Simple cruising – mostly knowing we were traversing historical waters because all the details speakers kept providing us. I don’t think I have any particular increased sensitivity to political, immigration or human rights issues but I still bristle at all the comments about “settling” the area, establishing towns and otherwise populating the area. The next sentence, of course, is something about the tribes that were there when the European settlers were brought in.

So all I can do is assume that the same values applied in Patagonia as in the rest of the New World: no area was considered settled unless it housed European immigrants. No one native to that area would have been seen as having rights, property or any say in land, animal or fish usage. Certainly no one of the early [European] explorers would have cared a whit of local opinions about establishing whaling, towns, deforestation or the tastiness of captured prisoners. Rumors about which could be easily used to keep criminals in line and mutinies down to the irreducible minimum. Considering how harsh the environment is in summer, I can’t imagine it would have been all that fun in winter, just adding to the challenges.

So we sailed through the fog today, occasionally spotting islands, marine life and more than a few obnoxious fellow passengers.