Technical triumphs

 TSH has now been on a number of excursions alone and has always returned safely. There are always clear instructions about whether to take each guest's personal 'Quietbox', which is a system for hearing the guide as the group moves around outdoors. There are always guests who turn up without them and no spares are carried.  On one outing, there were guests at the front of the bus who were talking loudly at the same time as the guide. She told them sternly to either keep quiet or to move to the back of the bus!! 

In Norway, public toilets are usually chargeable, so TSH was proud of finding free ones on two occasions. And they were clean! In Oslo, both TSH and Diva went out for a short walk and were surprised to see local bathers in the fjord, close to the Silver Spirit and other vessels and in spite of the distinctly chilly temperature.

There were two technical problems. TSH's camera persisted into going into 'flash' mode even when lighting conditions were bright. An online consultation with the manual resolved the issue. More seriously, his laptop refused to connect to the Silver Spirit wifi. They tried several options but nothing worked and it was beginning to look like faulty hardware. Diva asked AI what they could do and was impressed when it gave her precise instructions for modifying Device Manager (who knew?) to resolve the issue. Success!

Through the Chilean fjords to Punta Arenas

The itinerary for the voyage was misleading in that there was really only one day in the fjords – the first was in open sea (which was choppy enough to make some people ill – not TSH and Diva) with entry to the first fjord at 17:00. When they eventually got there, TSH and Diva thought the fjords were very similar to those in Norway. They varied in width and at one point it seemed that the Silver Spirit was on a lake, while at other times, both banks were quite close. The nearest hills were reminiscent of the central English Lake District fells, covered with low vegetation but with some bare rock. In places, snow covered peaks and glaciers could be seen through the mist on the higher peaks beyond. This was the first rain of the whole trip.

The butler spotted a ship-wreck but for some reason the captain did not draw attention to this sea feature.

There was another special dinner (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, pasta, beef, tuna, sticky dessert) for the Circlers, this time in La Terrazzza.

Punta Arenas is not the most interesting town but the short excursion gave a good idea of a region which has always had to work hard to counteract its climate and its distance from places it trades with. The terminology of ‘discovery’ and ‘native Indians’ seemed very colonial and old-fashioned, not to mention politically incorrect. The main statue in the town shows Magellan in triumph, with the original inhabitants of the region beneath his feet. The guide was the son of a man who left London after the first world war but most of the European settlers here came from what is now Croatia.

Punta Arenas is at the extreme south of the mainland of South America. It is on the Magellan strait – across the water is Tierra del Fuego, a separate island which belongs partly to Chile and partly to Argentina.

Many guides in Chile have said that Chile is the major exporter of salmon in the world but a Norwegian guest insists that Norway has that distinction.

Post script to Coron

The arrival was enlivened by the band and dance performance put on by about 70 school children. The playing, dancing and marching were good but they were mostly occupied with looking at the Silver Shadow and its passengers.

The sail away was spectacular. Diva’s gold standard for scenery tends to be the Norwegian fjords and this was in that class. Lots of open water surrounded by hilly apparently almost uninhabited islands. There was a discussion on the ship about whether improving the living conditions of local people would ruin the scenery. A woman from the US thought that people are quite happy as they are. But Diva does not like squalor or lack of electricity and sanitation and thinks that the infrastructure could be improved sensitively. Think Norway again.

Dried cod and a tough old bird

Mist meant that the most scenic part of the tour was a little spoiled, although it was obvious that the Atlantic Road would provide excellent views. However, for the visit to the staved church (one of only 28 remaining) at Kvernes, the weather was much improved and the fjord below was visible in all directions. This tour included two under-sea tunnels – one of 3.5km and one of over 5Km, which went to a depth of 250 m. New tunnels and bridges are subject to tolls until they have been paid for, after which they are free.

Animals spotted included cows (no mattresses), horses, sheep (with and without horns) and two kinds of deer.

The excursion bus stopped suddenly in the middle of the road, on a steep narrow bend. This was because an elderly woman had fallen out of her motorised scooter and needed help to climb back in. She was OK and it turned out that she had not been knocked over, or failed to navigate the difficult road. She was there because she was weeding the outside of her garden and had leaned over so far that she had fallen out. This was reminiscent of TSH’s elderly mother, who doesn’t know when to rest and whose doctor says she’s a ‘tough old bird’.

The shore concierge, who is from West Kirby, presented TSH and Diva with a CD of light classical music, as a memento. Browsing the ship’s shop for jewellery has so far been unproductive.

Factoid: Main exports from Norway are gas, oil, fish and stone.

The chef’s special dish was bacalao, which is made with the dried cod which is to be seen on drying frames all over the fjords. TSH was brave enough to try it and said it tasted a bit like fish and chips and vinegar. Diva tried very hard to order a meal without cream or mashed potato but was still treated to a ‘butter sauce’ with added cream. She has spoken to the chef about the cream which is added to everything without mention on the menu but he was not very sympathetic. And mashed potato is baby food – good for Dinosaur but not for grown-ups like Diva.

The sea is still beautifully calm – no cushions have needed to be squashed into the glasses cupboard. In the port at Kristiansund, Midnatsol appeared. This is the Hurtigruten ship on which TSH and Diva made their maiden voyage in 2005.