tomkat.blogspot.com

Saturday, January 17, 2004

Tom's Excruciatingly Detailed Log of the Voyage

Ship's Log
Monday 12th January : Day 1
09.30: We check-in at Navimag's Puerto Montt office. Predictably, we're rather too early, but it mans we get two good berths (one on top of the other, by a window).
14.30: Kathy (guide 1) tells us all about M/N Magallanes. Boarding begins, starting with AAA passengers (most posh), then AA (posh), then A (less posh), and finally C (scum).
15.00: We finaly get aboard M/N Magallanes, and sort out our stuff in our berths. Miraculously our bags have materialised intact and in the right place (we didn't tip the luggage guy).
16.00: Everyone assembles on the top deck for a safety drill. Half of us get life jackets and we all mill around for a bit.
16.30: M/N Magallanes leaves Puerto Montt. Toot toot!
17.00: Introductory talk in the mess hall by Kathy. Clearly alcoholism is a common problem.
17.30: Nicole (guide 2) gives an enthusiastic talk in Spanish on the geography and culture of Chiloé and Puerto Montt. Eduardo (guide 3) translates, with somewhat less enthusiasm.
19.30: Green ticket holdesr (us) go down to the mess hall for dinner: leek soup; chicken and mashed potatoes; fake crème caramel; coffee. Not bad. After a brief delay, Katherine gets a vegetable stew.
20.15: Our carton of red wine (Víña Concha y Toro, of course) is broken out. Yum.
21.30: We watch What Lies Beneath in the mess hall.
22.00: Katherine leaves, unable to cope with the What that Lies Beneath.
22.45: Turns out it was Harrison Ford all along.
23.30: Tucked up in our cosy beds.
Tuesday 13th January : Day 2
07.00: I inexplicably wake up before Katherine's alarm goes off.
07.30: Shower (luxurious, considering); dress (requires considerable agility to maintain one's dignity).
08.00: Breakfast - scrambled eggs, bread, cheese, ham (two bits for me - hurrah!), banana, porridge, coffee (or tea) etc.
10.00: Briefing. Today's activities are outlined.
10.30: We attend a lecture on the fauna of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, given by a 'trainee guide'. Humph. We want the real thing.
11.30: We watch Survival Island, not a reality TV show, but a BBC documentary (narrated, inevitably, by David Attenborough) about the wildlife of South Georgia, which has a lot in common with this part of the world. Penguins, it turns out, are very cute, unless they're being eaten by seals.
14.00: Lunch - we're on shift two (green ticket) today, so we have to wait a bit longer. Lunch is a slab of beef with rice, and the usual soup, drink, and so on.
15.30: Another 'trainee guide' gives a lecture on the culture of the natives who used to live in the area, the ones Darwin called "sub-human" or something. There are about ten left... All very well, but we want Nicole!
16.00: We go up to the bridge to watch the crew steer the ship round a corner. I poke about with the ballast controls and almost sink us (just kidding).
16.15: I watch Gladiator in the mess hall. Katherine, unimpressed by Ridley Scott's epic, has a siesta instead.
17.30: The visceral battle scenes gain an extra dimension when the Magallanes hits open seas and begins to rock rather unsettlingly.
20.00: Dinner is served. Spag bol today, not that it matters - I manage all of about three mouthfuls before giving up in despair. Not like me at all.
21.30: We watch Bruce Almighty, while the ship continues to lurch horribly.
23.30: Bed, sleep. Much to my chagrin, throughout the evening Katherine has remained blissfully untouched by the stomach-churning swells.
Wednesday 14th January : Day 3
07.30: Normal waking-up routine. The Magallanes is now back in some channel or other, and mercifully we are running smoothly once more.
08.00: Breakfast. Today's jam is raspberry.
08.30: We kill time before the briefing with Scrabble in the pub.
10.00: Briefing, which is about to segue into a lecture on Puerto Natales, Punta Arenas on Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, when...
10.30: The Magallanes enters the English Straits, then passes the wreck of a Greek cargo ship that crashed into the wreck of an ancient English ship that ran aground. Everyone crowds on deck to have a look.
10.45: We listen to the lecture in Spanish first, and they're about to do it in English, when...
11.15: The ship arrives at Puerto Eden. We anchor off-shore, and several launches come out of the port to meet us. A couple of passengers (locals, presumably) get off, and some get on. The whole procedure takes about half an hour.
11.45: The lecture resumes, in English.
12.30: Lunch. Fish and veggies. This time I manage to eat everything (plus some of Katherine's).
13.30: The next two hours are spent reading, playing Tetris and drinking red wine-
15.30: We learn about Chilean slang (in Spanish).
16.00: We learn about Chilean slang (in English).
16.30: Billy Elliot - a rather incongruous choice of film, I can't help but think.
19.30: First sitting at dinner today. A big slab of turkey (a fried egg for Katherine) and cheesy potatoes.
20.30: In the bar, we finish off our wine, and buy a bingo card for later tonight.
22.00: The bingo is a disaster, we win nothing. At least we got all the wine drunk...
Thursday 15th January : Day 4
00.45: We finally make it to bed.
06.00: Urgh! Too early! But we get up anyway - the ship is travelling through a particularly scenic narrow strait (which can only be navigated in daylight) so we stumble out bleary-eyed to have a look. Our stamina is rewarded when from the bridge we spy a sleek grey dolphin jumping through the water at close range.
07.30: Early breakfast is served in the mess hall.
08.00: The Magallanes anchors off-shore near Puerto Natales, waiting for permission to dock.
09.00: Safely ashore at Puerto Natales - dry land for the first time since Monday.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home