-At Sea Off the coast of Peru and Chile

Day 14

Before retiring last night we set our time pieces ahead an hour and with that piece of mind managed a fine rest.

At 0830 this morning the first adventure of the day began with alarms going off. I was having breakfast and Julie was still snoozing when gongs and buzzers sounded. The Officer of the Deck came on the PA and announced a man had been reported in the water off the starboard side and crew should report to their man overboard stations. This caused a rush in the cafeteria for the morning munchers to the right side to watch and me to head for the now empty food line. The Captain came on the PA and announced we were doing a Williamson turn and would be backtracking down our course to look for a reported man in the water. By 0857 we had done so and were sailing down the reciprocal course. Breakfast completed I took up my watch position port side. As we neared the sighting position we slowed to minimum way. All to be seen were a few whitecaps and 3 small fishing boats. We searched farther back then turned back to our original course and continued the search. I had noticed the fishing boats were towing nets and some of the nets appeared to hold large black bladders. After more searching Captain Tim came on the PA and announced a stand-down; it was the belief on the bridge that the sighting most likely was that of a fisherman riding one of the net floats and affecting repairs thereon while awaiting the return of the fishing boat which had gone off to gather other nets. Not uncommon in these waters. The waters were calm and nothing was spotted. The fishing boats had returned and gathered their nets, most likely wondering why a shipload of oatmeal eaters was doing going in circles out here. The handling of the ship and the crews' manning of stations was impressive.

That completed we cruised about 16nm off the coast of Peru and soon the coast fell away and we were off the coast of Chile. The sky became overcast and the temperature dropped a little. The seas from the SSW picked up a notch but still quite comfortable. 

We are preparing for a long day ashore tomorrow, packing a kit with water, rain gear and extra clothing for the higher altitude we will experience ashore. Tonight we go to the upscale Pinnacle Grille for “Polynesian Night.” That means fluffing, buffing and finding a tie. We usually dine at 8 but tonight is 7:30. A habit we have formed is to go down to a lounge for 45 minutes before dinner to listen to a piano/violin team. Tonight's before dinner activity is watching for whales and listening to a recording of Andean music. Scotch. (I'm off duty now.)