bizarre! One night we were served potato wedges, Brussel sprouts and a cheese and tomato layered popadom! Nobody was really sure how come the food was so poor and the meat eaters also said that they’d only had a couple of reasonable meals. If it hadn’t have been for Alan serving snacks in the bar then we definitely would have come back a few pounds lighter. It was a real shame about the food because the kitchen staff were really nice and friendly so nobody really had to heart to tell them there food was lousy! Franco in particular was a star and was very reminiscent of Manuel from Faulty Towers!

Throughout the night the sea got a little rougher. We had already seen the Doctor for another seasick patch as we didn’t want to take any chances. We had another very chilled day with a few visits to the bridge to see the true seabirds one last time. Troels had also said that we were going to take a

detour and head towards Cape Horn but before we would see this tip of the world we had a lecture by Rupert. The lecture was on ‘The Ozone Hole’ and he explained very well the science behind the ozone hole and what is causing its depletion. Again he got a little technical in places but Rupert has a fantastic knack of being able to explain very complex things in an easy to understand manner. I’d had an in-depth conversation with him the day before about climate change and I understood most of what he was saying! We both enjoyed his lecture and his sense of humour!

Just after lunch Cape Horn came into sight, I don’t really think I shared Troels enthusiasm for the place, but it was good to see. The ship was only allowed to get within 12 nautical miles of it but this didn’t faze our Russian captain! We got to within 11 and a half miles of it and had the Chilean Navy heading towards us at