February 13, 2012 - Days 35 - 40

First Glimpse of Antarctica!

Zodiac Coming from Palmer Station (in upper left corner)

Here We Come!

Supplies Going Aboard Zodiac

View of Caldera at Deception Island

Some pictures from Antarctica. First view, then Palmer Station with zodiac coming to ship. The zodiac up closer. Fresh foods for the station from the crew. Deception Island, an old volcano with a narrow entrance, which we could not negotiate.

February 8 – Day 35 – Sea Day

Looking back over yesterday’s post, I see that I failed to mention the Q&A with the captain, expedition crew and ice pilot. We did not even know we had an ice pilot aboard, but it makes sense that Holland would do that.

This gentleman was an icebreaker captain in the coast guard. He operated in the Arctic, but has been doing piloting in Antarctica for some time. He is very conversant with the ice formations, and knows how close to approach and when to avoid it. The captain said the pilot had proved invaluable, especially in the low visibility situations.

The captain also pointed out that now all commercial vessels are required to carry systems that broadcast their identity along with their radar print. This enabled him to contact other vessels in other channels, during the blizzard, to determine if he could take us to a place of improved visibility. All responded visibility was no more than 1/10 of a mile. That is why we went back out to sea earlier than anticipated on the first day. Ships always retreat to ice free waters for the nighttime.

Formal night was bearable. The menu was very good. After the entertainment, we stopped by the photo counter to ask if they had a photo of the captain. We had not seen any, and were convinced that this fellow is so very nice that passengers would happily purchase his photo. We certainly would buy one. The photographer informed us that the captain is camera shy, and he has no photos for sale. We talked with Shannon at some length about the captain. He raved about him. One impressive comment he made was that this is the first captain he has sailed with, who not only greets and encourages his crew, but does the same for the concessions staff, such as himself. The captain knows all of them by name, and frequently stops to ask how things are going, and how families are, etc. They love him.

As for today, the sea is following; we have a wind pushing us and a 2 knot current helping us, as well. This all adds up to a speed of 21.9 knots and a very smooth ride. I even think we heard the stabilizers retract for a while this afternoon.

In his 1PM report, the captain said this is all well and good because we are expecting to be early for our scheduled 10:30 meeting with the river pilot, who will take us up the Rio de la Plata to Buenos Aires (BA). The river is very wide and shallow with a narrow shipping channel dredged into it. BA is 160 miles up river. The passage is scheduled to take about 9 hours, so we will arrive in early morning.

During dinner, the captain advised all that a cruise ship had left BA early. Since it is not possible for 2 large ships to pass in the channel, we will have to meet him at a passing basin and be delayed about 4 hours in arriving in BA. That means a 10 AM arrival.

February 9 – Day 36 – Buenos Aires, Argentina

First of all, this day marks a milestone in our cruising history. We have now spent more days aboard than on any other voyage. Alice is having a ball, and wonders why she ever worried about the length of this trip.

That is the good news. The bad news is that, when we went to breakfast, we were told that our arrival in BA had been further delayed. The captain came on the PA, before we left the restaurant, to explain that the Argentine Coast Guard controls all river channel movements. They ordered the Prinsendam to wait in the ocean until a caravan of heavily laden freighters exited the river. This did not occur until 5 AM, so we will not arrive in Buenos Aires until 2 PM.

We had scheduled a 4-hour tour of the city’s highlights, including a subway ride and a visit to a famous café in the morning. We had a tango show scheduled for the evening. We were expecting a leisurely day, if we arrived on time. We were only at leisure until arrival.

Our tour left at 3 PM and was due back at 7 PM. It was great. We got a good overview of the city, and visited most of the guidebook sights. Café Tortoni was the famous café stop. Very nice. We meandered back to the ship after dropping a couple, who had a package that included dinner, off at the tango restaurant and theater . We got to the ship at 7:30. The bus for our tango show, without dinner, was just boarding. We were directed to hop aboard. We proceeded back to the same tango theater.

We thoroughly enjoyed the tango show. It was more than we had expected. It included dances from many periods of tango history. It even had a fusion tango with great contemporary music. You should have heard the moans from some fellow passengers over this. On the way back to the ship, our guide explained that the fusion segment was representative of the young people’s effort to keep tango alive. We found it invigorating. Others found it sacrilegious.

We got “home” at 10 PM, just in time for a folkloric music and dance show in the ship’s showroom. This demonstrated a wide variety of dances from different periods and parts of Argentina. It was very well done, and very enjoyable. When it ended at 11, we went to the Lido for a snack. We had not eaten since a light lunch at noon. The Lido was closed except for coffee, iced tea and crackers. We grabbed some crackers and retired.

