Tuesday, January 31. Iffy Internet Connection

The weather has been absolutely unbelievably beautiful this morning. We were up at 5:00 and it has been non stop go go go.

There are only three colours here: Blue, White and Black.

There is nothing here to give any sense of scale either. Words are useless so I will just let the pictures speak for themselves...

Monday, January 30. What is all the fuss about?...

Sunny, brilliant sun. 

We are at this moment sailing in the Drake Passage due south just about at 60 degrees south latitude. To those not familiar with geography that is pretty darn far south. It is Antarctica, plain and simple.

The weather has been superb, the best so far actually, yet this area can be  about the most brutal in the world. It seems to be a Crap Shoot regarding coming down here.  One of the polar lecture team said that he has been down here some 90 times and this is in the top 10% regarding weather. He has been here in 18 meter swells, we have too. So, all the fuss and bother regarding weather and visibility warnings we have had are, to date, of no concern. I may regret saying that for we could be in terrible seas in a matter of hours. 

The mood in the ship is apprehensive as most have not been here and have not seen icebergs so they are looking forward to that but not looking forward to the cold that goes with that.

Some of us have a faint hope that the ship may get below the Antarctica Circle as we are just about maybe 150 miles from it, but that is a bit of a stretch.

There  were several lectures today, five in total, that worked out as we have been out of sight of land since last night and all there was to see was open ocean.

Tonight was a formal night so we all get dressed up. The theme was Winter Wonderland Dinner and it is all about ice and cold, hence the blue dress for Fellette and blue tie for me.

Sister Moe would be pleased to hear that I wore her husband Ralph's blue cuff links that Moe passed on to me tonight.

Maybe we have icebergs at our balcony tomorrow morning, who knows .

We moved the chair and placed my camera on my iPad that was atop the ice bucket holder that was sitting on the chair to get this shot of this decked out couple for the dinner tonight.

Sunday, January 29. The end of the world...

Sun, rain, wind, cloud. A typical day here. 

We are in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, or so say the Argentinians. It is however on an island so Chileans don't accept that as a fact.

We were on a tour that takes us on the route of an old logging train that ran prisoners to and from their prison for decades, only ending in the 1940s. It started as a good idea, as a method to populate this God-forsaken bit of land where the average summer temperature is 10C, [50F]. It however ended up as a dumping spot for the worst of the criminals in Argentina and turned into a hell-on-earth before it was closed.

Everything is rather expensive in this city/town, because everything has to be imported. I don't believe they could grow any produce if they wanted to. A jumping off spot for Antarctica seems to be one of the major industries here, and domestic tourism. The country seems to be a bit more developed than Chile but what do I know after only a few hours here?

The train ride was interesting, but quite cramped inside, that makes it cozy for sure. We stopped once for a photo opportunity.  We then boarded a coach and toured a bit dropping us four off in town where we prowled the streets until noon when we settled into a restaurant for an all-you-can-eat Sunday feast of lamb, beef, chicken and assorted veggies. The beer came in one litre bottles, two of which succumbed to their expected fate. Our dates stuck to juice.

The best part however was there was free wi-fi. And boy, was it fast!!! Gail and I got caught up on phones and my iPad. [I just happened to have it in my small pack!]

By the way the other day I made note of an excursion from the ship to fly to and land on Antarctica. For your information the weather was socked in and they could not go so they ended up going on a rather bumpy long coach ride. Such is life.

We then made our way to the ship and whiled the day away. We sail a bit late today for some reason. When we do sail, we head down south to the really cold weather and have five full days on the ship before touching land again in the Falklands. Hopefully I will have some good iceberg photos to share with you.

I fully expect to be without internet during most of the time we are heading to, in, and coming out of Antarctica. Next day ashore is in the Falklands, Saturday, February 4. 

Argentina calls the Falklands The Malvinas. See the last photo below.

The city of Ushuaia from our balcony this morning.

These little tiny gauge locos are oil fired, generating steam. 

Three rich Gringos getting ready to board. 

At the bottom of the Tierra De Fuego. Those are islands south in the background.

Another view of Ushuaia.

I just could not resist taking this picture... Spring is coming soon at home. 

Now that is a BBQ! That is a butterflied lamb on the rack. Delicious.

A Patagonian sized beer as well.

There is no Cruise ship dock, it is a working pier and most ships are Antarctic related. That container ship next to us can only be bringing in stuff from elsewhere, there is certainly nothing going out of here except tourists.

Take the time to read the second paragraph. This is a sign on the pier.

Saturday, January 28. Glacier Alley and the Beagle Channel

Clearish, coolish and very windy. 

