DEPARTING PUERTO MADRYN The plan was to have two days at sea, heading towards the Falkland Islands. But, sometimes things don't go according to plan. Unfortunately, someone on board the ship had a serious medical condition and needed to be transported safely back to land, so they could receive the full medical attention they needed in hospital. We'd been warned of this possibility on the very first evening on board, during our briefing. In such situations the boat becomes the ambulance. Prior to our trip, I'd also heard stories of this happening and how the trip could be cut short as a result of it. Obviously, there was concern for the person in question and some days later we discovered their situation improved and they were doing well at the hospital, which was good to hear. The fact this happened right at the start of the trip was actually the best scenario. We weren't too far away from South America and were able to head to land at Comodoro Rivadavia. After safely evacuating the guest, we continued on to the Falkland Islands and we had just one extra day at sea. At that first briefing, we'd also been warned about a nasty weather system that was slightly ahead of us, so having the delay actually worked to our advantage. If we'd been further ahead on our voyage, we probably would have had to sit tight in port somewhere else to wait for it to pass through. During the days at sea, Bob and I enjoyed being out on deck with some of our fellow passengers, spotting the wildlife. Some people preferred to do this from the comfort of the observation lounge indoors. Others simply kept to themselves in their cabin. In the lounge area, there was also a varied mix of talks given throughtout the day, by the members of the staff. I attended a few, as it helped pass the time, but generally I preferred to be outside, as did Bob. It wasn't too cold those first few days and the seas were fairly calm. Whenever we needed to warm up after being out on deck for a while, we'd head indoors. There was an endless supply of hot drinks and at tea time there was always some kind of delicious cake available. We both enjoyed the wildlife watching, even though there were long periods of not much happening. I kept a keen eye out for vertical spurts of water coming from whales close to the surface of the sea. They were often very far away and not worth photographing, but this Sei Whale was a little closer to our ship. It is the third largest whale species in the world, behind the Blue and Fin Whales.