20221225 Sunday, December 25, 2022. Christmas in the Drake Passage
The weather report has brought us bad news. While initially it looked unfavorable for a landing at President’s Head, and the Captain began scouting out other possibilities such as the Aicho Islands, or a scenic cruise around Deception Island, which is a prominent caldera at the south end of the South Shetland Islands, the forecast developed a worrisome pattern that would have brought severe winds and sea conditions to the Drake Passage that would have essentially closed it for several days. So the Captain decided to make a run for Ushuaia before the storm closed in. We knew something was up when the ship began rolling and pitching more than it had at any other time during this journey in the middle of the night. The news was trickled out early in the morning by the Passenger Services and Expedition central staff. The Captain made an official announcement around 11am. We will be arriving in Ushuaia around 5pm tomorrow, December 26, 2022, which will bring us into Usuhuaia nearly 1-1/2 days early.
Viking will be arranging some sort of ground tour of Tierra del Fuego for us and we will end up spending a night at the dock on the ship before our flights out on December 28, 2022. We hope Viking transfer agents will be able to get John’s luggage from the Ushuaia airport to the ship so that he can pack his newly purchased clothes into his suitcases.
Today turned out to be relaxing day to sort through photos enjoy the spa, although all the pools have been drained except for the one hot tub that is open to the outside. There were no specialty restaurant reservations available for Christmas Day, so we dined in the buffet. They had fillet mignon, lobster tails, duck, turkey, Ham, scallops, sole and salmon, as well as a vast array of desserts. In addition to wines, beer and sake, there have been coctails of the day that have also been complimentary. Todays were bloody Mary’s and Belenis.
By 11PM, we were about halfway across the Drake Passage. Waves were over 18’, so the windows in the Hide were not infrequently deluged with bright blue water. Ben went down around 9:30PM to watch for a bit. Shortly after shooting some video on his GoPro, Torstein Hagen and his friends came in and had a seat behind Ben in the Hide. This is Torstein’s favorite place to watch the sea during Drake Passage crossings. He seems a real salt of the earth sort of fella who really believes in the vision he has created for his cruise lines. Not one shred of crazy that seems to afflict most of our American billionaire CEO’s.
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