We passed through the Straits of Magellan yesterday, which runs horizontally across the tip of South America, below the mainland. The Beagle Channel runs horizontally as well, but below the Magellan Straits and below the very large island of Tierra Del Fuego.

The Beagle Channel was to me by far the most exciting and picturesque portion of the trip so far. It is called Glacier Alley for good reason as there is a seemingly endless string of glaciers alongside the channels, on the north side, or port side which was paraded right outside our balcony this morning. 

The wind at some places denied us any opportunity to open the sliding door, at other times it was shirtsleeve weather out there. The endless mountains slipping by us are so barren and lifeless. That was and is the main reason this place is virtually uninhabited, even by animals, other than the odd albatross and a seal or two. It is not a nice place at all, as you can likely sense from the pictures.

Today, after the Beagle Channel, we sailed down to the tip of this mass of islands at the well known spot called Cape Horn. There, the weather is notoriously wild as there is no land to slow down the wind and waves between Antarctica the Southern Ocean. 

Last night the captain advised us the swells in the open ocean were six meters! That is the main reason that early explorers spent so much time trying to find a passage through the maze of channels and islands, where the water was more unaffected by what was happening in the wild ocean down south.

Today it was quite civilized down there. We went up on deck before dinner and took as many pictures as one would expect and then down to dinner where we celebrated Chinese New Years.

It was a great day, an early day and a relaxing day. We went to the show later at 8.00 for 4 minutes of entertainment before calling it a day.

A complete stranger took this photo of us at the southern end of the world, Cape Horn.

A glacier and its melt making its way down the mountain.

The approach is always dramatic.

This poor sod did not make it through the Beagle channel.

Another glorious glacier today. Not one sign of human habitation for many, many, miles.

Fellette at the Horn!

Doug at the tip. The captain honked the ship's horn as we passed from Pacific to Atlantic at this moment. 

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I was unable to send this blog yesterday when we were at the Cape because of the weak  signal there. 

I suspect that when we are in Antarctica, after tomorrow, I will be out of contact for some time, maybe not, but if there is no blog for a bit, hang in, I will be back when we come up north a bit. 

Friday, January 27. Goodbye Chile

Chilly but sunny. 

We four were on tour today, a bit of history of the early history of explorers and of the indigenous people that lived down here. Yes, there were some people, who, for whatever reason, lived down in this area. 

The climate here is to me, not a very nice place to live full time. Today we are in full summer, but everybody is bundled up and hoping it doesn't rain. There is obviously a breeze coming off the Magellan Strait that is at this point very wide and quite chilling.  

This Chilean city of some 200,000 some odd souls is the most southerly city in the world. There are some more southerly places but they are on islands. Ushuaia is our next port, but it is on a large island and a bit further south. It is also in Argentina. 

Tomorrow some time the captain is going to sail us around the place known as Cape Horn, if the weather allows us to before we set foot in Ushuaia the day after tomorrow. We then sail south to Antarctica and bump around there for a few days before turning north to the Falklands and modestly warmer weather.

Today we visited and explored a replica of Magellan's ship and the HMS Beagle. We were all amazed at the smallness and the lack of any decent accommodation for crew. Imagine, Magellan and his crew without heat, decent sanitation and proper diet for three years. The Beagle was somewhat later and a bit more comfortable looking but far from what we could withstand.  

We also spent some time in a very impressive museum that was somewhat crowded because there were three ships in port today.

We had time for some browsing and shopping and then relaxed with a lunch in an out of the way Chilean Restaurant called Sangre De Toro which we sourced out because they had free wi-if!

Back on board where we stayed in port a bit late so those passengers that flew to Antarctica for a walk on that continent could get on. Price for that 11 hour trip that gives you four hours on Antarctica:  $3999 [US$]

Sunk in 1946 when it ran aground in a Chanel we sailed through last night. Sad sight indeed. 

The other three coming ashore in Porto Arenas via tender.

Magellan's ship Victoria, unbelievably small, and uncomfortable. Those men were remarkable, although many died and some turned around and went home and even Magellan never lived to tell of his discovery.

Where is my toque when I need it?

A wonderful wooden art piece. I wonder if they ship Worldwide? 

Thursday, January 26 [Australia Day]. It's a miracle...

Clear in AM, bucketing down later.

Another sea day and of course we were up and drinking coffee at 5.00 AM. The reason was that we were advised that there would be some good viewing and photo opportunities early in the morning as we sailed to the foot of a tidal glacier.

We got our hearty breakfast and took it to the room and had it on the balcony as we did not want to miss the scenery outside our balcony. Next we bundled up in toques and parkas, including gloves and headed up to the top outside deck to get a clear view of where we were heading.

