Arrived in very hot and humid Santiago, Chile on Tuesday morning, January 29, 2019. It was too early to check in so we took a short walk around our hotel area, we had lunch and then took a guided tour. Pictures below are from different parts of Santiago. After our tour, we had a delicious and colorful dinner at our hotel on the 8th floor outside terrace.
The city of Santiago, Chile recently turned one of its busiest streets into colorful urban art with a project titled Paseo Bandera. Opened on December 21, 2017 and designed by Chilean visual artist Dasic Fernández, the entire 35,500-square-foot mural sprawls across almost four blocks.
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January 31
We are at sea! As you can see, it did not feel like we are cruising in the Caribbean! That would change for the next few days!! We left very hot Santiago and thought we were already in cooler temps ...we soon found we had a few very hot ports to visit yet!
February 1
Puerto Montt our first port. We had to leave because the seas were too rough for tender operations. We were going to tour some German towns, but it was okay with us to miss the port because we had a beautiful relaxing day at sea.
February 2
Castro, Isla Chiloe, Chile was a very colorful small town to walk around. Waterfront buildings were all on pilings because tides can run about 20 feet. We walked around a beautiful old church made completely of wood.
Very colorful town square.
February 3
Puerto Chacabuco, took a bus tour around the northern part of Patagonia to Coyhaique City and Aysen. Sadly, I couldn't take many pictures while touring on the bus. Beautiful sunset that night about 9:45.
Leaving Chacabuco and heading to cooler temps!
February 4
Cruising the Chilean Fjords with a stop at Tempanos Glacier.
February 5
Cruising the Chilean Fjords
February 6
We cruised through the Strait of Magellan, Cockburn Channel and Beagle Channel on our way to Punta Arenas, Chile. Punta Arenas is said to be the windiest place on earth. Chile is covered by 80% mountains. They claim to have 7 sheep to every person. We took a ferry ride to Magdalena Island to see the fabulous Magellan Penguin and Seagull Reserve. Then after our time with the penguins, Lana and I walked around downtown Punta Arenas which was a very pretty and very well kept downtown. Like most cities we have seen so far they have all been very clean and very friendly people.
After our morning tour with Alan and Robert, Lana and I stroll around downtown Punta Arenas after our tour. We even find a big beautiful place to have a Cafe Latte.
Lana, looking at Penguin jewelry!
Daylight cruising Glacier Alley-West to East, Espana, Romanche, Alemania, Francia, Italia, and Holanda glaciers and then we were on to Ushuaia. Ushuaia said to the "city at the end of the world."
They have the southernmost railways system in the world. Their church was built by convicts, the old prison is now a museum.
Cruising around Cape Horn and then crossing Drakes Passage. Cape Horn southernmost point in South America. Dutch sailors discovered Cape Horn. Drakes passage can have seas up to 100 ft. Cape Horn is known as the most dangerous passage in the world, it is where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet. Cape Horn has taken over 1000 ships and 15,000 people.
Pictures were taken as we were cruising. We did have high seas in Drakes Passage and the bow mast that held she ships flag was damaged overnight.
Cruising out of Drakes Passage and arrived at Deception Island. Deception Island has Penguins, seals and 1000's of Petrals. High winds prevented us from getting close to the island.
Cuverville Island, Nausen Island and Wilhelmina Bay. Several glaciers. From very early in the morning we sat or walked around outside the ship all day and just watched the beauty before our eyes!!
This next picture was taken to try and show you how close we were to the ice!!
Paradise Harbor - lots of icebergs and lots of whales feeding. Another day of breathtaking sights!
Gerlache Strait - again lots of whales, many sleeping. We also saw lots of penguins feeding. Then on to Charlotte Bay, known for lots of whales, orcas, seals and penguins. We also saw crabeater seals.
We are sad and can't believe it is our last day of Antartic cruising! :( It went by way too fast. Went to Admiralty Bay at King George Island. Ice kept us from going in too far in some areas. Poland, China, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, South Korea, Russia, Netherlands Purivian and USA are just some of the stations on King Gerog Island. King George Island is the biggest island in the South Shetland Islands. You see old whale bones on these beaches from the old whaling operations that used to be here. Nelson Island will let you come and stay for 45 days minimum. While there you will work collecting or categorizing whale bones and picking up debris.
The Falkland Islands, have over 1 million penguins! They have Magellanic, King and Gentoo Penguins. King is the second largest penguin. They also have Oystercatchers, Blue Eyed Shags, Rock Cormorants, Giant Petrals, Striated Caracara, Kelp Gulls, Upland Geese, the Falkland Steamer Ducks - which are rare and flightless ducks and the largest colony of Black Browed Albatross. Since the 74 day war in 1982, they have lots of active mines still being searched for and destroyed. The penguins, fortunately, do not weigh enough to set off the mines!! The population is about 3000 and 75% of the population live in Stanley. Stanley was a very clean, a really fresh looking city! There are more sheep than people in the Falkland Islands!
Goodbye, you sure were a beautiful place!
Puerto Madryn, Argentina - a very small town. We just walked around and then relaxed on the ship.
Montevideo, Uruguay went to see their Carnival Museum. Their carnival is nothing like the one in New Orleans or anywhere else. Montevideo hosted the first Fifa World Cup in 1932. Uruguay is one of the smallest countries in South America. Most everyone walks around with these cups that have a metal straw and a drink called Yerba Mate. The drink looks like it has floating herbs in the cup. They sell the cups everywhere. We did not try the drink. We did go to the oldest Cafe in the city for a cafe latte and an espresso. My cafe latte was served in a clear glass mug, espresso was hot with this very thick and very cold whipped heavy cream on top of the espresso. The cream never melted, it was very different but yummy!!
Buenos Aires, Argentina- was another very HOT and Humid city. Their traffic was terrible in this very big city! I spent lots of time looking up because there were so many skyscrapers - very high ones everywhere and many looked to be apartments or condos. They have 6 million people in Buenos Aires. Couldn't get many pictures of the city on our bus tour. We did see Eva Peron's grave. After our tour we stayed on the ship, no one wanted to fight the traffic or the heat to do any more sightseeing!
I hope you enjoy our cruise memories!!
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