Friday 30th January, a sea day, 15 degrees

We wanted to get up early because we are coming into whale territory and there is talk of the albatross. The sighting of an albatross is apparently good luck for the ship – or so we were told by Captain Love (our new Captain who came on in Montevideo). So that got us up and we did see Blue Petrels and White Bellied Storm Petrels – or so I am told – but nary a whale or albatross. Personally I did not see the undercarriage of the either of the birds we did see. I am definitely a bit lacklustre in the bird spotting area. I just hold onto the fact that I have other things to offer……(I noticed when they were pointed out to me! How are you not as excited as me? They were petrels, babe! Woohoo!! You don’t see many in Buxton! Ed)

One thing this cruising and looking out to sea does do is put you in perspective. Water to the horizon every day tends to make you feel very small….(We do love days at sea though. There’s something ultra calming and relaxing about them. Ed)

The further south we go you definitely need more clothes on for walking outside, but of course the ambient temperature inside is pretty static at about 21 degrees so dressing for every eventuality is tricky. I am doing my best to keep my end up as you can imagine.

Today I have chosen the dress and jacket approach which is proving to be a bit airy around the leg section but ok weather-wise so that works……

Ukulele was a good session again today followed by a very serious Bridge hour. Luckily Keith, Matthew and Maria can get there in good time so that we can retain a table, but people are having to be turned away. Who knew Bridge was so popular? Today we actually had a real lesson. Not much laughing involved and I think we learnt quite a bit but we did not even get to play two hands of cards! We made up for it by meeting up with Maria and Matthew for lunch – they just make us laugh – such fun! Keith has done some homework and found a pub for us to meet up in tomorrow in Stanley if we can manage to make our tours get us to the same place at the same time…. We shall see.

The sea was very calm today and in early afternoon the sun came out, although it had been overcast earlier so I went up on the top deck while Keith retrieved the 3,000 words he wrote yesterday afternoon and subsequently lost. I was gutted for him. I just know that feeling when something you have worked on for hours is just gone in two seconds and you feel sick…..(i didn’t get it back. I had to rewrite it. Never mind. It’s better this time. Ed)

Anyway I disappeared up to the top deck to enjoy what sun there was – until there wasn’t any! The temperature dropped to 12 degrees. I guess it is not to be surprised at, Gareth shared with us the this evening over dinner that the Falklands is about the same distance from the South Pole as London is from the North Pole – not many people are aware of this and I certainly wasn’t!! Thank you Gareth! By the time we were eating there was a thick mist outside – very much a sea haar. What a funny word ‘haar’ is……

Tonight we went to see a tribute act of Eric Morecombe and Ernie Wise, called Eric and Ern. I think they were ok but I am not the best judge as i am not good at humour,……. It seemed to make other people laugh…(The jokes were very old, but then you aren’t going to get new Morecombe and Wise material. People do love the familiarity of it all. Ed)

So tomorrow it is Port Stanley. We have to get there by tender and it is about 25 minutes to the harbour from the ship. Regrettably rain is forecast, but somehow that is how I visualise the Falklands, covered in mist and damp.