Lying About Waiting

There's not much they can fill the days with now really. Saw what I thought would be my last iceberg and said farewell. All the briefings and introductions we had to fill our time on the way across are not needed on the way back. Today's lectures have been on Mars, and trips to the Arctic, so they have really exhausted their repertoire. Some people are cataloguing their photos, but most are sitting about in the lounge looking at the horizon to ward off sea sickness, or lying about in their cabin doing the same. For variety I sat about in the lounge in the morning, and lay about the cabin in the afternoon.

As predicted the sea has got rougher. The swells are now 3 - 4 metres, which definately requires you to hang on as you move about. Had lunch up on deck 5 with the hardy souls, and the excitement was both the tables and the chairs, with people in them, sliding about in unison as we ate.

I've been putting off connecting to the internet and using my meagre allowance to read my emails. I figured I would only have emails about issues, which would give me something to worry about. But today I couldn't put it off any longer in case I had flight or accommodation changes, and sure enough there was an email from Mandy saying that her credit card had been stolen on the way home, so she had to cancel it, and I was now without funds to pay my account.

Before dinner, about the same time as we passed the tip of Tiera Del Fuego and the swell reduced to about 2 metres, the captain's farewell and thank you to the crew took place in the lounge. There's 40 odd of them on board, with 14 different languages, and they've done a great job. Last dinner, then time to pack. By the time we went to bed, we had reduced speed to a crawl and the swell was hardly noticeable. We'll shelter here for the night, and pick up the pilot for the last stretch down the Beagle Channel when it gets light tomorrow.