From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Jan 28, 2008 8:11 PM
Subject: 1/28/2008
1/28/2008
CRUSING THROUGH THE BEAVER CHANNEL, VIEWING THE GLACIERS, ON THE WAY AROUND CAPE HORN, AND ON TO USHUAIA, ARGENTINA
We ran into some more people, again today, who are reading this blog. When they saw me they too had to tell me how wonderful I was. I had to agree. However, they said some of my facts were wrong. So I will repeat. Somewhere near the beginning of this thing, this year, I explained that this is a blog of misinformation. Checking of facts involves some amount of work. Work is a four letter word that I try not to use and God knows, do not do anymore. So don’t expect accuracy.
We had to get up early again this morning. This time we did not have to leave the room though. Again we were very lucky, or perhaps it was the wonderfulness of myself, to have picked the port side of the ship for our cabin. Most of the good stuff was on our side.
As was for the last few days, I don’t have the words to describe how beautiful this place is when the weather is clear enough to see. Today it started out overcast and with just a bit of fog in the distance. Soon it got very windy and drove away the fog. There were several times the sun even came out. It is very strong when it is out. Most of the time it was cloudy and then it was cold.
The narrator started at about 8:00 AM. She pointed out all the different sights and wild life as we passed. We even saw a whole colony of penguins. We saw five large, named glaciers. They had large waterfalls and some went all the way down to the sea making them tide water glaciers. We also passed another recent ship wreck. If I remember right, which is rare these days, it went down in 1992 or maybe 1987. Who cares. It made for a good picture. It had been carrying a load of bibles to distribute throughout the world. It ran onto rocks in bad weather and the entire cargo was lost. That will teach them to spread that silly gossip. No lives were lost though.
At about 9:00 AM we were told that all the exciting stuff had passed and the narrator would be signing off until about 8:00 this evening. She will start up again as we go around the Horn. Beep, Beep.
Last night it was light at 10:00 PM. I am sure it will be the same tonight if the weather is clear. Bobbi went to get her hair done and my movie is over so I started this thing early today.
So far we are just coming out of the Fjords into the open ocean. It is 3:25 PM local time and the ocean is still fairly calm. I haven’t seen any sea monsters yet today but I did see some scary ones on board.
Bobbi just came back from the hair dresser. She looks great. They did a wonderful job. Better then at home and only double the price. Now she wants to have her hair done here all the time.
At 4:15 PM, according to the information they give us on the TV, we are going almost head on into at least 65 mile an hour winds. Seas are starting to pick up and the winds are blowing water out of the sea and all over the ship. We are going less then ten knots now.
I am under the understanding that we have to make a technical stop. What that is, is a stop at a neutral country or it’s possession when going from one port to another where it is not allowed. My guess is, we have been in Argentine waters or territory all day and the Falklands do not allow ships to stop there after being in Argentina. A few years back, Argentina tried to take over the Falkland Islands. They belong to the UK and most of the people still want to be British subjects. So they had a little war where the US had to intervene.
No, that was all wrong. We are not going to the Falklands yet. Forget about that.
We passed Ushuaia much earlier. If we go to the cape we will have to go backward to get back there as scheduled. If Argentina won’t allow ships to enter from Chile, then what other country is there to stop at? I am so confused. The hell with it. I’m going to do the only intelligent thing. I’ll take another nap.
The couple from Virtuoso just called. They said they are going to try to reschedule tonight’s dinner time so we can see the Cape at 8:00 PM. I thought the dinner the other night, with them was the rescheduled one. We think they do not remember who they are talking to but that’s all right. Tonight’s dinner is at Latitudes. That is the Indochine restaurant. You have to make reservations way in advance. We ate there again the other night. It was wonderful. So we said fine, we are coming. Now they will figure out they made a mistake and probably never call us back, or they called us thinking we were someone else in the first place? They are old you know. I am so confused. We are just going to show up there anyhow. The manager of that restaurant is my girlfriend, Sweet Leilani. She will get us a table anyhow. She is madly in love with me. She always comes over and hugs me. Of course, what’s not to love?
