Travel with Indigo

The wind has picked up a bit this morning and it goes from being sunny to being overcast.  Indigo went to the fuel dock about 10AM this morning to fill up for the trips ahead.  When we came back to our anchorage, a reporter from “El Periodico”, a local newspaper, came on board.  She had interviewed Carlos, the captain of the Navy ship Castillo, about his upcoming trip to Antarctica and he suggested that she might want to interview us about our round-the-world trip.  She didn’t speak much English but Carlos came with her as an interpreter.  And sure enough, there was an article in the local paper the next day.

We then went to lunch at Tante Nina’s (again!–it’s really nice) with Carlos, Gonzalo and Rick.  Those at the table had spider crab prepared in different ways and black hake, a fish from the Drake Passage.  We talked about the Norwegian cruise ship that had run aground in Antarctica and whether the Castillo would have to go to be part of the rescue team.  Apparently, the ship hit a big rock in the entrance to the port there and needless to say, the rock has been there a really long time.  It turns out that the weather in the Drake Passage is too difficult right now so they would not be able to go anyway.  The passengers have all been evacuated from the cruise ship and there is a Chilean Navy ship on site so all is well.  The cruise ship company is sending inspectors to the site to evaluate the damage.  We had a wonderful (long, as always) lunch with much laughing and talking.  Both Carlos and Gonzalo had been the top student in their respective Naval Academy classes so they speak excellent English and are very smart with good senses of humor.

That night, we had dinner on Indigo with Carlos, Gonzalo and Guillermo, the Navy Seal.  Chef Geraldine had prepared a wonderful salmon dish that was enjoyed by all.  We had invited Carlos and Gonzalo to spend the night but Carlos was unable to do so because of so much going on with the cruise ship situation.  All during dinner, he had had phone calls from his Admiral and many others wanting to make sure the Castillo was ready if it needed to go south.  Carlos, as captain of Castillo, obviously has a lot of responsibility and obviously can handle it.