Thursday March 5

Thursday aboard ship has brought us a bit of concern for a fellow passenger.  We have been advised that we are retracing our route over the last while due to reports of a "man overboard".  Our weather is cloudy and cool but no heavy seas.  This tends to create speculation that it probably was not accidental.  Nevertheless we are in "search" mode and there is apprehension for family and friends of the victim.   We were interested to hear a bit of "trivia".  One of our group said he was told that a ship of this size with this number of senior age passengers generally average a loss of one person per week.  We apparently are not that high – so far only one confirmed, with a second possible (they do not advise when someone dies).  We know we lost one on the first leg and there was a heart attack victim on Tuesday in Valpariso.     This cruise has been an eye opener.  We laughed when we read the "spam" distribution that suggested cruising as an answer to senior housing for the elderly.  We are amused now as we hear stories of people who seem to be doing just that.   It is much more prevalent than we realized.   We are scheduled for a port call tomorrow in Orica Chile.  I suspect that we will have our share of "investigatory personnel" aboard in view of our latest event at sea. There you have it – never a dull moment. Ken and Pat Burns from the road and/or the sea just as happy as can be