Almost, but not quite, adrift at sea

This ship spent the Southern Hemisphere Summer running between Argentina and Antarctica.  After that, and before starting an 8,000 journey to Northern Europe, it only makes sense to perform some routine maintenance on the engines.  In Ushuaia, while the ship was being loaded with provisions, fuel, food and (mostly) old people, the engineers got to work.  They did whatever they needed to do, lubricating this and replacing that, and then put the works back together again. 

When the time came to start up, one of the two engines cooperated, one didn’t.  Now, nearly 44 hours since we left port, one still hasn’t. 

At this latitude, it’s very common to have strong winds and storms (the Roaring 40’s).  As a result, ships sailing through here try to get out as quickly as possible.  The good news is that the weather forecast is good.  So, we’re moving along at our leisurely pace, but at least there are no mega-storms bearing down on us.

Here’s the math …. to reach Rio de Janeiro on schedule we need to average about 14 knots.  With only one engine, we’re making about 9 knots.  So, for every 24 hours we sail, we’re falling about 8 hours behind schedule.  If that holds up, our 30 day trip might turn into 40!

Hopefully this doesn’t mean we’ll have to cut out some of our planned stops.  They’re still working around the clock trying to get the other engine to start.  But as I sit in the observation area watching the sea go by, I can tell you it’s not going by very fast.

The brought on a couple of kegs of Guinness.  They were going to run out, so we needed to help them along.