Sunday, January 17, 2010

South America, Day 8, bring on the wildlife

Saturday, January 16, 2010

At sea,

Sea days force one to admit they are on vacation, with sitting about, reading, talking, and doing little in place of the “up early we need to get started if we want to see everything” pace we sometimes subject ourselves to…

This morning it was foggy, the high overcast found along the shore line… by 10:00 we were in a dense fog, visibility limited to less than 100 yards, that white fluffy all encompassing isolation… the ship was sounding its fog horn, a sound familiar but now rarely heard.

By 1:00 the fog had burned off and we found ourselves in a world of blue, clear blue skies, with a dark blue sea… only the occasional white cap to act as an accent.
The day has been a slow one, up for coffee, then after Tina got up we went to breakfast, attended a talk on the Antarctic, then a talk on sea ice, lunch, a nap, occasional bouts of reading, and a talk on whales (“there be whales her’ Capt’n”) It there are whales nearby I haven’t see any (yet) but I believe they are here…
The dress is formal tonight, so I have my dinner jacket on… soon it will be dinner, then?

Tomorrow is Puerto Madyrn, a Welsh/Argentinean town on the south edge of the Valdes Peninsula, home of a Argentine National Park, and our first penguin colony… This is a moment of transition on the trip… so far we have visited cities, now we are looking for nature and wildlife… I am changing from my small “urban” camera to the larger DLSR with multiple lenses… We will probably carry jackets tomorrow…
The town is supposed to be a strange outpost of Wales with Italian accents in Latin America… It is something of a beach town for vacationing Argentines… and it has an aluminum mine. A friend who has been here before tells me that the fishing fleet is picturesque… South American has been narrowing as we have worked our way south, and the guide books describe it as being in the Andean foothills.

For now I think I will stare at the ocean and look for whales… probably in vane…

Now 10:00 pm… dinner is complete… we watched the show… now in the cabin… There is a lighting storm ahead and to the east… it covers a little more than 90 degrees of the horizon… sheet lighting, lightning bolts, high, between clouds, low, illuminating the sea… it’s a grand show. The seas are still calm… I don’t see a squall line, but it is dark…

We gained an hour this evening… so while the clock now says 11:30, it’s really 10:30… we will probably lose an hour going to the Falklands in a couple of days, then regain it again a few days later… it’s all vacation so for the most part time isn’t an issue. Earlier we gained an hour going to Buenos Aires, but lost that hour going to Montevideo…

Now, Sunday, January 17, 2010

We turned westward and entered the Golfo Nuevo about 7:30 am… It’s windy… you can see land now on both sides of the ship… a few passengers are top side looking for whales… this is the first place that they are likely to be found, but we are a bit late for the local “high” whale season… Of course, most passengers are either in bed or headed for the Lido for food…

We have a shore excursion here, to the penguin rookery at Punta Tonbo on Valdez Peninsula.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Uncle Randy,

    Love your Blogs! I sent you a email @ hees@astound.net. Jason has a school project and I need your help.
    Thanks!
    Carrie

    ReplyDelete