Live from the Wind(s) of Antarctica. Dec. 19, 2023.

twangster · December 23, 2023

From the second floor:

A sample of the rocks from the area.

The Curiosity Corner was a great way to feel the fur and feathers of the animals we have or may see.

A gift store. Stanley will be our last contact with civilization in the form of a town so this was our last chance for last minute shopping.

Port Power · December 23, 2023

23 hours ago, twangster said:

More Black-browned Albatross.

May I just correct you? They are Black Browed Albatross. (Like in eyebrows.)

I love your photos and the detail you show. I have definitely passed a couple on to family at home, although quoting the source and not saying they photos are my doing. (Such a pity.) 😀

twangster · December 23, 2023

The walk back to town was easy.

When we boarded the bus we were given a postcard with a stamp already on it that we could mail home. Here is the post office.

A Catholic Church.

The Anglican Church.

Our guide had pointed out this house due to the brick construction. There is no brickyard in the Falkland Islands. The bricks would have had to have been shipped in back in the day, no small task.

Port Power · December 23, 2023

My excursion today was the Battlefields tour. Our guide, Kevin, had been a paratrooper during the 1982 conflict to regain the Falkland Islands. He was tremendously interesting, both with his first hand knowledge of what went on after they landed, as well as current information on wind and solar power and lack of tradespeople.

The paratroopers could not parachute in because of the “stone rivers” throughout the island. Men would have been killed or horribly maimed landing on these piles of rocks. Therefore they came by water. However, not into Stanley as expected, but from San Carlos.

twangster · December 23, 2023

After some shopping at various gift stores in town I was ready to head back to the ship.

Back on the ship for a late lunch at The Grill.

Inbound returning guests:

The postcard we were given.

Stanley tourist information.

Museum guide:

The route of our bus tour and zodiac ride home.

Port Power · December 23, 2023

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of the stone rivers, but they are incredible features across the landscape.

The soldiers hid during the day and moved at night. They had night vision equipment, but the Argentinians did not. He was also vocal about the assistance the locals gave in helping to move ammunition, etc, up the hills, and using their tractors at great risk to explode land mines.

It was during this time, liberating Goose Green, that Kevin met his wife-to-be. After retiring from the armed, they returned to live at Stanley and raised their two daughters here. One daughter is now in senior airport management and will soon be the boss. The other, a lawyer, is about to have her wedding at home and intends to return permanently once she has some more experience under her belt. Kevin was very proud that children are returning to the islands as working adults.

twangster · December 23, 2023

Daily briefing and recap.

Tomorrow by noon we are expecting 3m seas.

The next day, 4.7m seas.

A history lesson of The Protector III HMS 251. She was a British minesweeping ship that played a part in the Normandy landings. She later retired from military service and found herself in the Antarctic.

Recognize her?

We encountered her yesterday.

Another crew member read an adaptation of the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. It's all about the Albatross.

A wonderful dinner in The Restaurant.

Time change tonight.

Host Jazzbeau · December 23, 2023

Thanks for more really great photos. It's like being there with you! [and I didn't even get wet on the zodiacs...]

Two comments on this latest batch of pictures: (1) do you think that a tank in your front garden would intimidate the HOA (especially if you swivel the turret in their direction)? 😅

(2) you could use that museum to recreate the Two Ronnies' famous 'Four Candles' sketch!

Fletcher · December 23, 2023

I see the Wind anchored in the bay. Was this because of the sea conditions or maybe the ship is just too big to go alongside which is what we did on Noble Caledonia's Island Sky. I'm enjoying these photos. We're on the Wind next April.

twangster · December 23, 2023

3 hours ago, Fletcher said:

I see the Wind anchored in the bay. Was this because of the sea conditions or maybe the ship is just too big to go alongside which is what we did on Noble Caledonia's Island Sky. I'm enjoying these photos. We're on the Wind next April.

The original explanation was that she is too big to dock but they didn't specifically state why we stayed out of the harbor.

To enter Stanley boat harbor you have to pass through the narrows. With the strong winds its possible it wasn't safe to navigate the narrows in a ship with our side profile or it wasn't safe in the harbor at the wind strength in case the anchor slipped. They don't need another Lady Elizabeth sightseeing attraction.

The wind wasn't aligned with the channel in the narrows so I imagine it might be a challenge to navigate in a cross wind.

From C-MAP:

Either way the wettest part of our ride was in the harbor so we may not have escaped the splashing if we had anchored in the harbor. It's all part of the experience 🙂.

Edited December 23, 2023 by twangster

twangster · December 23, 2023

Day Five - Sea Day enroute to the South Georgia Islands

Position report:

Balcony observations:

Quite pleasant.

twangster · December 23, 2023

Breakfast in La Terrazza this morning.

