The seas were relatively calm early this morning, then got calmer. A dense fog surrounded the ship until afternoon, necessitating the blowing of the ship's horn at regular intervals. Checking my AIS (ship finder) app, we were not alone in the fog.
At noon the Captain announced that we would not be going to Punta del Este tomorrow. His stated reason was unsafe tendering operations due to winds.
Punta del Este is primarily a major resort. According to Wikipedia, "The city is referred to as "the Monaco of the South", "The Pearl of the Atlantic", "the Hamptons of South America" and "the St. Tropez of South America", being also compared to Miami and Cannes."
The following is the description of our tour tomorrow:
After your museum visit, you'll rejoin your coach and drive past the striking hanging bridges of Barra de Maldonado, then along Pinares, framed by magnificent sea pines, to Punta Ballena. Upon arrival, you'll visit the famous Casa Pueblo, the residence, atelier and museum of late internationally-renowned artist Carlos Paez Vilaró. On the return journey to the ship, you'll drive along Mansa's beaches. Some free time for window-shopping may be available in the downtown area at Gorlero Avenue, time permitting.
In other words, we were on a potentially uninteresting tour of a fair weather destination. Regardless of winds, given the high probability of thunderstorms all day long, Pam & I were pleased with the captain's decision to head directly to Montevideo, giving us an extra day there.
Punta del Este is primarily a major resort. According to Wikipedia, "The city is referred to as "the Monaco of the South", "The Pearl of the Atlantic", "the Hamptons of South America" and "the St. Tropez of South America", being also compared to Miami and Cannes."
The following is the description of our tour tomorrow:
PUNTA DEL ESTE & CASA PUEBLO
Discover beautiful beaches, residential areas and a wonderful museum during this scenic orientation tour of Punta del Este Depart the pier for a drive along Rambla General Artigas and Peninsula Coast Road to the Atlantic Ocean beaches of Ingleses, Emir and Brava. Continue along the leafy residential areas such as Cantegril, San Rafael, Parque del Golf and Beverly Hills, where a stop will be made for a visit to the Ralli Museum This splendid private museum displays the paintings and sculptures of Latin American artists, including some sculptures by Salvador Dali.
Discover beautiful beaches, residential areas and a wonderful museum during this scenic orientation tour of Punta del Este Depart the pier for a drive along Rambla General Artigas and Peninsula Coast Road to the Atlantic Ocean beaches of Ingleses, Emir and Brava. Continue along the leafy residential areas such as Cantegril, San Rafael, Parque del Golf and Beverly Hills, where a stop will be made for a visit to the Ralli Museum This splendid private museum displays the paintings and sculptures of Latin American artists, including some sculptures by Salvador Dali.
After your museum visit, you'll rejoin your coach and drive past the striking hanging bridges of Barra de Maldonado, then along Pinares, framed by magnificent sea pines, to Punta Ballena. Upon arrival, you'll visit the famous Casa Pueblo, the residence, atelier and museum of late internationally-renowned artist Carlos Paez Vilaró. On the return journey to the ship, you'll drive along Mansa's beaches. Some free time for window-shopping may be available in the downtown area at Gorlero Avenue, time permitting.
On the ship, every afternoon at 4:00, tea is served. Today was a gala tea. As a result, tea was moved from its usual venue in the forward lounge on he 10th deck to the main lounge on the 5th deck. It was a gong show.
The culinary staff had done a wonderful job in their preparations. Management dropped the ball by providing no traffic flow pattern into the lounge. The result was people arriving from all directions, standing in halls and on staircases waiting for the doors to open. Elevators arrived full of people who had trouble getting off them. Most, but by no means all, passengers were considerate of others. Having been on a sister ship of SIRENA two years ago, Pam & I knew for a fact that the traffic flow could be done better.
When the doors opened, I went in, took a few quick pictures and left - tea-less, cake-less and cookie-less. I just wanted out of there (for which there was also no traffic pattern. (Think of the movie 'Animal House' when the band marches into the dead-end alley.) Thinking that I had beaten a hasty retreat, when I arrived at the 10th deck lounge that was almost deserted, Pam was already there. We headed out to the pool deck to sit in the sun. In both places, it was interesting to watch other people arrive who had escaped the gala tea alive.
After a pleasant dinner and enjoying music by a string quartet, we headed off to bed to dream of water...in our basement.
Over the past few days, our 'team' back home has been dealing with flooding in our basement, with water 3" or deeper everywhere. The flooding was caused by three recent major rain/snow storms raising the water table above floor level. Most of the basement is not finished, but all of it is full of things on the floor that did not benefit from getting, and staying, soaking wet. I had pumps that could be used to get the water out, fans to keep air moving and a dehumidifier to wring moisture out of the air, so mitigation of the problem is underway, but remediation will be awaiting us upon our return home. Ugh!
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