Home»South America Day 07

The day dawned grey and damp with thick clouds down almost to sea level.  It’s much cooler now and although we started the day in the Darwin Channel (like the inside passage) the shore and neighbouring islands were but shapes of a darker grey lurking in the fog.

I’m writing this in one of the lounges as we head back out into the open sea and already the keyboard is rising and falling as the swells increase in anticipation of the force 8 gale winds forecast for our immediate future.

10.45 in the morning and it is getting really choppy (yes, that’s a very British understatement!).
Lunchtime saw us in the dining room and although still rough, the clouds have broken and the sun is shining through.  Enjoyed chatting over lunch with a couple of well-travelled American ladies.

2 pm and the ‘shipquake’ is now about force 7 on the Richter scale with 18-foot waves and white-caps all around.  It’s actually quite impressive.  The Captain promises us calmer inland waters in time for dinner.

The Captain was true to his word – almost – and we were in calmer waters just after dinner. 
In order to avoid the open water the ship navigated an inland channel (whose name I forget) for the first time ever which made for interesting viewing around sunset towards 9pm.  Apparently this weather – very high winds and waves - is the worst of the season since the ship arrived last fall and because of it we are going to skip the viewing of the Amalia glacier tomorrow in order to reach Punta Arenas on time on Thursday.  Bummer!!

The calmer waters lasted until 2 am when we headed back to the open ocean and the seas were rougher than ever with swells of 7 metres (21+ feet), and we awoke almost being tipped out of bed.

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