March 10 Day 23
The crew had warned us that the big bay we were crossing was going to be the roughest part of our journey. It was relatively calm, but hours of constant rolling take their toll and Meg chose to stay in bad rather than risk having breakfast. I couldn't sleep so got up. There were thick clouds over the mainland and nothing visible but sea on three sides and land in front of us, where we would eventually leave the sea and tuck back into calmer channels. Dolphins and seals were spotted far off the side of the ship and the air was refreshingly cool after our stuffy cabin.
The tour of the day was to see the bridge, which was a mix of original equipment from the ship's construction in the 70s and modern computerized instruments. The captain was there looking at maps and the mate was walking back and forth, checking everything over. We looked at the depth map and the narrow channels we were going through were often 1000 m deep, which was surprising. We also learned that the ship uses 25,000 litres of oil and about 15,000 litres of water every day, so huge tanks made up a large part of a ship like this.
We also passed a wrecked ship. Apparently an enterprising captain sold off his shipload of sugar and headed for a known submerged rock. The ruse was that these channels can be more than 1000 metres deep and once the ship was sunk, the insurance money would cover the "lost" cargo and he'd pocket what he'd already sold. The problem was, the ship stuck to the rock and with no sign of sugar on board, he was found out. The ship has been left to rust and house birds at this point and our passing of it was an event that got everyone out on deck.
We read, chatted with people and enjoyed the views. We went by a ship stranded on a submerged rock, waited for slack tide through the narrowest part of our journey and visited Puerto Eden to drop off supplies. One of our ferrymates said that it was one of the most isolated communities on the planet, several days boat ride from the nearest settlement. We could see a walkway through the town, a bit antenna for wifi and phones, a navy base and streetlights. Many boats came to greet us and left with what looked like only a few sacks of supplies.
The ship had some anchor problems which lengthened our stay in Eden so the Tai Chi class was late and the classical guitar demonstration was delayed until the next day. The water was calm, sometimes like glass, all day with plenty of sun and great views of rugged, glacier-scraped mountains.
After dinner we gathered for bingo. The crew handed out pirate hats and balloon swords to get us into the bingo mood. Meg and I actually won the warmup game which consisted of bouncing ping pong balls off of a table and into a cup held by your teammate and got two sheep fridge magnets as our prize. Our friend Peter showed amazing skill, winning the first two bingo patterns we had to get. We ended with about a half dozen karaoke songs led with great enthusiasm by our host, Rodrigo.
Before bed we headed outside to see the perfectly black sky due to the overcast skies. It was warm and calm and we were the only light for probably a few hundred kilometres. Bed was next and we slept very well with the gentle rocking of the boat and hum of the engines.
The crew had warned us that the big bay we were crossing was going to be the roughest part of our journey. It was relatively calm, but hours of constant rolling take their toll and Meg chose to stay in bad rather than risk having breakfast. I couldn't sleep so got up. There were thick clouds over the mainland and nothing visible but sea on three sides and land in front of us, where we would eventually leave the sea and tuck back into calmer channels. Dolphins and seals were spotted far off the side of the ship and the air was refreshingly cool after our stuffy cabin.
The tour of the day was to see the bridge, which was a mix of original equipment from the ship's construction in the 70s and modern computerized instruments. The captain was there looking at maps and the mate was walking back and forth, checking everything over. We looked at the depth map and the narrow channels we were going through were often 1000 m deep, which was surprising. We also learned that the ship uses 25,000 litres of oil and about 15,000 litres of water every day, so huge tanks made up a large part of a ship like this.
We also passed a wrecked ship. Apparently an enterprising captain sold off his shipload of sugar and headed for a known submerged rock. The ruse was that these channels can be more than 1000 metres deep and once the ship was sunk, the insurance money would cover the "lost" cargo and he'd pocket what he'd already sold. The problem was, the ship stuck to the rock and with no sign of sugar on board, he was found out. The ship has been left to rust and house birds at this point and our passing of it was an event that got everyone out on deck.
We read, chatted with people and enjoyed the views. We went by a ship stranded on a submerged rock, waited for slack tide through the narrowest part of our journey and visited Puerto Eden to drop off supplies. One of our ferrymates said that it was one of the most isolated communities on the planet, several days boat ride from the nearest settlement. We could see a walkway through the town, a bit antenna for wifi and phones, a navy base and streetlights. Many boats came to greet us and left with what looked like only a few sacks of supplies.
The ship had some anchor problems which lengthened our stay in Eden so the Tai Chi class was late and the classical guitar demonstration was delayed until the next day. The water was calm, sometimes like glass, all day with plenty of sun and great views of rugged, glacier-scraped mountains.
After dinner we gathered for bingo. The crew handed out pirate hats and balloon swords to get us into the bingo mood. Meg and I actually won the warmup game which consisted of bouncing ping pong balls off of a table and into a cup held by your teammate and got two sheep fridge magnets as our prize. Our friend Peter showed amazing skill, winning the first two bingo patterns we had to get. We ended with about a half dozen karaoke songs led with great enthusiasm by our host, Rodrigo.
Before bed we headed outside to see the perfectly black sky due to the overcast skies. It was warm and calm and we were the only light for probably a few hundred kilometres. Bed was next and we slept very well with the gentle rocking of the boat and hum of the engines.
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| The abandoned ship, but not many birds that day. |
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| Puerto Eden, looking like many other fishing towns. |
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| Dressed in our finest for bingo night with our friend Peter, who turned out to be the king of bingo. |
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