Okay. I think maybe I have it straight now. We had been in the Beaver Channel which was both Chile and Argentina, maybe. Now we went to or around the Cape which is still Chile. We have never officially been in Argentina, maybe. I do know for sure that we are headed back to the Beaver Channel where we will make a stop at Williams Port to officially enter Mexico or Venezuela or some one of those southern places. Argentina. That’s it. Right. Argentina.
We did have lunch, or make that dinner at Latitudes. It had become a Thai restaurant while I wasn’t looking. The food was very good even though most of it did not taste like the Thai food I have gotten at Thai restaurants around the world. It was more like someone took recipes out of a Thai cook book and made them very well but not authentic and gave some wrong names. But again, it was very good. Had I never been to Thai restaurants, I would not know the difference and would have thought I must like Thai food.
We were still finishing up with dinner when the narrator came on the public address and started telling us about the cape. We quickly finished and went back to our room. Almost all the action was on our side again.
It is not named Cape Horn for the mountain called the Horn, at the tip. It is named for the ship that first navigated it. The only reason we had to go here, was to go here. It was not on the way.
The winds had died down quite a bit on the way here. At first it was foggy at the island but did clear up a lot. There were very low clouds moving at high speeds and a lot of mist from the wind blowing the waters into the air. We were in the lea of the island until we rounded the cape and went toward the Horn. It is a mountain that looks much like Sugar Loaf in Rio. That is because it is the same shape and the exact height, 1,300 feet.
As we rounded the Cape we started to get the full effects of the ocean. Winds were down to about 35 knots. The average is 35 knots with 62 knot gusts. This was a little better then average. Some times it can be flat and more often, ridiculous. The narrator said that during the 39 times she has crossed it in cruise ships, they were dipping their bows under waves. This had been the best trip through the Fjords and around the Horn that she has ever had. She has seen more and spotted more animals then all the other times put together. I guess it just must be because I’m here this time. I am just good luck.
CRUSING THROUGH THE BEAVER CHANNEL, VIEWING THE GLACIERS, ON THE WAY AROUND CAPE HORN, AND ON TO USHUAIA, ARGENTINA
We ran into some more people, again today, who are reading this blog. When they saw me they too had to tell me how wonderful I was. I had to agree. However, they said some of my facts were wrong. So I will repeat. Somewhere near the beginning of this thing, this year, I explained that this is a blog of misinformation. Checking of facts involves some amount of work. Work is a four letter word that I try not to use and God knows, do not do anymore. So don’t expect accuracy.We had to get up early again this morning. This time we did not have to leave the room though. Again we were very lucky, or perhaps it was the wonderfulness of myself, to have picked the port side of the ship for our cabin. Most of the good stuff was on our side.As was for the last few days, I don’t have the words to describe how beautiful this place is when the weather is clear enough to see. Today it started out overcast and with just a bit of fog in the distance. Soon it got very windy and drove away the fog. There were several times the sun even came out. It is very strong when it is out. Most of the time it was cloudy and then it was cold.
The narrator started at about 8:00 AM. She pointed out all the different sights and wild life as we passed. We even saw a whole colony of penguins. We saw five large, named glaciers. They had large waterfalls and some went all the way down to the sea making them tide water glaciers. We also passed another recent ship wreck. If I remember right, which is rare these days, it went down in 1992 or maybe 1987. Who cares. It made for a good picture. It had been carrying a load of bibles to distribute throughout the world. It ran onto rocks in bad weather and the entire cargo was lost. That will teach them to spread that silly gossip. No lives were lost though.At about 9:00 AM we were told that all the exciting stuff had passed and the narrator would be signing off until about 8:00 this evening. She will start up again as we go around the Horn. Beep, Beep.Last night it was light at 10:00 PM. I am sure it will be the same tonight if the weather is clear. Bobbi went to get her hair done and my movie is over so I started this thing early today.