The wind up there was unbelievable, it was literally life threatening. We hovered behind a glass screen for some time before venturing out into the unprotected front rail while I tried to photograph something to capture the severity of the wind.

We stayed up top for about two hours getting some good shots and the weather was just about perfect. The ship pivoted and headed back down the same route and resumed its journey to Puntas Arenas where we arrive tomorrow and have a tour. 

Soon the weather changed and what blue sky we had disappeared. By noon is was torrential rain and everybody seemed to want to eat at the same time, it was a bit of a zoo in the buffet but we found a very amieable couple to chat with.

After both the glacier viewing and lunch we had a nap, or at least I had a nap. Fellette puzzled or read.

There was only one lecture today, on the subject of latitude, very interesting.

Today  and tonight we will be in some interesting channels and straits, always with mountains within a few hundred yards or so of the ship.

Some familiar names on the map today:

Vancouver Inside Passage. [Vancouver was a junior officer on Captain Cooks's ship and they named things after the officers or names that suited them at the time of discovery and for map making reasons.]

Magellan Strait, Wellington Island, Zealous Island, Byron Island etc. You can almost tell the nationality of the namer of those places by the names used. Most are Spanish or Portuguese of course. 

The weather was only fit for being outside for a limited time today, and by some good fortune it was while the ship was approaching and at the Brujo Glacier, where the captain diverted the ship for us in hope of decent viewing. It was almost a miracle that the weather was perfect for that short time.

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Jim is hopeful that Gail will be joining us on tour tomorrow. She apparently feels ok now and wants to take full advantage of her recovery time, and contagious time, so is staying confined until tomorrow.  Apparently there are a number of crew and passengers confined to quarters due to illness. They also have an attendant at the entrance to each eating facility to ensure that your hands are sanitized before entering. 

Up on deck, into the wind as we approached the glacier. It was almost life threatening up there, you had to hold on or risk being blown over, or away.

Where the snout of the glacier breaks off into bergie-bits to drift off. These are not ice-bergs, we are not into the ice yet, that is a few days off yet. Believe it or not, that glacier snout is three miles away!!! Hard to believe but it was measured by the ship.

Notice the blue hue to the ice, that is because all the oxygen has been squeezed out of the compacted snow and ice.

We two. I think some of my lost weight is going back on, not sure. Those Canada Ticket parkas were the perfect item this morning, once we got to learn how to keep the hood on in the wind!

Amazing mountain tops. I know not how they get that way yet.

We had coffee and fruit in the Neptune Lounge later, a sanctuary. 

Wednesday, January 25. [Robbie Burns Day.]

Mist and fog here.

We are at about 46 degrees south latitude, about the same as at home which is 49 north, but we are in the southern hemisphere. The day here is like a dreary January day at home.

This morning around 5:00 we started  to go through the Darwin Channel so I was up. It was dark still, but worse, it was foggy. So that little transit was a wipeout. We then hit the open Pacific at 7:00 again and were there till late afternoon when the captain wanted to get us in the shelters of the channels, fiords and mountains to minimize the affects of the nasty weather that unfortunately he expects us to experience tonight. 

Fellette and I bundled up and went for a walk this morning after breakfast. It was not as cold as it appeared but it was still nice to be warm and cozy. Many people are taking advantage of the weather to stay inside and rest, read or generally take it easy. It is rather difficult to walk with comfort or even stand due to the irregular movement of the ship.

I attended two lectures with Jim today, on whales and glaciers. I also took a library book out today as I suspect we may be confined to our cabin the next day or two for two reason: one is to see the lovely fiords and 'Scenic cruising' as they call it, or, the rocking and rolling of the ship.

We three went to the alternate Italian Dining restaurant tonight, Gail has confined herself to their cabin in an all-out attempt to shake of her throat issue. 

After we sailed yesterday from Castro, we passed miles and miles of oyster and fish farms, massive, impressive and seemingly endless is how I would describe them.

The view as we took a turn around the deck after the show before heading to bed. The day ended up just fine. Now to tomorrow...

Last night before dark we entered a channel after coming in from the exposed Pacific Ocean. This is some long extinct volcano.

Dinner, sans Gail. Lovely view as we sailed into the sanctuary of some inside passages.

Fellette dressing for our walk. Those $14.00 running shoes are coveted by many female crew and passengers alike.

Much fewer people were walking the decks today and all sorts of strange clothing has appeared on passengers since it cooled off. We are still hopeful of some sunny days before we turn north to warmer climes of course.

Blankets have replaced beach towels for passenger use.