Thursday Jan 19, 2023
Hi all! We got woken up early this morning by an announcement from the Captain saying we were about to circle Cape Horn which is at the Southern most tip of South America. So we jumped out of bed and went out on our balcony to see what it looked like. The sun was shining and we got to see the lighthouse as well as the statue of the albatross bird that honors all the sailors that perished to their death in these waters.
They said that sailors from the Chilean and Argentinian Navy sign up to live at the lighthouse for a one year period. Currently a sailor is living there with his wife, 10 year old daughter and 5 year old son. Someone regularly brings them supplies from the mainland. The lighthouse pictures turned out nice with the sun shining on it. After that, we grabbed breakfast and went to listen to the two morning speakers. The first one was all about the history of Futbol (soccer) around the world. They showed clips of how crazy the fans get, especially in Argentina and Brazil. They talked about one of the best soccer players in Argentinian history named
Diego Maradona. He scored the winning goal to allow them to win their first World Cup and the fans loved him so much they started a religion honoring him! There are over 200,000 people in their “church”! Crazy!
The second speaker’s talk was called Antarctica – A Lawless Frontier or not? Since it’s a country that’s not ruled by any one country they discussed a series of questions such as:Can you take as many fish as you want out of its waters? No. Fishing is allowed but under tight regulations
Are whales commercially harvested? No. Whaling is prohibited.
If you commit a crime in Antarctica can you be prosecuted? Yes. But your country’s laws would prosecute you.
Is mining for minerals allowed? No, it’s prohibited.
The afternoon speaker’s subject was called “Lines (with Twilight)”. We had no idea what that meant but decided to go anyway. It ended up being all about the geographical lines of the globe that tie in with the earth orbiting around the sun such as theTropic of Capricorn, Tropic of Cancer, Equator, Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle. It’s crazy when you think that on Antarctica during the summer that the sun never sets for a few months straight! But then in winter it’s dark for 24 hours for a few months which would be depressing!
After that we went to a topic called “meet the performers” where the two piano players we listen to each night introduced themselves and shared stories of their career and how they got here. We found out they are actually a “couple”. How cute!
During that whole time we were crossing the Drake Passage. I mentioned previously it’s considered one of the most treacherous voyages for ships to make. Currents at its latitude meet no resistance from any landmass, and thus can have waves as high as 40 feet! Fortunately for us, while the ship was rocking a bit, it wasn’t too bad. Thanks for all the prayers so we didn’t experience the 40 foot waves also known as the “Drake Shake”!
We then had a nice dinner and went to see the main show which was a magician/illusionist. He was pretty good and selected people out of the audience (not us!) to help with his act and they played along well. He had an amazing card trick at the end that you’d love to know how he did it! After that we listened to the piano players and called it a night.
Tomorrow we have a sea day as we approach Antarctica. Can’t wait to see this beautiful part of the world! Pics to come later!
The Wandering Italian 