New Years - 2016 - Day 16

Finally when we woke up the weather was warm.  We have been lucky in that the weather has not been too cold going around the bottom of South America, but when you can’t sit out in the sun, it is too cold for us.

 

Anyway, today’s port, and our last port before the end of the trip is the town of Puerto Montt, Chile.  We were told that this town dates back to 1853 when a group of German immigrants decided to colonize the densely forested region around the beautiful Lake Lianquihue.

 

The city was almost totally ruined after a 1960 9.7 earthquake.  It has now been rebuilt and is a major fishing and fish industry port known for its salmon.

 

We were off the ship and onto a tender by 8:15am and met our guide, Christian and driver Mario from the company enaurechile.com and set off on a quick tour of Port Montt before going out in the countryside. 

 

We travelled around one side of Lake Lianquihue, which is huge, like one of our great lakes and came to a beautiful waterfall and rapids on a river.  We were, at that time supposed to see two volcanoes that had been active as recently as a few years ago, but it started raining and they were obscured by the clouds.

 

Then we drove back towards the town and stopped at a wonderful restaurant which had been rebuilt after being crushed by lava during the last eruption!  We had a seafood platter for two that included shrimp, smoked fish, smoked salmon, abalone, king crab, steamed crabs, scallops, regular salmon with garlic and lemon and mussels.  It was so huge we could not finish eating it all – wow was it good.  And yes, Ed ate everything and like 99% of it!!

 

Then we continue on our way back to port and stopped at the town of Puerto Vargas which is a very beautiful small town with several blocks of local craft markets.  We shopped there for ½ hour and then continued our tour.

 

Next we were back in Port Montt and they took us to a huge fish and vegetable market and then to the major craft market in town.  Of course we bought a few things.

 

Then it was time to say goodbye to our guide and driver – they were two of the best we have had and we boarded the tender to go back to the ship.  So, while we missed the volcanoes, we had a wonderful tour for the day.

 

By then it was time for a nap.

After our nap, we dressed for dinner.  As we were dressing we saw the most magnificent rainbow we have ever seen.  One end seemed to end right at our balcony.  I will post a picture and then a video later – it was amazing.  Then we went to the show and the entertainer was a piano player who had missed the ship at the last port.  He put on a really good performance.

Dinner tonight was in the new specialty restaurant, the Tuscan Grille with Carla the Casino Supervisor who we have been with before.  She is really good and we had invited her to the restaurant with us and it ended up that the casino picked up the tab for the table.

We finished dinner at 10:30pm and Carla went to work and we played.  Barb lost a tiny bit and Ed had his biggest loss in a 2 hour session.  Now we are down for the trip and hopefully we can make it back up tomorrow, our last day and a day at sea.

Night from the Pacific Ocean.

 

At the falls

Lunch!!

Buying a handmade hat

At the fish market

 



Ed, Mario our driver, Christian our guide and Barb


 



The rainbow



Dinner with Carla - the Casino Supervisor

New Years - 2016 - Day 15

Today we had hoped for warmer weather and the ability to sit out in the sun.  When Ed went up for breakfast it was warmer so he put the towels out; however, the sun didn’t come out like we wanted it to so we never were able to sit out on the deck.

 

We are sailing in the Chilean Fjords so we are not in the ocean and it is very calm.  We are passing by hundreds of small little islands that were formed during the ice age and it is very pretty, but the mountains are so steep that all day we never saw a person or small village on the land.

 

We will publish the video of this part of the trip when we reach Santiago.

 

We went to lunch in AquaSpa again as it is a great place to eat and had grilled tuna with grilled vegetables.  Our tablemates, Mark and Kathy also joined us for lunch.  Then the officers were cooking sausage and sauerkraut so Mark and Ed went down and each got one and they were really good.

 

After lunch we played in the casino and Barb was a little down and Ed had a good session.  We also won $200 in a special drawing that the casino held.

 

After that, we sat out on the deck and watched that islands go by as we traveled up the inside passage way to our next stop.

