Last night around midnight, Brian got his wish for rough seas. The boat was rocking quite a bit that it woke me up around midnight. We have had very calm and beautiful weather up until this point and have been very lucky. Every time the boat went over a huge wave it rolled me around in my bed. I slept in an awkward position in order to feel like I wouldn't fall out of bed. As such, when I woke up this morning, I was feeling a little stiff.
At breakfast we took a quick survey of our foursome to see how everyone was feeling. Dad's cold was worse and Brian was about 60% and happy about the rough seas last night. He said he got up around midnight to look out his window and watch the weather. He estimated the waves were 5m high. It was his minimum height needed to have rough seas, so he was happy.
Today was a sea day. Without much to do other than returning a few items, it was going to be a quiet day and many people were winding down. We returned our boots and Velcro patches and spent the majority of the day editing photos. Dad and Brian went for naps to help rest away some of their respective colds.
Fritz came by at one point to chat with me. He is really interesting to talk to, as he had been to so many places around the world and worked with a variety of animals. I was happy to have a chance to ask him about the albatross chick we saw at New Island. He had also seen it, I saw him watching it closely at the rookery too. He said that when the albatross chicks get big enough, they require more food to keep them fed and both parents will leave to get the food needed. He noted that the chick was well fed and quite capable to be on its own for a bit. I agreed with him, as I recalled seeing the chick peck at rockhoppers or other albatross that got too close to him. He was already taking on a slight adult role. He also mentioned that the penguins will also do this, but that the chicks we saw were young and still needing attention. He said that the chicks in the nursery are often almost old enough to be left alone and it was a good way to transition them to adulthood. Phew. I felt much better about this information.
We had a lovely final dinner with a champagne toast from the captain. Brian made another good toast (he is really clever at these) before we enjoyed our meal. The dinner celebrated the local Magellan cuisine with ceviche and chimichurri beef. Yum. The whole cruise dad had been joking around with mom that he was going to arrange a birthday song and dessert presented by the crew at dinner for her. She kept insisting that she wouldn't want that. Then after a goodbye dance during dinner, the waiters came by with a dessert and dad said, "here is the dessert I arranged." You should have seen mom's face as the dessert landed at the table next to us. She was stressed but trying to look happy at first. When it went to the lady at the table next to us, she was so relieved. Well, our whole table erupted into hysterical laughter at this. I am sure it was as good as her reaction to when the humpback whales bumped our boat (dad counts these two events as highlights of his trip).
Brian and I had been skipping many of the lectures lately, but couldn't wait for the photo journey of our trip. Many of the photos were very striking (amazing morning icebergs) and some seemed to be just as good as ours were. There was of course one photo of a breeching whale that made me jealous.
We said goodnight as we all headed off to our rooms to pack. We had to put our suitcases by the elevators before 11pm. Then I headed to bed as I know that tomorrow is going to be an extraordinarily long travel day.
Goodnight.
Liz