We cruised through the night in mostly fabulously calm seas. I mean, my mama is clearly back there praying because her prayers always work and these seas are flat behaving!!
We were all up and doing the normal things, including holding a pretty legit penguin stalking vigil off the port side. Unfortunately, the entire Malbec crew has cabins on the port side so we have no eyes on the scene over starboard. We need to plan this better.
While prepping for our big penguin day to begin, we heard the Captain come on the loud speaker. We figured he was going to say we had clearance to begin getting off the ship. Now, we were already mentally prepared for this because the tender ride was 2 miles!!! 2 miles for crying out loud. That’s nuts. They said it would take a solid 30 minutes each way. This sounds like Dramamine to me:) I prepped for this! To the penguins!
Unfortunately, what the captain was saying was that the seas were too rough to safely use the tenders. Which means no one could go to shore. Except, unfortunately, someone was also having a medical emergency at the moment and they were trying to figure out how to get that person off. How terrifying!! For the rest of us, it meant hanging out there while they first helped solve the emergency. Then, we would leave.
Alas. No penguins today:(
When a cruise ship abruptly changes plans for the day, it is coordinated chaos for all of us. We have a whole lot of experience with this- just from our one Mediterranean crossing where we missed 6 ports! But anyway, the poor crew who was going to have a pretty darn chill and quiet day now has to hustle like maniacs. First, a whole slate of activities has to be planned and a new guide has to be published. And, all the restaurants were going to be closed but now they all had to be open with food ready to go. Whew! The lunch buffet was WILD. I laughed out loud, even. But they pulled it off, as they always do, and even looked calm the whole time while cranky people yelled about things no one could control. The good times were rolling!
The girls decided we might as well have high tea because nothing says my penguin dreams were crushed today like crying into your scones. The tea was great- they didn’t serve the 2 or 3 tiered platters but rather, came along with trays of goodies and you could pick what you wanted. We didn’t get to pick our choice of tea which was ok because they made it perfectly but I did wonder if black tea at 3 PM would keep me up later that night seeing as how I’m now 98 years old and this is what our brains worry about. There was one crazy little dessert we could not believe- it was roughly the size of a Ding Dong, for those who indulge. Chocolate on the outside but when you cut into it, the entirety of the thing was caramel. Nothing else. No cake. No pecans. One large, oozing heap of caramel. It was bananas to see!! I love caramel but was glad I didn’t choose it because…well, I didn’t need a plate full of caramel.
Despite our location, which seemed to be…circling the Falkland Islands, it was delightful outside. Sunny and warm so I made my way to the pool deck which I pretty much had to myself! I enjoyed being in the sunshine until I got sleepy and then wandered off to take a nap. These days are so tough. I brought my winter boots and this would likely be the last day I would be wearing them. I’ll donate them to the cause, whatever that may be, before leaving
the ship next week.
We had a late reservation at the seafood place and enjoyed watching the sunset from our table. Not the day we hoped for, but a good one all the same. I never want to complain about my days when I’m free to explore a beautiful world with great people. There are frustrations, sure. But the days are good and going by too fast- as they always do.
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