Diane

The highlight for today was the Superbowl party. The Superbowl was yesterday evening but because of the time change it was at about 1am local time. The cruise director asked everyone to keep mum about the score and we had a Superbowl party today.

The Superbowl party was such fun. The team I was cheering for won by a quite a few points to add to the excitement. The only bummer was we didn’t see any of the Superbowl commercials. There were commercials, of course, but they were all for the TV channel that broadcast the Superbowl none of the special Superbowl commercials.

We have had such calm seas, so far, on this segment. It’s weird to see the ocean so calm.

Today was fitness, a funny cook off challenge between 2 officers, a presentation on Namibia and Jennifer and I participated in a sing out loud ‘mob’. In the evening we went out star gazing.

The cruise hosts hosted a pub sing along event and the folks that have been rehearsing for our choir presentation ‘spontaneously’ stood up and started singing. It was lots of fun.

The evening star gazing didn’t turn out quite as well. The moon was almost full so the sky was bright but we could still see Jupiter and a few southern constellations. The ship lights were turned off at the top deck but folks were tripping all over the place so the lights were quickly turned back on.

Today was a slow day with not many activities and calm seas. The activities of the day were: laundry, sing out loud rehearsal, origami making and tea

We’re ‘only’ around 200 nautical miles away from Tristan Da Cunha but we still can’t see it. Still about 13,000 feet deep.

That’s one thing that I just can’t get used to- on the map things look so close but you can’t see them. Jennifer and I are using a couple of apps (Noah Weather and Marine Traffic) to show where we are compared to nearby land and ships. Even the ships look right next to us on the app but we can’t see them.

We has 3 meter sea swells all day today. The expected swells at Tristan Da Cunha were 4-5 meters. Imagine almost double the swell from the video below and you can see why we didn’t land at Tristan Da Cunha.

Last night we heard that we won’t be able to go to Tristan Da Cunha. Because of the sea conditions we wouldn’t be able to tender to the island or even set foot on land. I”m bummed as it was one of the stops I was looking forward to.

The captain changed course slightly to miss the 4 meter swells and stormy weather so that’s good news.

Another day at sea- fitness, cake decorating contest between crew groups, and sing out loud rehearsal. And we had a wine and cheese get together in our room with some friends we’ve met on board.

We’re now 620 nautical miles from the closest land which is Inaccessible island. The water is still over 13000 feet deep.

There’s a storm heading towards our next stop, the island of Tristan Da Cunha, The captain will decide later today or early tomorrow if we’ll be able to stop. Right now it’s looking unlikely as the swells are expected to grow to 4-5 meters.

Today we only just passed the outside edge of Brazil. The bulge is larger and sticks out quite far.

We’re 900 nautical miles from the closest land(Brazil) and the sea here is about 4000 meters(over 13,000 feet) deep! The really odd thing is that when I look outside my window all I see is water and it looks the same as when we were ‘next’ to land and I couldn’t see the land.

Today’s at sea activities included fitness, cooking demo, sing out loud rehearsal, presentation on great inventions in the last 100 years, presentation on on dark matter, afternoon tea, and an evening Celtic rock performance.

Today we start crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the way to Namibia. It will take 10 days and we get to Namibia on the 11th day.

Last night was the last land we’ll see for awhile.

Back to Uruguay today but now we’re at Punta Del Este which is a beach town with many resorts. Many Argentinians go there for holiday. It was strange to be a tourist in a town full of vacationers. The city has 18,000 permanent residents and about 300,000 residents during the holiday season.

The harbor was full of fancy yachts. And right next to them were old fishing boats and in the bay was our cruise ship.

I took a tour of the highlights of Punta Del Este which included a winery visit for cheese and wine tasting. After the tour I took a walk around town.

Today Jennifer and I went to a Gaucho Performance at an estancia (ranch) about an hour bus ride from the port. The horses were amazing and we had a Brazilian BBQ meal and a Tango/Milonga show.

I got to ride a carriage around the ranch- it was cool to see the ranch but the carriage was very uncomfortable.

When I got back from the carriage ride, I was one of the last ones the owner took on a horse back ride- a highlight for sure!

Buenos Aires Trivia:

• There are 3 million folks in the city and the daily commute brings in 2.5 million more. They have a terrific public transport system
• This time of year many families are on holiday so there weren’t too many cars or people on the streets
• Farms are the basis for the economy