 

We had a very short nap and then dressed for the evening.  The show was a very good singer and dinner whose menu was produced by the Top Chef program was excellent.

 

Then we went to the casino where Barb won and Ed lost.

 

That’s it for today.  Tomorrow we arrive in our last port, Puerto Montt and we have a private tour arranged which should be fun.

 

Night for now.

 

Grilled Tuna and vegtibles for lunch

Our casino host, Dimi and Casino Manager Palo



Our Top Chef dinner menu

Ed's appetizers and tuna tar-tar

 

New Years - 2016 - Day 14

A day at sea except we are on an inside passage called the Straits of Magellan and then at 12:30pm we entered the Patagonia Fjords.  We think the word Patagonia is so neat!!  The key is that we are basically travelling up to the next port on a very wide salt water river with large hills and mountains on either side of the ship.  It is very calm and the temperature is starting to get warmer.  Perhaps tomorrow we will be able to be out on the deck – but not today.

Ed was up first, ate breakfast and then went to the gym.  We he got back to the room, Barb was ready to walk around. 

Nothing really exciting – we went to a jewelry sale and then to Chef’s program on how to cook the perfect steak and we really learned some things in that presentation.

Then we went to Aqua Spa and had the baked salmon with vegetables and again it was very good.

We looked as some future cruises in March of 2017 so we will have some choices for everyone when we see them Feb 22.

Then we went to the casino and Ed played in the Blackjack tournament and qualified for the finals again but did not win.  In both tournaments, the dealer virtually never broke so Ed’s strategy did not work.

We then played a session in the casino and both Barb and Ed won nice

Then of course it was time for a nap.

In an effort to attract a lounger cruiser, they have done away with specific formal nights and they now call them “Evening Chic” which includes formal gowns and Tuxes, but also allows people to dress down a little.  We are going formal and a lot of others were dressed very well also, so that is good..

We dressed for dinner which was excellent with items like beef wellington, lobster tail and lamb.  The couple who had been missing from our table joined us and they are from San Diego, CA and we have some new conversations with them.

Then it was off to the casino where Barb did really well and Ed lost a little.

Tomorrow is another sea day and we hope warm enough to sit on the pool deck.

Night from the Canal Trinidad in South America.

 

Lunch - we split it

 

Afternoon snack

 



Formal Night

New Years - 2016 - Day 13

At least the days are starting to get warmer.  Today is Punta Arenas, Chile and the weather was supposed to reach a high of 54 degrees.  It might have been that high at sometime but with the wind, the actual temperature was a lot less.  Still – it was better than yesterday.

This is the city where the famous Captain Shackleford had his excursions to Antarctica.  The city was among the first Spanish settlements along the Strait of Magellan coast, dating back to the late 16^th century.  The Strait of Magellan is the passageway that was found to go from the two oceans without going around Cape Horn.  We will be in the Strait of Magellan starting tonight as we head to our next port of call after two sea days.  Right now, we are in Patagonia which is an area of Chile like we live in the Midwest. 

We had to take a tender into the port as they have no facilities to have large cruise ships such as our dock close to town.  The waves were very rough and it was an experience getting on and off the tender.

We met out guide and driver at the pier for a 3 hour tour of the city.  It was interesting learning about the city and its history as first a military penal colony to a farm community and now a mining and tourist town that has only 150,000 people in it.

We toured a museum about the city and its history and also tour a cemetery, which was supposed to be one of the most beautiful in the world, and it certainly was.

In looking at maps of the bottom of the world, we are closer to Australia that we are to Bloomington -   Now that is amazing!!

At the end of the tour, our guide found a shopping area with Kahula and Barb wasn’t going to get any until she found out that the price was only $12 a bottle, a lot less than in the US, so we got two bottles. 

After the guide dropped us off at the pier, we walked about 4 blocks to a restaurant called La Luna (the moon) that she recommended and it was one of the best ever.  Barb had baked King Crab and Ed had Tenderloin and they both were amazing dishes because of the sauces and how they were prepared.

