Today’s Chronicle can be found here.
Another gloriously late sleep-in today, followed by some more reading / writing / homework. Our daughter’s class is studying the European colonization of North America, and she’s decided to compare and contrast that with the Polynesian settlement of the Pacific. No question our kids are learning a great deal on this cruise!
There was another discount offered at the spa for the 75 minute full body treatment (a mere US$159), so I booked myself in a few days ago. I wasn’t able to get my first choice of timing due to today’s crew drill, but I still managed to get in before noon. Unfortunately the sauna was turned off for the drill, though I still managed to warm myself up a bit before I went in for my massage.
This was my first time having a massage aboard a Silversea ship, and I quite enjoyed it. There was a brief attempt to upsell for various different massage oils, heated towels, etc. but a simple “no, thanks” was all that was needed to move on. I found it particularly helpful after all the hiking we’d done over the past few days – I hadn’t realized how stiff my legs had gotten.
Back to the sauna / steamroom for another quick sauna – a hot one, this time! – before heading to La Terrazza for a late lunch. The captain’s address mentioned that the sea state was going to continue to worsen, and that we would be getting to around 3.5 metres overnight. The period is long, though, which should make it more manageable. Plus – we remind ourselves – we have experienced much worse in the past.
No update yet regarding our prospects for a zodiac cruise at Alexander Selkirk island, or for a landing at Robinson Crusoe – I would personally rate our chances at a zodiac cruise as slim to nil, though I remain cautiously hopeful that we might yet eke out a visit to Robinson Crusoe.
I sadly missed trivia due to my spa appointment. We placed fourth in my absence, though our son correctly identified a Rolls Royce bearing the AU1 license plate as belong to Goldfinger – despite never having seen the movie! There were apparently quite a few actor-related questions this time, which made it quite challenging.
My wife and kids also took in Damon’s lecture regarding Chile. Much of it involved its top exports (copper, fruit, fish, wine) but Damon also highlighted the country’s safety. It has the lowest homicide rate in South America and is tied among many countries for second least corrupt. (The Scandinavian countries are all tied for first.)
There is considerable financial inequality but although it has a fairly high Gini coefficient – which represents the income distribution of a country – that hasn’t translated into a high crime and violence rate like in South Africa and similar countries. And yes, you can pronounce it as either Chil-EE or Chil-AY.
Then it was time for boat building! The kids visited Panorama and Dolce Vita to obtain various supplies, and it is slowly but surely coming together. Wish I could say more, but we don’t want to spoil the big reveal. Just two more days until we launch!
We lost another hour due to another midday time zone change. These continue to throw off our schedule and leave us vaguely out of sorts, but thankfully there’s only one left to go.
The kids then had a bit of free time, and my wife and I spent a relaxing afternoon out on the balcony, reading and staring out over the Pacific. I thought I’d had my fill of sea days during the Cape to Cape, but I’ve genuinely enjoyed this time. It’s made it easier to finish the writing and generally unwind, particularly amidst the mostly-calm sea state.
Out of idle curiosity, I had a look at CruiseMapper to see how far it is to the next cruise ship – quite a ways!
Compare that – at the same scale – to the Caribbean with a hurricane on the move:
Dinner at the Grill tonight, where we all enjoyed our favourites – I was meant to take a picture of my wife’s poke bowl but she demolished it before I had the chance.
And then – off to bed. More of the same tomorrow!