So far we are just coming out of the Fjords into the open ocean. It is 3:25 PM local time and the ocean is still fairly calm. I haven’t seen any sea monsters yet today but I did see some scary ones on board.Bobbi just came back from the hair dresser. She looks great. They did a wonderful job. Better then at home and only double the price. Now she wants to have her hair done here all the time.
At 4:15 PM, according to the information they give us on the TV, we are going almost head on into at least 65 mile an hour winds. Seas are starting to pick up and the winds are blowing water out of the sea and all over the ship. We are going less then ten knots now.
I am under the understanding that we have to make a technical stop. What that is, is a stop at a neutral country or it’s possession when going from one port to another where it is not allowed. My guess is, we have been in Argentine waters or territory all day and the Falklands do not allow ships to stop there after being in Argentina. A few years back, Argentina tried to take over the Falkland Islands. They belong to the UK and most of the people still want to be British subjects. So they had a little war where the US had to intervene.No, that was all wrong. We are not going to the Falklands yet. Forget about that.
We passed Ushuaia much earlier. If we go to the cape we will have to go backward to get back there as scheduled. If Argentina won’t allow ships to enter from Chile, then what other country is there to stop at? I am so confused. The hell with it. I’m going to do the only intelligent thing. I’ll take another nap.
The couple from Virtuoso just called. They said they are going to try to reschedule tonight’s dinner time so we can see the Cape at 8:00 PM. I thought the dinner the other night, with them was the rescheduled one. We think they do not remember who they are talking to but that’s all right. Tonight’s dinner is at Latitudes. That is the Indochine restaurant. You have to make reservations way in advance. We ate there again the other night. It was wonderful. So we said fine, we are coming. Now they will figure out they made a mistake and probably never call us back, or they called us thinking we were someone else in the first place? They are old you know. I am so confused. We are just going to show up there anyhow. The manager of that restaurant is my girlfriend, Sweet Leilani. She will get us a table anyhow. She is madly in love with me. She always comes over and hugs me. Of course, what’s not to love?Okay. I think maybe I have it straight now. We had been in the Beaver Channel which was both Chile and Argentina, maybe. Now we went to or around the Cape which is still Chile. We have never officially been in Argentina, maybe. I do know for sure that we are headed back to the Beaver Channel where we will make a stop at Williams Port to officially enter Mexico or Venezuela or some one of those southern places. Argentina. That’s it. Right. Argentina.
We did have lunch, or make that dinner at Latitudes. It had become a Thai restaurant while I wasn’t looking. The food was very good even though most of it did not taste like the Thai food I have gotten at Thai restaurants around the world. It was more like someone took recipes out of a Thai cook book and made them very well but not authentic and gave some wrong names. But again, it was very good. Had I never been to Thai restaurants, I would not know the difference and would have thought I must like Thai food.
We were still finishing up with dinner when the narrator came on the public address and started telling us about the cape. We quickly finished and went back to our room. Almost all the action was on our side again.
It is not named Cape Horn for the mountain called the Horn, at the tip. It is named for the ship that first navigated it. The only reason we had to go here, was to go here. It was not on the way.The winds had died down quite a bit on the way here. At first it was foggy at the island but did clear up a lot. There were very low clouds moving at high speeds and a lot of mist from the wind blowing the waters into the air. We were in the lea of the island until we rounded the cape and went toward the Horn. It is a mountain that looks much like Sugar Loaf in Rio. That is because it is the same shape and the exact height, 1,300 feet.
As we rounded the Cape we started to get the full effects of the ocean. Winds were down to about 35 knots. The average is 35 knots with 62 knot gusts. This was a little better then average. Some times it can be flat and more often, ridiculous. The narrator said that during the 39 times she has crossed it in cruise ships, they were dipping their bows under waves. This had been the best trip through the Fjords and around the Horn that she has ever had. She has seen more and spotted more animals then all the other times put together. I guess it just must be because I’m here this time. I am just good luck.
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