Day 27 5th February 2011

Chilean Scenery

During the night there was a good deal of movement as we sailed through the Pacific and in the morning we turned into the channels and Islands that mark the Chilean coast. The local name for channel is canal and this morning we sailed along the Darwin canal for 13 kilometres. It is quite beautiful with the scenery from yesterday returning with the only change being fewer snow capped peaks. The mountains here are either shorter or we are far enough north to make snow not possible. The Darwin canal apparently has strong currents and you could see many whirlpools.

Last night we went to the Tandori buffet. These are special meals focused on particular national cuisines so there have been Indian, Tandori, Italian and Mediterranean ones so far. For the most popular ones you have to book and they reserve you a table but after that the meal is self-service. There is help provided so if you are using a wheelchair, a waiter will carry your tray and you can select what you want to eat. It was very good but normally we avoid self-service since it is often crowded and rather like a BHS restaurant. Our preference is the main restaurant or Café Bordeaux.

We are approaching the end of the second stage in the voyage and this morning we got our interim account. This allows you to check it before the end of the stage when they want you to pay the bill. In our case we registered a credit card so that they claim the money from the card. We then arranged for the credit card to be paid automatically from our bank account. Buying things on the ship is painless in that you just show your cruise card which serves as identification and a door key for your room, then sign your name. They then give you a receipt.  It makes buying things so easy that you probably spend more than you would if paying cash. The only items you need to pay cash for are stamps. Once you also had to pay cash for foreign currencies but now they accept your card.

This afternoon Chris went to hear Johnny Kingdom present his third and final talk about wild life photography while I went to watch Newcastle versus Arsenal. By half time the score was 4 – 0 to Arsenal. Newcastle had played awful. By the time we got back to our room it was 4-4, amazing game. There are relatively few football fans on the ship with only small groups watching the football.