A pre-departure sea day is a true gift, as it gives us time to pack everything after some twenty plus days of uncontrolled sprawl. And did it ever sprawl! Into every drawer, nook and cranny of the Owner Suite and the connecting Vista stateroom.
But after a few hours of dedicated effort, it all began to come together – suitcases were filled, bags were tagged, and we were just about ready to depart.
Time for a very geography-centric trivia. My son correctly remembered that Greenland is the world’s largest island, and that Zurich has the highest cost of living in Switzerland. However, we were surprised to learn that Italy has the world’s greatest number of UNESCO sites, and that France is the most visited country in the world (though it makes sense given how many islands and protectorates it retains).
It was a challenging round, and we once again did not quite make the podium. Ah, well! We’re having fun and learning something new, which is what matters.
Lunchtime! They still have Halloween-themed desserts, though some of them are getting stale. But others – like the chocolate cake in the lower righthand corner – were quite tasty.
Off to Sarah’s workshop on survival at sea. It was a fun challenge – after learning about some real-life survival stories, we were asked to review a list of supplies and rank them in order of importance then join a larger group to discuss to revise our rankings.
If you’re inclined to complete this exercise on your own, please do so now – as immediately below is the US Coast Guard scoring:
We then compared our rankings against those of the Coast Guard – hint, they would prioritize a quick rescue – and then tallied up our points according to the following scale:
My score was 55 – dehydrated but barely alive. I had prioritized survival over rescue, which partly accounts for the score difference.
Back to the room where we had one last drink out on the verandah. We marvelled again at the incredible sea conditions we’ve enjoyed for the past 23 days – all the more remarkable when you consider the eight-plus metres of swell in the Drake and the Atlantic.
A silver torpedo skimmed through the waves off to the port side – dolphins! But sadly they were gone before we could photograph them or the kids could see them.
I then swung by Reception to make a contribution to the crew fund, and tracked down both our Stateroom Attendant Cyril and our Butler Francis to provide them with an extra tip. They both did exceptional work, and were so understanding of our rapidly-changing schedule.
Then back to the Expedition Desk for points redemption – I completely forgot to get photos of the various items and costs but if I recall correctly they had keychains, bottle openers, luggage hooks, coasters, aprons, T-shirts, notebooks, penguin, bear, and whale stuffies, squeeze toys, mugs, and the ever-present Silversea pen.
We got a notebook and pen for 80 prize points along with a certificate for a further 155 prize points. We are now just under 1,000 prize points! Hopefully we can find something new and interesting when we sail aboard the Moon in February.
On the subject of prizes, we did get a lovely gift bag for taking second place in the ship-building contest – it contained spa items for myself and my wife (moisturizer, masks, exfoliants, conditioners, etc.), along with a bear stuffy and a hat – which was promptly traded for a whale stuffy.
Time to shower and change, and then head to the Expedition Team Farewell:
These final recaps remain bittersweet for us – not just because they mark the end of the cruise, but also because they remind us of the loss of the beloved trip videos that Silversea once carefully crafted for each of their voyages.
The expedition team had put together some ad-hoc videos / PowerPoint slides on the Wind during our last cruise, but Silversea has since replaced that with “Golden Moments” in which several of the expedition guides step up and share their favourite memories of the cruise.
The manta rays of Tahuata featured quite prominently here – it was the first time many of our expedition staff had seen them – but some of them were surprisingly easy to have missed, like the red-footed cormorant that Malcolm spotted on Robinson Crusoe shortly after the end of the pirate party. In breeding plumage and in sunshine, no less!
So that was good. But you know what would be even better? A trip video and the golden moments. Think about it, Silversea.
Peter then gathered the staff on stage, and said his farewells. You could how much of an impact this particular team had made on him. He will be disembarking at the end of this voyage, and a new expedition leader will be taking over for the start of the Antarctic season – then I believe Jamie and Mareike will once more be reprising their leadership roles starting in December.
Only now was the crew fund mentioned, which seems like a missed opportunity – everyone was in the middle of packing up, and so I’m unsure how many would contribute at this stage. Better if they mention it during the Captain’s Farewell, in my opinion.
The Hotel Director did come up and thank us for our donation to the crew fund, which is always appreciated – and our receipt had a memo that noted that transaction was a contribution to the crew fund. This is also a welcome change, as past contributions have often been simply marked as ‘cash advance’ – which does not give a huge sense of accountability.
Off to the Restaurant for our final dinner of the voyage:
My wife had the mussels:
I added a lobster tail to my scallops, as it’s something I’ve been meaning to do all voyage and kept forgetting.
Our daughter also tried the scallops and quite liked them – though possibly because they were bacon wrapped.
Then the spicy lamb rogan josh, which was very good – and not too spicy – though the lamb had a fair bit of gristle. Though there was naan, which is always good.
I finished it all off with the dark gianduja:
It was then time to head back to the room to pack up a little more – and then head up to Observation Lounge to watch the final game of the World Series.
I tried to get a drink of Canadian Club from Panorama but they were short on highball glasses, so I ended up with a wine glass full of whiskey.
And no – I was not able to finish it!
We toughed it out til close to 12:30 am, but gave up when it went to extra innings. We have to be out of our room by 8 am tomorrow, so we need to get some sleep!
All good things…
At least we aren’t going too far – an easy transfer (hopefully) to the Santiago Airport, and then on to Calama for our transfer out to Explora Atacama.