Border closure

Firstly we have been having a fantastic time on the boat and for the first 4 or 5 days had a total holiday from media. We hadn’t bothered to set up the webmail on offer or buy a wifi package. However this disconnect is no longer possible. We have been advised by Oceanwide that Argentina has closed its borders for 30 days. It is very unclear if flying out of the country will be possible. However Chile is still open, and maybe we can get there by bus....Anyhow, we now also know that we will be subject to 14 days self isolation when we do return to Australia. So my work in Melbourne definitely won’t be happening. And that might present some other challenges at home I guess.

We are very technology challenged here, with very limited and expensive download, we can’t use our phones or our ordinary emails. We have had some WhatsApp but are running out of download. So the best is to use this temporary webmail account. It doesn’t take attachments but seems to work OK just for emails.

We’re not having much success with contacting Qantas or letting the Oz embassy in Argentina know we are here. It seems like all systems are stretched to the limit. Once we get back to Ushuaia we will have internet acces and capacity to make calls, so that should help. But it may well be chaos for a while. Everyone on the boat is well and as far as we know they will let us disembark OK, as we have left and are returning to the same port.

News about what is happening would be gratefully received. We get snippets from passengers and crew but hard to get a picture overall of what is going on in the world.

Today we had a zodiac trip in light snow, and had whales playing within metres of us. We also had a leopard seal checking us out, and the landscape is awe inspiring. We kayaked the other day, and have had various landings and zodiac trips. Lots of stories to tell and photos to show...in due course.

Love from us. Give us some news!!

Jen and Jode