Antarctic Cruise Day 26 / 40 - An angry morning

Antarctic Cruise Day 26 / 40 - Seriously - watch the video

Trip day: 26 / 40

Port days: 8
Sea days: 17
Countries: 4
Continents: 3
Ports/Landings: 5

The captain made the decision yesterday to get out of the Falkland Islands early and head toward Ushuaia as winds and weather were inbound.  Guess where that weather is.  Right where we are.  We were rocking and rolling last night.  But...then we got up.  It is a low-and-wide day today - that's how you have to walk.  We're in 25-foot waves and 68-knot wind gusts from our west.

The photo above and video below are from The Hide - that small meeting room and whiskey bar on the ship.  It is located on deck #1, all the way in the front of the ship.  Why are the windows blue?  Because we were underwater! Check out the following video and be sure to watch to the end for the biggest waves!

All this movement made Baggo extremely interesting today.  Scores were down and a majority of the bags didn't land on (or near) the board.  Regardless, the guest prevailed, ultimately winning the overall Baggo challenge for the cruise!  It was really a fun time being able to engage in this friendly competition with a wide variety of crew.  Thanks to Viking and entertainment manager, Arann, for making it happen every sea day.

Victory drinks were served up in the Living Room, given that they didn't want anyone walking with drinks with the massive movements we were still encountering. That was great as that was where trivia was about to begin. We played again with Roxanna and Emmanuel.  First up was picture trivia - name the celebrity caricatures.

1. Barak Obama
2. Meryl Streep
3. Jackie Chan
4. Albert Einstein
5. Julia Roberts
6. Jim Carrey
7. Angelina Jolie
8. Morgan Freeman

Our two misses today:

• What is the national flower of Japan?
• We guessed orchid - it is the cherry blossom
• Who was the youngest actor to play James Bond?
• George Lazenby who played 007 at age 29 in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969

That was the last trivia of the cruise, so we retired undefeated.  Of course, our extremely well-traveled partners were more than instrumental in several of the wins.

They served a British buffet lunch today.  We spend a long time at lunch, talking with many of the couples we've met so far.  With only 61 passengers, you really get to know people. It is very nice.

The seas finally started calming down after 1PM or so as we approached Argentina.

Tonight marks the last full day before departures begin for those passengers that are just traveling to Ushuaia.  The evening started with a guest and crew photo on the Finse Terrace followed by the captain's farewell celebration.  

The senior officers came up for the farewell.

Then, a large percentage of the entire crew came up and received thanks from the grateful passengers.

Several crew members then performed musical numbers of all styles.  We have some very talented crew members on this ship.

Dinner tonight was a gala dinner in both The Restaurant and Manfredi's.

Each table was set for six passengers and two officers.  We enjoyed dinner with Sveinung, the Chief Engineer, and Chris, one of the marine biologists.  The dinner was a fixed menu and was quite tasty.

The crab appetizer

Chateaubriand

Dessert

It was a very nice evening with wonderful conversation.

Tomorrow, we will dock early in Ushuaia, Argentina.  We have a Beagle Channel catamaran tour tomorrow morning.