do understand markham's frustration and I have noticed some improvement with communication sometimes after he has chatted with the Captain but unfortunately the advice doesn't seem to stick for long.

As markham mentioned the seas have become rougher over the day and I suspect looking at the deepening troughs they are likely to get rougher before they get better. The current Captain has many years experience on HAL not Seabourn though he did indicate he was still employed to help maintain the ships during the shutdown. So this Captain is not used to the Seabourn culture. I am using my time to do some laundering of my silk dresses which I won't send to laundry. We gave our cabin stewardesses the day of cleaning our room which they were grateful for, and no Mr L. it is not because we are messy.🙂 My husband is one who unfortunately received a jacket in the wrong size but he has a down jacket which he can wear as an inner jacket and will just swap out the outer jacket. My understanding was the number of jackets received was correct but the sizing was very poorly supplied so people ended up with jackets either bigger or smaller than they ordered. My jacket was fine thankfully. I have managed to get a few photos to download to my laptop. So here are three from Glacier Alley yesterday... And this was our view of Ushuaia yesterday evening at 8.30pm in TK Grill when we sat down for dinner... Julie

Not at this point in time, I am quite happy. I think it is something in my settings on my devices not the ship's connectivity this time. I will try to get one of the IT guys to look at it for me. I have been trying airdrop etc but no luck as yet.

Dear Mr L, Demanding soul that you are 😄. As soon as I sort out the connectivity between phone and laptop you will get your pictures.

2nd February, Sorry for the radio silence but internet has been very poor. They fix it for a short while and then it disappears again. While I have it I have been using the time to contact family and friends. We have just docked at Punta Arenas and I have been able to turn on my phone to get internet connection. Yesterday we went through the Chilean Fiords and the scenery was stunning. We stopped for a while at El Brujo Glacier and it was spectacular. Unfortunately my phone and my laptop have stopped sharing photos so until I get that sorted I can't share any. 3rd February Yesterday was Punta Arenas where we got a chance to stretch our legs and passengers and crew got the chance to stock up on any essential items, like snacks for the crew, before leaving civilisation. The other important thing we picked up was a new modem which the IT staff connected overnight so today we have good connectivity. In the afternoon we were informed that because there was a major storm about to hit Drakes Passage our course was being changed. So today we are sailing through more Chilean Fiords, Glacial Pass and again the scenery has been beautiful. We are due to pick up the pilot for Ushuaia in an hour and will be anchored there from ~3pm when we will stay overnight. Depending on weather conditions in the Drake Passage will be when we leave Ushuaia. The plan is for 8am leaving. We realise this may impact time spent in Antarctica but we are safe and can still enjoy wandering the ship. I was told but haven't been able to confirm that a ship that did do the Drake had to confine all passengers to their rooms and only room service was available. We are enjoying the misty/slightly rainy weather. I looked in briefly and trivia is packed. Today for the first time in many years we are going to the MDR for lunch. Julie

Yesterday on Quest I did an experiment getting dressed in the multiple layers...thermal, day clothes, jacket, water proof pants, socks, boots, neck scarfs, gloves & beanie. Mainly to see how long it would take and to check my waterproof pants would go over my boots. I came to the conclusion as much as I love seeing wildlife doing this once a landing per day would be fine.😄

The sea days tend to pass in a blur with chatting to others or reading sending emails to family. I regret to say I have not attended any lectures but friends who have said they have been very good from a Nasa space expert to the Expedition Team giving talks about wildlife and what to expect re kayaking and zodiacs when we get to Antarctica. They do repeat them to watch on the television for those of us who don't get the lecture. Yesterday was a bit difficult and frustrating for passengers and crew as Seabourn has changed providers for supplying jackets and boots. The quality is still good but the provider mixed up orders so many people received goods larger or smaller than what they ordered. So what is usually just some people needing to swap items out meant it was basically ship wide. The rare person received the correct jacket & boots, of which I was one, but most needed to change including my husband. he now has correct boots but is waiting to get his jacket since they are going to fly new jackets in to one of our upcoming ports. I felt for the crew as some of the loud, usual complainers onboard were berating them for something that they had no control over. Sure people have a right to express their frustration but yesterday the crew needed to have signs up like displayed in many businesses post Covid asking people not to be verbally abusive with staff. By that I am speaking in a loud, aggressive tone about how useless Seabourn is in general rather than this one incidence which onboard staff have no control over. The crew handled themselves professionally and diplomatically keeping calm. On a happier note all was calm in the evening where we had our last formal night for this segment, I think. Many in dark suits or even tuxedos in the MDR and others more casually dressed in other zones and everyone mingled happily. We shared a convivial table with friends where we had good food and wine. The lobster with saffron risotto was lovely and the lobster was tasty, not watery at all. Our friends had Beef Wellington which was perfectly pink with the only issue was the portion size was rather large. I broke my usual rule and and had the Grand Mariner soufflé which was delicious. No photos as too busy eating, drinking and chatting with friends. Puerto Montt today and we are doing a Seabourn tour to Emerald Lake. Overnight the ship's foghorn has been going since early morning. A tip is to bring earplugs for these occasions. There is still a drizzly fog outside which I think is lifting as we drift past the buildings of the city. Hopefully it will lift enough so I can get photos of the volcano later.