February 10 – Day 37 – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Today we are on our own in BA. We learned enough about the city on yesterday’s tour to take the ship’s shuttle to the end of the walking street in downtown. This is Florida Street, a very long pedestrian street, with all sorts of shops, malls, and “gallerias” along both sides. We had a ball. Even did some shopping. Now we understood why BA is called the "Paris" of South America.

At the end of Florida Street, we encountered some marchers, demonstrating in an orderly fashion, against some unknown evil. We listened to their band play for a while, and then we moved to the main square and the president’s manor. From there we trekked to a huge obelisk in the center of the Boulevard 9^th of July. This street marks Argentine independence. It is 6 lanes of automotive mayhem in each direction. We followed it back toward Plaza San Martin, our starting point. We boarded the shuttle, and returned to the ship five hours after leaving. What a day. We loved it.

The captain announced that we would be departing a 6:30 PM. At 6:30 a tour, that had left at 6 AM for Iguaçu Falls, had not returned as scheduled. They arrived just before 8 PM. They had plane problems, and were forced to return to the airport for repairs before resuming their trip. Sometime after we went into the showroom for the evening’s entertainment, the ship left BA headed for Montevideo. This is 140 miles down river, and we will start scenic cruising as we approach at 7:30 AM.

February 11 – Day 38 – Montevideo, Uraguay

At 7 AM there is no sign of anything scenic. During breakfast, the captain explained that 2 weeks ago a grain transport had run aground and blocked the channel at Rosario, a city up river from BA. This caused incoming grain transports to have to anchor in the ocean off the river mouth. The ship had just been re-floated, and the channel opened. Accordingly, the coast guard had decided to start letting the accumulated grain transports proceed up the river. We were ordered to anchor outside the channel to let them by. This went on for hours. We arrived in Montevideo at 12:30 PM.

Alice and I headed off on foot to explore the city. We had no tours. We walked and walked. What we found was a very old city with extremely diverse architecture. Each block had buildings more interesting than the last. There were many plazas, parks and squares. One had a flea market. Seemed like home, but all was Spanish. I had hoped to buy some leather belts because Montevideo has a reputation for fine leather products. We were cursed by the siesta. Almost all the shops were closed. After walking several miles, we found an information booth at city hall. We asked where we might find an open leather shop, and were given directions. The man assured us that the block had many shops, and they would be open.

His directions took us to a street that went through a fairly good neighborhood. It was fun to see the local shops, restaurants and bars. These were not tourist spots. There were no other tourists on this street, but we felt safe. As we got to the blocks he had identified, there were no shops of any kind. We checked out the neighborhood only to find run down housing. Oh well, back to the ship.

On the way back we visited a square dedicated to the founder of Montevideo. There were two police officers from the canine unit at the entrance. Montevideo is safe for tourists because the police presence is large enough to deter crime.

Closer to the ship was the Puerto Mercado. We walked in expecting to find a shopping mall. It was a mall alright, a dining mall. It was a huge building, full of restaurants of all types, preparing various meats over open fires on waist-high shelves. It was like ovens without walls. Intriguing!

Back onboard, we had dinner. Then we watched the sail away at 8PM from the Crow's Nest.

February 12– Day 39 – Sea Day

Today is supposed to be a catch up day at sea. Too many lectures and presentations prevented any chance of that. 

This is a formal night to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The ship is decorated in grand style for dinner and the Cupid’s Ball, which follows the evening entertainment. We stayed to dance the last dance. Then we collapsed in bed.

February 13 – Day 40 – Sea Day

We got up after 8, but last night we were out until 11:30. We spent the morning in the tech lab learning some photo editing techniques from the Textpert, Will. He is very good. We stayed for another session on photo organization. Two good hours that consumed our morning. 

This afternoon we attended the port lecture on some of the resort cities we will visit after Rio. Yesterday we heard the talk on Rio. We arrive there tomorrow. Sure hope the weather improves. We are in and out of rain this afternoon.

Although the wind is not coming from the starboard side, we are heeling to port. The captain assured us that this is not a problem, but simply the result of burning off the remainder of the light fuel we were required to burn in Antarctica. This had been loaded into the starboard tanks. In Buenos Aires, we had filled the port tanks with the standard heavy oil. Tomorrow we will refill the starboard tanks with heavy oil, and will, again, be on an even keel.

Don’t you “love” how we cruisers pick up this lingo of the sea?

I’ll be back after Rio de Janeiro.