We also found a new drink made up of a Chilean liquor, calafati berries, sugar and lemon.  It was called a Calafati Sour drink and wow was it good.  I might not have calafati spelled correctly, but the drink was really very good.

We then walked up to the City Center and the main park where they were all kinds of booths set up to sell souvenirs.  We bought our casino supervisor, Carla a present and also a present for the waiters 17 month son as they have been so good to us.  Ed also bought a sweater and Barb bought a ring as well as some souvenirs.

Then we walked a few block to the ship going into numerous shops along the way until we made it to port where we took the shuttle boat back to the ship.  The waves were really rough and the bow of the tender probably rose 15 feet up and down!!

After we sorted out everything we bought, it was time for a nap after a fun day in town.

The entertainment tonight was a singer/guitar player and he was pretty good.

Then it was time for dinner – it seemed like we just ate, but we went anyway and then we went to the casino where Barb won just a little and Ed had his largest loss!  Just wasn’t the night – but hopefully tomorrow when we will have the first of two sea days.

Night

 

Our ship from town

At the top of the town - notice our ship on the right

Rest in peace

Lunch

Barb with our tour guide buying "stuff"

 

New Years - 2016 - Day 12

When we went to bed we were not sure if the ship was going to be able to dock in Ushuaia and when we woke up we were docked.  We are truly on the end of the world and it is an amazing place.  We got off the ship at 7am and walked the very long pier to the end and found the Pira Tours office.

We had booked an exciting tour and we were so glad that we were able to dock.  Yesterday the port was closed because of high winds.  The winds were high this morning, but not high enough to cause the ship a docking problem. If you Google Ushuaia you will see that we are not on the ocean but in an area of islands at the bottom of South America and will be in the islands for a couple of days as we start back up the west coast of South America

Docked next to us were a couple of tour boats that were headed to Antarctica – this is cold and that would be much too cold.

We dressed very warm in multiple layers for the trip and it was a good thing because it was cold, but not too cold to enjoy the journey.  The day started out at 30 degrees and maybe made it up to 35 degrees.

The tour started with an 1 ½ hour bus ride through the countryside until we reached a private farm consisting of 20,000 acres and also an island called Ile de Lobos.  It is a 4^th generation farm and they do not rely on farming anymore but just on tourists visiting their island which houses a huge penguin colony.

At the farm, we first visited a museum and research laboratory with lots and lots of skeletons, including those of whales that had beached themselves on their property.  Then we boarded a zodiac boat with twin 200 horsepower motors for the 15 minute to the island and the penguins.  The boat went about 35 miles an hour and the waves and wind made the trip out very rough.  Barb sat in the back to minimize the bouncing on her back.  Ed made the mistake of staying up front!!  Coming back, we both sat in the back.

There are numerous tours to the island by catamarans from the city docks; however, the company we were using is the only company that is allowed to land on the island and walk among the penguins. 

It was more amazing than we expected and the highlight of the trip.  We walked among about 1,000 pairs of nesting penguins and saw baby chicks that had been born in late November and early December.  They were all gray and furry and just starting to come out of their nests, which are burrows in the soil. You had to be very careful to not step on one if you were not looking where you were going.  We had no expected to see this and be able to walk with them.

We had rain, sun, sleet and snow all in one day and this is their summer.  They have only 2 - 4 days a year when it gets up to 78.  They get over 300 inches of snow a year.

We have some amazing videos and we will put them at the end of the blog once we reach Santiago and can download them. 

Then we took the bus back to the city and had an hour to shop and the wind was terrible and then it started snowing so we walked back to the ship.

Once on the ship, we took our “stuff” to the room and went on deck to have a very late lunch.

Then it was back to the room to take a nap.  We are tired and windblown but have wonderful memories of this trip today.

We overslept and missed the entertainment in the main lounge so we watched the ship sail away up the channel and watched us go by some amazing glaciers.  Again I have video of them and a great waterfall that I will put on the blog when we get to Santiago.