Still live Music in the club pre-dinner and after the show on Quest now. I have seen some passengers doing ballroom mainly cha cha, foxtrot and rhumba pre dinner. There are dance classes at 11am most sea days. Post show dancing is more likely modern free form dancing. Both bands that alternate have been excellent. In the Obs bar there is Felippo a very good pianist and singer and if you have a particular song you want which he doesn't know give him a few days and he will try to learn it for you. No dancing there though.

Iquique, Chile was another important place for Chile in the War of the Pacific. It was a site of defeat for Chile in a Naval battle but General Pratt the Commander of the ship Esmeralda is considered a brave hero and again they have a National Day on 27 May to honour the battle fought that day between the old, wooden Esmeralda and the new, iron built Peruvian ship. The Esmeralda was sunk that day but they now have a replica you can visit which is what we did. We were able to get audioguides in English as all tours are in Spanish. The Audios were a little glitchy to work at first but once we got the hang of it they worked well. Payment for entrance is in Chilean Peso only but since we had none we used a card. It was 1.5 hours well spent and wasn't far to walk from the shuttle drop off. Replica Esmeralda Difference between crew dining and officer dining are. Other much has likely changed over the years. After our enjoyable tour we went to the old Casino Espanol which has been converted to a restaurant. We noted a group of Seabourn passengers had been brought there some food as part of a tour. The interior was very elaborate with various paintings depicting Don Quixote's story. The food was delicious and pisco sour was very good but one was enough. I had a Marinara Risotto and the Risotto included squid ink. My husband had the Marinara Salad.

Thank you markham and CanAmBrit for replying as yesterday I was busy chatting via email & WhatsApp to family. One of the crew took an Uber with friends to visit the sculpture "Hand of the Desert" in the Atacama desert. They said the drive was about an hour and they were glad they went. This photo was a stock photo but gives an impression of size. I wasn't interested in going as I have stayed at desert resorts before so didn't need to see another desert. My husband and I just wandered around, got some money changed to peso and had lunch. Antifagasta didn't do much for me as it just felt like a big city with lots of shops. Sad to say I did overeat a bit so your supervision failed. 😆 Another sea day today in which we will do the Champagne tasting lunch and I still have catch up with emails and report on our day in Iquique here. My husband and I are doing a private wine tour and lunch from San Antonio.

Arica, Chile was our next port of call. This has great significance to Chilean history as it was the site of a battle in the War of the Pacific. The day is commemorated as a National Day on 7th June. The Peruvian army was stationed at the top of the great hill and three garrisons surrounding it. The Chilean army led by Colonel Lagos (now General) knew they had to take it swiftly so they took that hill in ~55 minutes and then the garrisons. This was one of the turning points of the war which Chile eventually won. The hill with the flag on top is where we climbed and as you can see in the second photo it was steep. I will admit to some tenderness in my calf muscles the next day. Seabourn used this as an opportunity to set up a welcome back party with drinks and some local dancers. They also went to a local market to get some fresh fruits.

I was very glad you were able to get your supplies and pick up the Galapagos passengers and also Captain Hamish's wife.

Some updates from our cruise. As you know the second day in Lima all Seabourn excursions and the shuttle into Mira Flores was cancelled. The shuttle to the port gate wasn't. I had spoken to my Haku guide and they reassured me they were not going to be near any protests ( or manifestations as they called it) as these were likely in the Historical Centre near the government buildings. So four of us went on our tour. We started and a local fish market where we had a freshly cooked crumbed herring burger with salsa, this was my favourite so far. Sorry it is upside down. Then we went to a large street market where many different fruits were purchased. We then went to restaurant where these were served followed by a pouch of a seafood a rice soup, fish ceviche, seafood fried rice and fried fish. We then went to see street art which was very colourful As I mentioned a few days ago, while we were out we saw no evidence of road blocks or protests as our guides kept us away from any problems. It was very sad the next morning to hear of what happened in the evening as this impact of lack of tourists will hurt the local people the most. A market we stopped at to buy a t-shirt we were the only tourists there. We were unable to leave Callao till 2pm the next day and any further ports in Peru were skipped and we headed straight to Chile.

We left Callao ~2pm and are heading south to our new port of call Arica, Chile. The seas are quite calm but there is a lot of fog about and the ship has been using the foghorn for the last hour or so.

@florisdekort we used Haku Tours for both days in Lima. We had a driver and a guide both days and the cars were new and very comfortable. We felt very safe with them.

My husband and I and one other couple went ashore yesterday as we had a private food & art tour booked in the morning and we were not going near the Historical Centre where the protesters were due to be in the afternoon. The Historical Centre is of course where the Presidential Palace and Government buildings are. While ashore we saw no problems or road blocks so felt very safe. It is so sad the events of the evening became violent and chaotic as the people we met were lovely and just wanted to get on with their lives. We remain docked at Callao allegedly due to "high swells" outside the port but who knows? As markham said we just want to get on to Arica in Chile.