Sunrise today was spectacular at 27° S. We are getting closer to the Tropics and its towering cumulonimbus clouds. We had a low layer of stratocumulus which appeared to trap the red of sunrise in the sky and ocean. By 09:00 the sun was back again in a clear blue sky. We had taken …
It was a cloudy start to the day as we began our next day in Valparaiso. Food tenders worked late into the night and during nothing seemed to happen. Near to noon as usual the Captain informed us that he had refuelled 800 tons that gave us a range of 7000 miles. When the last …
We slipped into Valparaiso in the early morning light and from the cabin saw steep streets ascending the low mountains illuminated by street lights, reminiscent of San Francisco. During breakfast we saw the fuel ship (bunker) approaching and by 11:00 fuel was being loaded. This took until around 16:00. It was interesting to see that …
Overnight we passed the fishing port of Puerto Mont, Chile which we would have visited. According to a Lonely Planet travel guide “the town can be smelled before it can be seen”. This is its major attraction however. By sunrise we had reached 39° S 74° W and an announcement from the Captain said we …
Today broke as a foggy one at 48° S and 75° W and it didn’t improve much until sunset. At 08:40 we had 793 miles to go to San Antonio, if they let us in, and so far have travelled 2532 miles. By late afternoon we sighted land and possibly whales off the Archipelago de …
We awoke at 07:30 to a dark, almost black sea at 52° S 73° W heading towards the Chilean fjord coastline where the Andes Mountain Range reaches the sea. Whilst eating breakfast we managed to cross the shallow strait at Manuel Rodriguez. This is where the sill of the fjord rises to the surface because …
After yesterday’s formal notification of the ban imposed by the Chilean authorities we had our temperatures taken to prove we are a healthy ship. As we write meetings are being held between the authorities and cruise lines. Today we would have “rounded the Horn “. The isolated, triangular rocky island at the southernmost point of …
We awoke at 07:00 in readiness for a voyage past the Chilean glaciers, however, there was a line of street lights, on the landward side of the ship and ships at anchor on the opposite side. This did not look like a place for glaciers! A note under the door and an announcement from …
We arrived at Punta Arenas at 6:00 a.m. The town was originally a military garrison and penal settlement which had a protected harbour and large forests and water supplies. Early after its foundation the town traded its natural resources including seal skins, hides, coal, gold, timber and guano. The purchase of 300 sheep from the …
At daybreak we were well into the voyage to Cape Horn at 53° S 63° W on another steely grey sea and this time wrapped in fog with an air temperature of 9 C. During the late afternoon the sun reappeared and by sunset we had entered the Magellan Estuary. Land on both sides of …