Day 23 - 10/29/23 - Isla Robinson Crusoe, Chile

 Tendering started around 7:20am but we were barely awake at that hour.  The initial reports from the shore side were not positive and had reports of  rain.  So we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before gathering our belongings and headed for the Wajang Theater to pick up our tender tickets.  We were immediately put on a tender and were ashore in about 30 minutes arriving just after 9am. 

The tender platform here was a bit tricky with the stairs being partially submerged and the tender boat rocking in the swells.  This slowed down the process considerably and speaking with guests who departed later, there were significant delays.  

As for us, we purchased our $10US per person park pass and headed up the 18 - 19 degree sloped street to the trailhead (yes I measured it!).  We then took the trail which has lots of elevation gain, roots, compact earth, chainsaw shavings, rocks and stairs. Essentially it switchbacks itself up the mountain to a view point.  The last bit got a bit more difficult with loose volcanic gravel.  Our major concern was not going up, but coming back down.  We also learned of a passenger who suffered an injury (later we learned she broke her leg in two places). So about 20-30 minutes from the top, we elected to turn around after taking some nice photos of the Zaandam anchored in the harbor. It's also worth noting that there were a couple of horses free range grazing nearby there.

The hike down was much more difficult but we made it down safely.  Along the way, I met a fellow from Castle Rock, Washington who is neighbors with a cousin of mine that I've probably not seen in 50 years.  At the bottom of the hill we took a side road to the Patriot Caves and the ruins of Fort Santa Barbara.  The Patriot Caves were used to house political prisoners (former intelligentsia and wealthy opposition from the 1700's) and they used them instead of decrepid housing that was here when they came because of the mice infestation.  We then hiked back down to the "main" street which parallels the shoreline where Angela mailed a postcard and we enjoyed a mixed seafood ceviche and chatted with a couple from Spokane the husband of whom was from St. John near where my wife is from.  It turned out that he knew a bunch of people that my wife knew.  It's such a small, small world.

We made it back to the tender pier and were on the second to last tender.  When we cleared security on the ship, only 21 people were behind us and would be on the last tender scheduled for 2:30pm.  After depositing our things in the room, I went up to the Crow's Nest to watch the sail away.  We departed about 3:10pm when the Zaandam retrieved its anchor with the very noticeable clunk clunk of the chain passing through the windlass, stored the tenders, rotated counter clockwise, gave the goodbye  horn salute, and sailed out of the protected bay. In his departure announcement, Captain Smit noted that once we leave the protection of the island, we'll re-enter the significant swells which will persist through the night and into tomorrow.  However, they are projected to diminish in size as we proceed to our next port stop at Castro, Chile the following day.  We weren't 30 minutes into our departure when we encountered the swell and shortly after that I saw a number of whales.  I think they were orcas, but couldn't clearly identify them.

We had a quick dinner and attended the interdenominational Sunday Service where we stayed seated the entire time due to the motion. After church we watched a bit of the Seahawks-Browns football game until the start of the evening entertainment, Mike Robinson, a comedian who is a ventriloquist.  His routine is very funny, and we've seen him previously.  We even stayed and watched the second show. The was noticeably moving around during the performances and later on through the night.  While we weren't able to watch the game, we learned via the ESPN app that they had won 24-20.  I should also comment that when we wear our Seahawks shirts, we get lots of comments from fellow passengers.

It's a sea day tomorrow and we'll see how everyone does with the motion to the ocean.  After all, this is just training for what might come ahead in crossing the Drake Passage.  When we crossed it in 2017 on the Zaandam, it was totally smooth.  But the past is no guarantee of the future.