The Sea Day Life

We are finally getting ready for 2 sea days so I can catch up on my posts and photos.....(sorry for the odd editing)

We have a total of 7 full seadays on this cruise.  

This sailing has 123 passengers and 116 crew so we are well taken care of.  I’ve had a chance to meet and enjoy Tina and Nina at Reception (there is actually a Katrina and we questioned her existence  until we had our early 6:30am landing on Salisbury Plain….. we loving call them the triplets!)  and Teresa in the boutique.  I am sure many of you aren’t surprised at my friendship with Teresa.  They are all sweet young ladies. 

 It is definitely an explorer ship as the chairs in the dining room are chained down, the wine glasses are all Reidel glasses (no stems) and the salt and pepper shakers are weighted.  I’ve also noticed small bags positioned at the entrance of each deck hallway.  Hopefully we won’t need to use them later in the cruise.  There are a few other small differences that make this ship different than regular cruise ships.  I’ll try to take note of them as this cruise proceeds.  

      Most sea days are filled with lectures, 2 to 3 daily along with a Briefing and Recap late in the day.  The lectures are given by the Expedition Team:  Hans-Peter Reinthaler, Biologis; Jarda Versloot, Assistant Expedition Leader; Juan Carlos Restrepo, Geologist; Robin L. Aiello, Marine Biologist & Ecotourism Specialist; Robin West, Expedition Leader; Uli Kunz, Oceanographer;  Dr Shoshana Jacobs, Marine Biologist; Peter W. Damisch, Historian; Richard Sidey, Photographe and Will Wagstaff, Ornithologist.  These are all extremely knowledgeable people with many years in the Antarctic and aboard cruise ships.  They love what they do and enjoy sharing their knowledge with us. 

       

We have to sign release forms to be photographed and included in the cruise-end video DVD and picture CD.  Also we had to sign another form that stated that all our outer clothing was cleaned properly to wear on South Georgia.  Today we have a Bio-Security Check aka Special Vacuuming Party where we have to take all our outer clothing down to reception to clean out our trekking poles, waterproof pants, parkas, gloves, scarves and hats to remove seeds and insects living on our clothes.  While two groups are vacuuming the other two groups will be in the theatre watching a movie on South Georgia.  The much dreaded Vacuuming Party went fast with no issues, basically just cleaning off the Velcro of anything to contaminate South Georgia and all the rookeries.  We will have to do this again before we land on “the continent.”

This ship has one restaurant, the “Pool” Bar with its two hot tubs, the Panorama Lounge (Betty lovingly calls “Pandora’s Box””, now just “The Box”.), an Observation Lounge where we play cards, a boutique and fitness center.  To date, I haven’t seen anyone working out there.  Betty has been enjoying her Liquid Kermies and I am running through the Cosmo listings.  We meet in The Box each night before dinner.  Today a Wine Tasting was held there with Mike, the sommelier.  Mike is from Maituris, not known for its wines.  We tasted a merlot and a cab (both Chilean) and a (house) champagne – Heidesicke. 

Entertainment on board is pretty much make your own fun.  There is a pianist, Alfredo, on board and he is all over the place.  Usually in Pandora’s or the dining room, he is quite talented and the music is soothing after our days ashore.  We have a TV in our suite with the ship’s weather channel which shows the outside temperature, pressure and humidity, speed, heading, longitude and latitude; a map of our sailing location.  Also the ship bridge cam, the Silversea Channel which shows dvds of where the different ships in the fleet go….. a good commercial.  We have had ESPN and FOX, but now only FOX…. Those of you who know me well, know I am “thrilled” about this. watching it. There is a movie channel that stocks over 150 movies to choose.  You can start and stop them and put them in your own private queue.  Nice feature.

There is a group of us who play cards on sea days and repositioning times.  We play Pouch and Hearts.  I’ve won one game and came in third once so far…..

Wednesday, January 18, 2012 40* 6:30 am

A humpback whale, a Minke (mink- KEY) whale entertained us for a few hours this morning.  The entire ship was forward on 4 decks snapping photos or focusing in with the binoculars the ship provides in our suites.  Since it’s been a gray day, I doubt the photos will be too good.

Betty and I invited Teresa, the boutique manager, joined us for lunch and shared stories of her adventures at sea.  She is taking radio communication classes back home in Brazil to have a higher position on cruise ships.  Eventually she wants to go home and have a normal life.

This afternoon we saw 1 Blue Whale and 2 Southern Right whales.  What a spectacular day!