We then rushed off to lunch in the Lido, not having time for a leisurely sit-down lunch. This is the

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January 11th 2013 We get to sleep in because we're having a sea day… a wonderful sea day… But we can't languish too long in the cabin because norwegian alaska cruise as it will turn out, we're having a pretty busy sea day. The best laid plans often succumb to the need for sleep. I had planned to rise and try out the gym at 6:30 AM when they open, but I guess that will need to wait for another day. Sharon went to mass while I transcribed notes we had written for the blog… Sharon's laptop didn't quite have enough juice to last 2 full days in the land of the funny round wall plugs, so we had to resort to that old fashioned form of communication: pen and paper. At mass Father (name?) proposed that their congregation organize a flash mob to introduce fellow passengers to his new captain approved penguin flap elbow bump peace be with you greeting for abating the spread of germs. He also mentioned how much he enjoyed the DJ at the show the night before. Afterwards he said that since we'd come to mass to let the waiters know he would take care of our dinners if we ate in the main dining room.
We went to the main dining room for breakfast. I had a bowl of Scottish stone ground oatmeal with bananas and a grapefruit norwegian alaska cruise juice… (Okay, so I also had a hash brown and some sausage links, norwegian alaska cruise but I'm trying to moderate the calories and fat consumed on this trip, but I still plan to eat well.) Sharon had her typical scrambled eggs and bacon with potatoes and white toast with apple juice. After breakfast we posted our first blog report from Santiago.
I then dropped by the library to pick up the daily Sudoku. Sharon seems content to just let me do them as her pen and paper Sudoku technique isn't quite at her computer assisted manual marking blitz lightning speed where she really excels. I then went to the main showroom to wait for the lecture on Darwin and the Beagle Channel. A lecture on HAL tours for this cruise was in process, so the room was pretty full, but I got a seat on the side of the section norwegian alaska cruise that Sharon and I planned to meet up. She went to the Meet and Greet for passengers who have been corresponding about this trip on Cruise Critic. She said that the Cruise Director gave a quick welcome and then introduced several people. Bruce from the roll call then started picking names for the many door prizes that had been donated. Sharon left to join me for the lecture when they started talking about the arrangements for the private tours.
norwegian alaska cruise We are fortunate to have three guest lecturers on this cruise. Dr David Wilson gave a fascinating talk on how Charles Darwin came to make his famous voyage on the Beagle. Captain Fitzroy of the Beagle had made a previous trip to Cape Horn to map the area, coming ashore in Tierra del Fuego. Initial contact with the Fuegians seemed to be going smoothly until they stole the smaller craft with which they were doing the mapping. Unable to convince them to return norwegian alaska cruise the boat, and unable to continue his duties mapping the region, the captain decided norwegian alaska cruise to take some hostages, and four natives were taken and held on the main vessel for barter. norwegian alaska cruise But the first night 3 of them jumped overboard and swam to shore. The third was a young girl, and seemed to prefer to stay behind. The captain then saw an opportunity, that if some young natives could be educated in Britain, they could be returned here as missionaries. He sought out and acquired three young native boys. The captain never did get his boat back… it had probably been stripped and parts distributed the first night. norwegian alaska cruise His men did manage to build another boat that would serve their purpose. And the captain had returned to Britain. norwegian alaska cruise One of the boys died when he was inoculated for small pox and it gave him the disease instead. The others were presented at court, and were quite the sensation, and were educated and appeared to be turning into fine young Brits. The captain had some difficulty finding funding and support for an encore voyage norwegian alaska cruise to the region, but eventually his connections did payoff. For this voyage norwegian alaska cruise he thought it would be good to bring along a naturalist, and his inquiries brought his attention to a young university student Charles Darwin. He was studying to be a country pastor, but had hobbies norwegian alaska cruise and interests extending into the natural sciences. norwegian alaska cruise After his interview, Darwin did receive a letter of acceptance, but his father was adamant that he refuse the offer, which he did. His uncle however said "Nonsense. This is an opportunity of a lifetime. You must accept, and I will square things with your father." Darwin did manage to supersede his declination, and the rest you might say is history. norwegian alaska cruise The ulterior motive the captain had for bringing along someone, such as Darwin, was to have an educated companion to talk to and debate, but I