A sea day in sick bay Feb 16 2013

A SEA DAY SPENT IN SICK BAY – SATURDAY FEB 16, 2013

I will get around to posting my report on Rio, Buenos Aires and Montevideo but first this update.

For the last couple of days I had been fighting off the start of a cold – for me that is usually a dry cough and coughing spells and they usually subside after a day or two of rest but there were two important ports Buenos Aires and Montevideo so I decided to soldier on – I was okay for B.A. But it was another matter in Montevideo – by this time I was starting to pop the aspirin in the hope of getting through the day – it was only a short three hour tour and I survived it – back to ship and to await the opening of the shops to get some cough candies and medicine – but the ship is taking longer to re-supply – it is coming up to 6PM and I have another decision to make – I am scheduled for an all day ship excursion in Puerto Madryn in two days time but the cancellation period expires at 6PM – this is an all day trip – 8 hours in total to see penguins and sea lions etc – it is also very expensive at $289.00 which is almost double what some of the private tours are charging – it was either cancel with no penalty or run the risk of missing it and being charged. I cancelled.

Onto Saturday – I was determined to get the cold behind me and basically spent the day in the cabin – sleeping, taking both aspirin and Robitussin and Halls and generally doing nothing – did venture out for meals as holding food doesn't seem a problem. As the day wore on my decision to cancel was the right one because as I type this up in the evening and while I am feeling a little bit better I need another day or two to fully recover – while Puerto Madryn is the start of the Patagonia venture it's a port that if I miss I can live with – I have penguin tours also planned on the Falklands and Punta Arenas, Chile – this is the scenic part of the voyage and I want to be healthy for it – depending on how I feel in the morning I will either stay on the ship or go ashore and do a short visit.

Cheers from sick bay.