Dinner was of course good and then we went to the casino where Barb broke even and Ed had his worst night so we were back in the room before midnight – not what we would like, but that’s what happens sometimes.  The high today was 30 but tomorrow it is supposed to be up to 52 – summer time in South America!!!

Tomorrow is Punta Arenas, Chile – night.

 

Arriving on the penguin island

1 month old chicks

Mother and chicks

One of 5 major glaciers we passed in the early evening

Yes it was cold and windy but what an experience!!!

New Years - 2016 - Day 11

When we awoke at 8:30am – the sky was clear and the waves were not too bad.  It had been very rough in the evening.  Barb was up more than Ed with the rough seas and the noise from the ship such as in our cabin where the drawers kept banging into the door until we finally put a towel in between them.  The good news is we went through some bad seas but it did not bother us as much as we expected.

Ed went and had breakfast and then onto the gym for a ½ hour.  It was still rough enough that the pool water was spilling out over the deck and pretty hard to walk.  It was also cold – 44 degrees.

So, the best thing to do was to go back to the cabin and we slept until almost noon!!

Then we got up and went to the Aqua Spa for lunch and had grilled tuna which was wonderful.  Our best meals for the cruise so far have been in the Aqua Spa for lunch.

Last night the Captain announced that we would get to Cape Horn and see it late at about 9:00pm; however, this morning he announced that the front was moving too slow and so he was not going to sail the ship around Cape Horn and we would not see it.  We then will sail inland for the next several days on the Strait of Magellan and the Chilean Fjords before coming out in the Pacific Ocean late Thursday, Jan 14 so the sailing will be very calm.

We didn’t realize it, but Cape Horn is an island and the Captain took the ship on the inland side of the island.  Prior to getting there, we sheltered in place on the east side of the tip of South America to let the storm go past us.  Late in the afternoon, it was very calm where we where we located and not moving.

We played a gambling session in the afternoon where we both lost a little.  We also found out that Carla, the Casino Supervisor might be with us next year when we sail from Dubai.  She is really great and we have been on several cruises with her. 

After gambling, we sat and listened to the band and singer for 45 minutes.

Then it was time to go back to the cabin for a short nap as the show was moved to 6:00pm and 8:00pm to have them over by the time the seas got rougher.  We have been told however that they roughest part of the trips was last night – so that is good.

From about 3pm until 8pm, the ship stayed in a safe place and faced the front into a 65 miles an hour wind!   We felt virtually nothing because of the skill of the captain in keeping the ship straight on.  Once we started up again, the waves and the winds made it pretty rough.

The show was a violinist and it probably was the best individual show that we have ever seen on a cruise ship.  He was really, really good and played all kinds of music in his 45 minute show.

Then we went to dinner and then onto the casino.

They were having a special players drawing for a good watch and Barb won one of the two drawn!!

We both played and Barb had her biggest winnings and Ed his second best night so it was a great night in the casino.

By the time we got to the cabin, the rocking had lessened and it should make for a nice night sleeping.

Tomorrow is Ushuaia and we have an exciting tour booked to see the penguins.  We have our winter clothes out and hopefully it will a great stop.

Night from safe seas!!

 

Going out for the evening

 

New Years – 2016 – Day 10

A day at sea - so Ed was up earlier than Barb and ate breakfast, saved some deck chairs and then went to the gym for ½ hour on the aerodyne.  After that he visited the future cruise desk because they just announced an African cruise tour.  We can’t go because it conflict with another cruise that we have book – but maybe for 2017.

Barb then came up to the sun deck and we stayed in the sun until it was lunch time where again we ate in the Aqua Spa and this time split a grilled pork with grilled vegetables.

We were very surprised that the weather was so good.  The sun was hot and we were only able to stay out for about 3 hours.

Then it was time to go to the blackjack tournament were Ed qualified for the final but didn’t win.   We then played in the casino for a little bit and Barb broke even and Ed was up just a little.

Then it was time for a nap before getting ready for the evening.

We will not have many pictures because we really didn’t do anything.  We did take a video of the waves, which are starting to get big.  We cannot down load as we are at sea, so we will save them for later.

 

Going out for the evening