suspect that he got more than he bargained for. Darwin brought with him a book on geology that was written by Lyle. The basic tenant in this book is that you can look at the present, norwegian alaska cruise to learn about the past. It is easy to see why such thinking could quickly come to be at odds with the teaching of the church and the generally norwegian alaska cruise held belief that the world was about 4,000 years old at the time. Darwin was not yet himself a believer in the book, but this voyage on the Beagle would change that. At some of the first islands they visited, Darwin was fascinated by some fossils that he had found, of creatures that had no known living equivalent. The captain dismissed these ancient relics as victims of the Flood, and Darwin was not at the point to disagree. When a later discovery found a layer of shells, and in the sediment beneath contained more unusual fossils, he began questioning how the Great Flood could explain this. The fossils meanwhile were making a big hit back in England. When the Beagle reached Rio de Janeiro Darwin was fascinated walking along the beach looking at all of the boobies. Our lecturer noted that you can walk along this same beach and see boobies, adding, both kinds. They finally reached Tierra del Fuego and the natives were reunited with their former tribes. One year later, the captain was dismayed to find that one of his young missionaries had let his hair grow, was wearing native garb, and had taken a wife and was planning to raise a family the way his tribe had done for generations. He consoled himself, that at least his children would hear his stories of Britain and that this would somehow make a difference.
We then rushed off to lunch in the Lido, not having time for a leisurely sit-down lunch. This is the first time we saw the new Hand-washing machines in the Lido that the captain norwegian alaska cruise had mentioned in his personal hygiene speech the previous day. You put your hands in the holes and then it sprays them with soap and water. There are towels right above them. Strange experience the first time, but you keep your hands in the two holes until the light turns green. Sharon says that after drying off your supposed to then use the traditional hand sanitizers. I grabbed some chicken tandoori over rice and some split pea soup. Sharon got a burger plain and French fries from the grill. We shared a Coke (HAL's high fructose kind imported from the US) and enjoyed a scoop of ice cream afterwards (black walnut for me and chocolate for Sharon). Sharon also asked for 1 chocolate chip cookie but he told her you weren't allowed to have cookies if you get ice cream. norwegian alaska cruise Sharon did a double-take, until the server broke out in a big smile and proceeded to give her a full plate of them (which I helped her eat).
We went up for Trivia and were happy that Ruth joined us. We were joined by three others in the Crow's Nest. We missed by one question tying for first place. There were a lot of interesting guesses as to what a hippophobe norwegian alaska cruise is. (I hope I'm spelling it right because Word doesn't like it and has no recommendations.) Our team came up with fear of hippopotamus, fear of donuts and settled for fear of large animals. Who would have guessed the fear of horses? And I thought that the measure of genius was an IQ of much more than 140, so I must accept the blame for getting that one wrong. norwegian alaska cruise We did however know the name of the man who created the gun nicknamed the Peacemaker in the Old West. I pointed out to Sharon that there are some advantages to watching Pawn Stars. norwegian alaska cruise You learn such things as God may have created man, but Sam Colt made them all equal. As I checked my watch, it seemed strange to me that the crystal was all fogged up, something I'd never seen.
We then went back to the showroom for a lecture on the US Antarctic Program by David Bresnahan. The talk focused norwegian alaska cruise on the treaty agreed to that protects Antarctica, which was only possible, because it included language that made clear that signing the treaty neither restricted nor enhanced a country's claims on territory in Antarctica. He also talked about the different American stations and the types of research norwegian alaska cruise they do.
I had about 90 minutes before I needed to be at bingo, so I had my chance to sit down and play some blackjack. I noticed the blackjack table was empty, but a sign on the table they said to just ask and they would open it. So I sat down and the nice male dealer began to shuffle the cards. Before I had cut the deck, another player sat down, and I guess I wasn't going to get to play one on one. When the guy hit 14 against dealer's 5, well I guess I don't need to tell you that after taking dealer's bust card (and busting himself), well, my 13 didn't norwegian alaska cruise do so well. I was surprised that with nobody playing, that this was a $10 table on one of the smaller HAL ships, but that's norwegian alaska cruise what it was. Except for two times the other player played badly, I won all of the other hands and was shortly norwegian alaska cruise up $85. I quit on blackjack, and decided to call it a day. It j