Tuesday, 17th February, at sea off the coast of Peru, 22 degrees

It was a murky morning and quite dark when we woke as we had put our clocks back an hour last night. When we got out on deck it was just light and very difficult to make out where the sky ended and the sea began as there was a haze in the distance.

There was a lot of sea activity though. We saw am indeterminate whale in the distance. We then saw what we believed to be four pilot whales nearer to the ship. We later saw several seals on different occasions throughout the morning. They seem to be lying on their backs with their flippers in the air somehow. Apparently they like that! (And several pods of seals enjoying leaping in and out of the sea)

Ukulele was advertised as being a longer session today, although I had to leave at 10.00 to join my Bridge group. This is the last day of Manda and Douglas. They leave the ship tomorrow and I think we have a lady teacher next.

It was then back in my walking shorts for some top up circuits as some of our time this morning was diverted by sea activity. By the way the pilot whales were confirmed. Good old hawk eye Keith!

I then changed back into my Bridge attire for lunch. We then had a bit of quiet time before I ascended for my crossword session on the 13th deck. It is really hot and steamy today and the sun, when it is out, is really strong, but there is a breeze on the top deck.

I had just settled down on my sun bed, when a ‘feeding frenzy’ was announced from the bridge (that is where the Captain hangs out for those not familiar with ship parlance!) Regrettably I had not got my camera with me, so I cannot supply personal photographic evidence, but suddenly there was a patch of bubbling sea shimmering in the sunlight. I could not see them from where I was but it would seem that a shoal of fish came up to the surface of the water and were immediately laid upon by a large number of birds. Nature shows little mercy – one step wrong and you are doomed!

I did not stay long up top. It was too hot, despite the breeze. So descended and did some quiet reading before it was time to go to dinner. The dining room was pretty empty as 54 people left the ship early yesterday morning for Macchu Pichu. There were similar gaps at both ukulele and Bridge today. I was flabbergasted to learn that they were staying at the Cuzco Marriott Hotel. Cuzco was a small village when I was there all those years ago!

We met up with Gareth and Sian tonight – it seems ages since we last had dinner with them. Michael and Penny were not there tonight they were at a special function. It was good to catch up with their goings on.

I was particularly interested to learn of the foghorn that sounded this morning because of the fog. Neither Keith nor I heard it. I guess it is not of great import that we did not hear it, but I hope whoever it was sounded for heard it. Very concerning.

Well, this is a very dull read but it has been a fairly uneventful day apart from whale sightings, feeding frenzies and foghorns….

Tomorrow we are in Lima. The port for Lima is a place called Callao which comes with something of a Government Health Warning. We are told that it is not advisable to do any ‘independent exploration’ of the place for our ‘comfort and safety’. Doesn’t sound a bundle of laughs I must say. It will not trouble us as we have activities lined up for both days in Lima, but nonetheless it did not make for very good reading.

I never thought in a million years that I would pass this way again..