Tuesday, 3rd January, Beagle Channel, 6 degrees

We were still stationary when we woke up and there was a murky greyness to the scenery with just the dark shapes of the hilly terrain on either side of the Beagle Channel. We were a bit late on parade but, unusually, found ourselves alone, save the deck crew who ‘swab the decks’ every morning. Gradually more people joined us. ( I have to remind myself that yesterday we rounded Cape Horn and today we are in The Beagle Channel…and those facts are simply astonishing. It is a privilege and a joy to be here! Woohoo!! Ed)

Keith and I were reminded of the wonderful book called This Thing of Darkness. Set in the period from 1828 to 1865 it is a novel based on the life of Robert Fitzroy who was captain of the Beagle when Charles Darwin was on board making some of his discoveries . Fitzroy had however been temporarily Captain on Beagle’s first mission when it was surveying Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. The weather today looked very much as the book describes it. Incidentally Fitzroy was the first to introduce the concept of weather forecasting for sailors and the area ‘Fitzroy’ in the shipping forecast is named after him,

After breakfast it was time for ukulele and then Bridge. Bridge becomes more and more popular and we had to almost fight to hold the places of Maria and Matthew. (I had to steal a couple of chairs too! Ed) We find that the rules and the language of Bridge and what they signal become more and more complex. the more you learn, the more you have to learn. We thought that the session had not taken place yesterday because of the outside distractions, but it would appear that both ukulele and Bridge did take place but with limited numbers so the sessions were ran again today.

Because the sea is quite rough today (as I write, I notice Keith’s shirt which is hanging on the wall, is moving in time with the rolling of the ship) we took the least energetic option and went off to the Glass House on the 13th deck to read our books! Quelle Horreur!! (The nerve! Anyone would think we were on holiday! Ed)

It was then time for lunch and for me to prepare for my second manicure – I suffered a broken finger nail yesterday when (rather ironically) I was looking for Keith’s gloves! I didn’t find the gloves.

The weather continued to be rough for a bit. We did go out again around 4.00 but it was still blowing a gale – (and we saw, briefly but unmistakably, a Southern Royal Albatross circling the ship! A-mazing!! Ed) – but later as we were going into supper the sun came out and we were moving into the Magellan Straits and everything changed. During our meal we started to see small islands, huge rocks and rocky escarpments on both sides of the ship some of them with trees that had been flattened by the wind almost horizontal against the ground. We watched – spellbound – while we were eating and couldn’t wait to get outside again.

When we did get out we were rewarded by the most amazing cloudscapes, distant mountains with snow on them and shafts of light on the water.

(Today has been filled with magic and wonder. Ed) Tomorrow we arrive in Punta Arenas and we are going to on a tour to discover more about Magellan. Can’t wait!