Sunday, Feb 19, 2017

Amelia Glacier

Chuck very wisely reserved us spots in The Sanctuary on Deck 19 - protected from the wind (but not from the cold!) Oddly, we were the only ones there, which afforded us private service from the crew. They brought us hot cocoa with a shot of Bailey's for extra fortitude! The glacier was quite impressive! We saw many more as we travelled to the end of the world. Kind of neat that I have visited Northern (Alaska) as well as Southern glaciers!

Monday, Feb 20, 2017

Punta Arenas, Chile 

Our last stop in Chile. This was a really great day. We went to a Patagonia estancia & drive thru the city. Our first encounter with guanacos ( like llamas or alpacas) The owner of the estancia was a collector of lots of farm equipment from tractors down to plates and silverware rescued from abandoned estancias (farms). After lunch, we were treated to a sheep shearing in the yard by the restaurant. Wish I could figure out how to get my pix from Chuck's phone to the laptop. Will keep trying - look again next time!

Tuesday, Feb 21, 2017

USHUAIA, Argentina

Early arrival at the dock in Ushuaia. I’m sort of getting used to waking up well before dawn! Today, we travel to the southern-most termination of the Pan American highway (beginning in Alaska). Ushuaia lies on the Beagle Channel, named after the sailing ship carrying Charles Darwin. On the other side of the Channel is Tierra del Fuega (Land of Fire) named after the fires generated by the native Indians.

Wed, Feb 22, 2017

Today is the day this cruise is all about! We rounded Cape Horn this morning and it was exhilarating to realize that we were as far South in this world that we will ever be 56 degrees South Latitude! The outside temp was about 42 degrees F and the wind was blowing 65 mph with gusts to 90. A very blustery day indeed! The Lighthouse at the End of the World is occupied by a family of 5. There term there is one year. We wondered what the Lighthouse Keeper did to deserve this exile!

Once again we went up to the Sanctuary on Deck 17 where, once again, we were the only passengers so the service was beyond excellent. Anthony, our deck steward, brought us the BEST hot chocolate ever, laced with Bailey’s Irish Cream. Hearty souls that we are, as we rounded the Island we realized that the apparent wind would soon be to our disadvantage and we could see the rest from the warmth of our cabin!

 Chuck took pictures of me at the most historical moments, we left a bit of Mom and my sailing friend, Marge, in the Southern Ocean. Mom would have loved the cruise and it was a fitting remembrance of the 5^th anniversary of her death. Marge would have LOVED sailing around the horn aboard ANY vessel! I think this may be the one destination that eluded her.

After the circumnavigation of Horn Island we set our course Northeasterly towards the Falkland Islands. The overnight crossing was amazingly gentle. After several rocky passages in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic gave us a break.

Thurs, Feb 23, 2017

Arrived at Stanley, East Falkland Island (there are about 600 of them, but East Falkland is the most populated and center of life in these islands. The population was doubled when our ship (of 3,000) unloaded! 2,100 live on the West island. We took a 2 hour tour of the island with our final stop at the Historic Dockside Museum. Very interesting artifacts telling the history of the island’s history. Some of our favorites were the Symphonium (picture) and the portable dental office. The drill was operated, not by electricity but by foot treadle! OUCH!!

After that tour, we took a shuttle out to the beach to see Penguins. Unfortunately, the path out to view the Magellenic Penguins was too treacherous for me to feel comfortable traversing so we only saw them from a distance before returning to town and back to the ship.  The other penguin tours offered involved very bumpy travel over extremely rough terrain. Too bad, I really wanted to see the Rockhopper Penguins as well as the Gentoos. This may have been my only opportunity on this trip, but we are only a week into this voyage and my back is still getting used to the constant motion of the ship. No time to take chances with it!

Sailed at 1800, this time NorthWesterly towards Port Madryn, Argentina. After a day at sea tomorrow, (sleeping in and an afternoon of Mah Jongg) we will arrive at dawn on Saturday.

Friday, Feb 24, 2017

At Sea (day 5 of 16)

A typical day at sea: 10 am Enrichment lecture (today on Machu Pichu) followed by a presentation on Puerto Madryn, our nest Port of Call. Evidently, an invitation was extended to the people of Wales to come to Argentina. Many did and made it their new home. There is a lot of European influence in this part of the world as the Germans as well as the Welsh immigrated here in the 19^th century. The architecture shows this influence.

