Reaching for the land of Robinson Crusoe.
March 20,2025
Our first full day at sea was very relaxing and pleasurable. We attended a few lectures and learned about our next destination, The Juan Fernandez Archipelago, don’t let that fool you, it’s really Robinson Crusoe’s Island. It is 375 miles off the mainland of Chile, but still a part of Chile. More on that tomorrow after we have experienced it.
The picture above really says it all for me. When I can sail into the sunset every night with the love of my life, it really fits the website’s name, sailwest.net. Spoiler alert, Season 3 starts in January 2026 and leaves from Los Angeles, circling the “Ring of Fire” ending about 5 months later in Vancouver BC. Not totally west, but I can bend it, tune in and watch.
A little more about this ship.
As I said before it is new, it is designed for exploration, it is a class 5 icebreaker ship. Last week, it was in Antarctica. The ship is really small, the maximum passenger load is 264, but we are under that, the crew is 239. The other Seabourn ships are a bit larger, but not by much. We started to recognize crew members and passengers from prior sailings even before we boarded the ship. It is fun to see familiar faces as we embarked on the ship.
Well, it’s hard to come up with any pool chronicles when the pool deck looks like this. However, it seems that you don’t have to be at the pool to hear some funny stuff. We were sitting in an area called the Discovery Lounge watching a video about the ships most recent trip to Antarctica when a lady asks another passenger where the atrium is, she answers that she hasn’t found it yet. She asks the bartender and he takes her 20’ to the atrium. Shortly after that, a man holding a map of the ship, asks the same bartender “where is the atrium?”, again, the bartender takes him the 20’ to the atrium. Okay, I guess if you have never been on a cruise ship, you might not know what or where the atrium is. So, I Googled it and here’s their definition… “a central hall in a modern building, typically rising through several stories and having a glazed roof”. Well, I guess it is not specific to Cruise ships then, is it?
Then, at the daily briefing, a time we are given an explanation of the next days activities, after learning much about the 3 Islands that make up the Juan Fernandez Archipelago, a man asks if the Islands are mostly inhabited by Polynesians. The speaker almost lost it this time, but he patiently responded, “as I said earlier, this is part of Chile and most of the residents are Chilean”. From the side of the room, another expedition leader said ” yea like 110%”.
One would think that if you signed up for a trip like this you would do a little research before embarkation day, even I do and I’m usually one of the worst at preparation.
Yes, it goes on, our first stop is what they refer to as a dry landing, meaning the Zodiac boats let us off at a dock, they showed us a picture. They also described a “wet” landing and showed a picture. A guy asks, “what if our shoes get wet”? Again, how does one answer that without making the guest feel like a complete idiot?
Dinner was fantastic tonight, it was a signature meal designed by the captain, so there weren’t many choices, you ate what the Captain put on the menu. In season one on the Island of Samoa, I was handed a coconut with a straw sticking out of it. I hadn’t tried fresh coconut milk since my first trip to Hawaii in the late 70’s, so I tried it again. I still didn’t like it, okay I will pass next time. Well. Tonight’s appetizer was smoked salmon and caviar. The caviar was placed right on top of the salmon, so, thinking back to the coconut milk, I decided I would try it again. Unlike the times in the past when I didn’t like it, tonight was different, I liked it. So, next time I will try it again.
This map gives you some idea where we are and where you are, for a better perspective and additional information about time zones. That is to say if you are in Texas, you are 2 hours behind us.
Stay tuned for tales from Robinson Crusoe Island…..
What a wonderful time you two are going to have on this adventure. It’s funny, but the other day when I read the next post, I swear this one wasn’t here yet, so I almost missed it. It was nice enough here yesterday that I was able to do some weeding in the yard, guess you two get to pass on yard work for a while 🙂