Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Hi All! Happy Valentine’s Day! We made it through another night of the Drake Passage but it was rockin and rolling again last night. So far today it’s been a lot calmer so hopefully the Valentine’s Fairies cast a calming effect on the Drake!
Today was another sea day and it was again chocked full of things to do. We started off with a lecture by Alphonso on Patagonia. He shared some amazing pictures and fun stories of his experiences there. Along with being a polar expedition guide on our ship he also leads hikes thru Patagonia.
After that we did trivia. We played with Ray and Carmelita again and we did better today and came in second place!
We then grabbed some lunch and went to the lecture on the Secrets of Bridge and Engine Operations by Navigation Officer Gabriela. It’s interesting how both the bridge and engine room teams have to work in tandem to make the ship operate. She also showed pictures of the huge engines and electronic devices used to monitor everything. Very complex!
After that we went to the lecture on Antarctic Krill by Susie. Krill are like little shrimp and are pretty much the lowest species on the food chain that all fish eat. That’s why the whales love this area since it’s so rich in krill. And whales eat millions of the little creatures so thankfully there are plenty of them! There’s so many because each female krill lays 18,000 eggs per year!
Then we started the dreaded packing! Yuk! The toughest part of packing was getting that huge lime green parka in our luggage! But Alan our room steward came to the rescue and folded it up in a small packable ball!
Late afternoon Jonathan and the expedition team gave their final recap and briefing of our entire journey. They each shared pictures and videos of their most magical moments on this cruise. So nice to reflect back on all the cool things we experienced!
Afterwards we went to the Captain’s goodbye reception. He’s the nicest guy and stopped to take pictures with all of us. I hope we get him as our captain on another Atlas cruise.
We then had dinner. They had a special Valentine’s dinner with Filet Mignon and a special dessert that was very yummy. Afterwards we went to the show and watched our cruise director Michael sing songs all related to world travels. Nice touch!
This has been a really amazing trip and one of the best we’ve experienced from an adventure stand point. Tomorrow we start the 24+ hour journey back home. Our route is we dock in Ushuaia, take a flight to Buenos Aires, take a flight to Miami, and take a flight to Charlotte. Whew, I’m getting tired just writing about it!
I’ll do one last update most likely on Friday Feb 16 when we get home. Happy Hump Day to all!
The Wandering Italian 