Nice to have the weather warming up. We have been very luck with easy seas in the Atlantic. Tomorrow we will probably pack up our winter clothes and stow them away!

Saturday, Feb 25, 2017

Puerto Madryn was settled in 1865 by Welsh emigrants who were fleeing religious persecution. They established this town, then many moved on to build new colonies. The estancia we visited was different from the one in Puerto Arenas, Chile. The gaucho dresses in the typical flat top, wide brimmed hat that we associate with gauchos. But he didn't do any horse tricks - perhaps in Buenos Aires or Montevideo! The land there is extremely arid - clay and sand with many fossils (not allowed to take). The owner of the estancia allowed the livestock to wander wherever they wished, including the visitors hall! Funny to see sheep just wantdering around!

Friday, Feb 17

Got to our debarkation station in plenty of time for our tour of Puerto Montt and a true Chilean "Estanzia" complete with lunch and Chilean wine. Alas, it was not to be...Word had come back to the ship that the port was on strike and that 2/3 of the Crown Princess guests who were already ashore were stuck on buses, unable to get past the demonstrators. After negotiations, Princess cancelled the tours and refunded our money. Many stayed ashore and walked around town in the cold rain till they were either bordering on hypothermia or the last launch back to the boat was ready to go.
I rounded up a couple of fellow Mah Jongg players and we got a game going! NO joy for me, tho.

After dinner in the dining room, we stayed up late to attend a really great magic show! The magician Michael ? encouraged us to attend his stage show tomorrow night. "a cross between David Copperfield and Cirque de Soliel" Kathy, from Western Australia joined us at our table. A lone traveler, very nice lady.

Thurs, Feb 16

Our first day at sea and my back is in spasm! Took a Flexeril and slept till 3! Chuck explored the ship and scouted out necessary places.
It's formal night - I received a red rose corsage, which I wore for dinner in our suite ;c/

Wed, Feb 15, 2017

Great morning tour of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar by Oswaldo! Valparaiso is built on 43 hills.
Arrived at the pier as requested at 1pm. What a MESS! NO organization! Staggered boarding failed miserably. Not enough wheelchairs, wishing we had my camp chair! Finally got a chair, checked in and on the bus to th ship. Again had to wait for a chair, but at least this time there was a place to sit in the shade while we waited. Usual confusion & orientation. Dinner (no charge at Crown Grill steak house at 6:30 after the lifeboat drill. Finished at 8:15 - TIRED!!! Hot stone massage, back in the room by 11. Watched Greek Wed all night. My back was really hurting after 3 days of travelling. Nice to finally get to unpack for the next month!
Our suite is really nice. Twice as large as the usual mini-suite we get but the other amenities make it worth the bucks. Walk in shower with a good sitting bench. Canapes & champagne the first night. Our laundry will be done for free, too! We have plenty of room to store our 33 days worth of "stuff"

Took me a while to figure out how to access this aboard the ship. But I've been journaling and will now transpose to the blog the last 4 days:

Tuesday, Feb 14

Arrived in Santiago around 9:30. Didn't sleep very well - the Business Class flat bed seats were not what we expected - not what we had on the Airbus to Sydney last year. This plane was a 767 and the flat bed seats were more like a coffin (made for someone 5' 6") But it was better than sitting up all night. Now that we know, we'll look for the right equipment.

We were met by our English speaking guide, Oswaldo aka JayLeno. He met us in a sedan, a communications snafu, but we managed to squeeze all of our luggage and us in for the 1/2 hour ride to the Ritz Carlton. Beautiful old hotel, lots of dark wood and old fashioned décor. They are in the process of updating the hotel, too bad!

Oswaldo picked us up again at 1 for a city tour. Unfortunately, we were so tired, we didn't enjoy it as much as we should have. Back to the hotel and, after room service dinner, in bed by 5 (3pm FL time!!)

Settled in at the very nice Delta Sky Club in Atlanta. Only 3 more hours till we begin the boarding process for our overnight flight to Santiago, Chile.

The best part of today's travels is that we were not charged for our VERY overweight luggage!!
The worst was that Chuck snapped the arm off of his prescription sunglasses. BUT, we were able to get them fixed in plenty of time to join Beth & Barry for a celebratory lunch at Capital Grille.

That's about all the news fit to print for now! Ciao!