We've had two full days of fairly rough sea and foggy and rainy weather on Wednesday and Thursday before returning inland from the Pacific Ocean. Sometime during dinner yesterday, the ride smoothed out, and we could see mountains on both sides of the ship. On Wednesday, I went up to the Observation Lounge when the Expedition Crew members were there looking for wildlife. They spend several hours every day stationed at points around the ship to look for animals and to talk to guests. Rachel identified all of the animals that I had taken photos of but didn’t recognize. A pamphlet with the most common animals seen in Antarctic and southern South America was distributed to each room near the beginning of the cruise. There were a few animals that just didn’t look like any of the pictures on the pamphlet. For example, the picture of the crabeater seal is white on the pamphlet, but Rachel said that several of the gray or spotted seals that I photographed are also crabeater seals.

This morning we were able to sleep late and still go on a long shore excursion. The ship anchored in the bay outside Castro, Chile about 10 a.m. Our tour was scheduled for 12:45 so we ordered breakfast in the room and were ready to go by noon. Today’s was the smoothest tender ride I think that I have ever been on. It was very pleasant with a cool temperature and light breeze coming in through the door making a nice ride.

We took the "UNESCO Churches of Chiloe" tour to four churches that were constructed of the local alerce wood which is a type of redwood. Local men built the churches using plans sent to them from Rome, but misinterpreted the plans that called for stone construction and used wood instead. Sixteen of the 50+ churches in the area have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. The best well known is in Castro; we drove by it but were not able to go inside since it is currently under renovation. We saw Iglesia de Nercon, Iglesia Nuestra de Senora de Gracia de Quinchao, and Iglesia de Dalcahue. Near the end of the tour, we stopped at La Nave restaurant in Dalcahue for a snack of king crab empanadas and pisco sours while we were entertained with local music and dancing.

The tour involved going from the island of Chiloe to the smaller island of Achao. The bus drove onto the small ferry, everyone stayed on the bus, and we crossed the water in about ten minutes. On the way back, we had to wait in a long line for the ferry, and the Seabourn rep on the tour entertained everyone with a riddle. “A man walks into a bar and asks for a drink. The bartender pulls out a gun and aims it at the man. The man says “Thanks” and leaves without his drink.” What happened? We were allowed to ask only Yes and No questions. It took about twenty minutes of narrowing down the possibilities, but one of the passengers finally got the right answer. By that time, we were nearly back across on the ferry and ready for the next stop on the tour.

The tour was late returning to the tender port. We missed the Virtuoso party that was planned for 6 p.m. not getting back to our room until almost 7 p.m. We went to dinner in the restaurant and sat at one of Alexander’s tables. He is my favorite waiter—always remembers our names—always has good suggestions for what is best on the menu. The service this cruise has not been as good as it was the last time we were on Seabourn. Some of it is very good, but some can be abrupt and almost rude. Our room attendant does an excellent job and always gets us everything we want.