The Silver Wind has been retrofitted with these all in one hand washing stations. They go through four stages first dispensing soap. a brief pause to lather, a clean water rinse followed by dispensing a paper towel to dry your hands, all in one compact station.

Meal with a view.

While La Terrazza advertises a buffet they also accept orders such as an omelette to your specifications.

New expedition information posted.

Our next destination.

Enrichment lecture with Jess O. exploring the concept of survival bias using the Shackleton expedition and the Endurance as a case study.

Very well done.

In one hours time at 11:15 we have a mandatory biosecurity briefing for our next stop.

twangster · December 23, 2023

Day 5 Chronicle:

23 DEC - At Sea.pdf

twangster · December 23, 2023

Biosecurity briefing.

First we watch a video narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

The South Georgia Islands take biosecurity very seriously and we will have another session this afternoon where we present all of our outerwear for the crew to go over to ensure it is clean.

As far as the Avian Flu...

The South Georgia Islands have mostly closed to visitors on land due to the Avian Flu. The goal is for us to have zodiac and kayak tours but without a landing. Weather conditions, sea state and an advanced scouting will dictate how our day progresses once we get to Cooper Bay, our first stop.

Port Power · December 23, 2023

Further to my mention of stone rivers yesterday, these are they, the sharp looking rocks in the foreground. These “rivers” of rocks are everywhere, although difficult to distinguish in the second picture. The dome on the hill is part of the Defence Force security. There are 2000 soldiers in barracks just over the hill.

Vista of the wind swept land.

Estancia homestead where the British soldiers assembled before moving on to Stanley.

twangster · December 23, 2023

Biosecurity inspection at 14:00.

We were called by our zodiac group number to the deck 5 lobby for an inspection of our outerwear,

With that complete it's free time once again.

The ship has a slight roll side to side which made my afternoon workout rather spirited. Great view though.

twangster · December 23, 2023

Another wonderful dinner in The Restaurant.

There are 230 guests on this sailing.

twangster · December 23, 2023

Our guitarist and vocalist Tomás.

He is pretty good.

Gingerbread houses and one of many Christmas trees on board.

As we sail into South Georgia waters overnight the ship must not have external lights to minimize impact to wildlife. We have been instructed to keep our balcony lights off and curtains closed. Around the ship blackout covers have been applied.

The Dolce Vita bar before the shades were lowered.

Edited December 23, 2023 by twangster

twangster · December 24, 2023

Day 6 - enroute to the South Georgia Islands

Christmas Eve Day

Position report:

Balcony observations:

Another beautiful day at sea.

Slight roll to the ship as we plod our way through the sea. The ship handles it quite well. Quite a few birds out there skimming the waves looking for their breakfast.

twangster · December 24, 2023

Day 6 Chronicle:

24 DEC - At Sea.pdf

twangster · December 24, 2023

A word about the internet on board.

When I first boarded the Silver Wind I saw the included internet package performed much like the internet did on the Silver Origin. That was just under 2Mbps down and just under 1Mbps up. Since I am doing this live thread and planned to upload a lot of photos I splurged for the Premium Internet upgrade.

That wasn't cheap for an 18 night cruise at $345 but it was essential if I wanted to upload as many pictures as I hoped to during this cruise.

The Premium Internet increased the performance to what has been fairly typical up to this point:

This is the same performance I observed on the Silver Origin with the premium internet upgrade making me wonder if it is a fleet standard.

I am hopeful this level of performance will continue for the remainder of the cruise as we head farther south in the days to come. It's not clear to me if Starlink has an operational Southerly limit that we may venture past next week. Time will tell.

On my travels with ships that belong to sister cruise lines such as Celebrity and Royal Caribbean International I've learned that they tend to install multiple Starlink systems on a particular ship and they load balance guest devices across them by associating each device to a particular Starlink antenna and modem. This is evidenced by different devices having a different public IP address.

A benefit of the premium internet package is the ability to connect four devices at the same time. Having multiple devices connected has allowed me to observe at least two public IP addresses on different devices which leads me to believe there are at least two Starlink systems on the Silver Wind just as there were on the Silver Origin.

The Silver Wind has been upgraded with newer WiFi access points. Professional grade WiFi is something I do for a living so it's a topic I'm somewhat familiar with. The platform on the Silver Wind is very good and it has performed well.

When the onboard system reports medium usage I've continued to experience the same ~9Mbps down and ~4Mbps up performance. With the ship rolling a little today the internet has remained stable.

I've also seen this level of performance on Royal Caribbean's largest Oasis class ships so it's not uncommon for the RCG family.

If this level of performance continues while in Antarctica I'll be thrilled with my $345 upgrade despite not being thrilled about the price.

In summary I'm happy with the performance of the internet onboard and that they have upgraded the WiFi technology on the Silver Wind. By placing access points in each suite as noted earlier in this thread they have done everything they can to ensure the best possible experience.