Punta Arenas

Wednesday, February 6

Weather:  56º F, Cloudy

This windblown city near Chile's southernmost tip sits on the Strait of Magellan. which itself is positioned squarely between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Too many travelers rush through Punta Arenas, treating it as a pit stop on their way to the stunningly beautiful landscapes of Torres del Paine National Park and other attractions in Patagonia, but there's plenty in this city and its environs to experience, too. From penguin spotting on Isla Magdalena and kayaking the Strait of Magellan to visiting area farms and then indulging in surf-and-turf specialties (here meaning fresh seafood and asado, or Chilean barbecue) at local restaurants, Punta Arenas is worth a stopover all its own.

The first look out the window was encouraging. The Zaandam had docked at 6 am in Punta Arenas and in the early morning light the seas looked calm. I was awake, but not ready to get up. Finally around 7 am I pulled myself out of bed and started to get ready for the day.

I was concerned about rough seas because our plan for the day was to take a speedboat to Magdalena Island to see penguins. The tour is one that often gets cancelled due to weather. We had breakfast in the Lido buffet and I found the fresh strawberries I had noticed someone eating the day before. Delicious!

The four of us left the ship around 8:30 am and as the EXC guide had mentioned in his talk, we walked across the bridge and found the free shuttle to take us to town. It was just about full so once we got on we didn't have long to wait until it left. The drive to town was about 20 minutes. On the way we saw the Costa Luminosa which was anchored near the center of town and tendering passengers ashore.

The shuttle dropped us off at the Plaza de Armas. Along one side of the square was a cathedral. At the center was a large bronze statue of Ferdinand Magellan who had come to Patagonia in the early 1500's. Below Magellan is an indigenous Patagonian whose low-hanging foot has been rubbed to a shine by travelers headed out to sea. Legend says that if you kiss the statue's foot it will bring you good luck and calm seas as you pass through the Drake Passage.

Statue of Magellan.

Ensuring our crossing of Drake's Passage goes smoothly (and it worked!)

A tourist office was also located in the square where we picked up a map and verified the directions to get to the Solo Expediciones office where we were to meet our tour.

Tourist Information center in the Plaza.

I had booked our tour independently and we were required to meet at their office. The info we received said the tour was for 10:30 am but as we checked in and paid we were told we needed to be there at 10 am. Since it was already a little past 9:30 we just waited in their office and used the free wifi. The cost of the tour was 63,000 CLP. We paid by credit card and the charge for the two of us was $192.76.

More and more people came and around 10:00 they lead us down the street to where a large coach bus was parked next to the plaza. The drive to the dock where we were to board the boat took around a half hour and on the way we passed by the Zaandam. When we arrived at the dock, no boat was to be seen. We sat on the bus for a long time and then stood outside waiting even longer before two boats showed up...a smaller one and a larger boat.

We were on the larger boat on the right.

First we had to wait for everyone to get off the boats and turn in their life jackets and then the same life jackets were redistributed to us. Some people crowded ahead and grabbed the life jackets from those disembarking and got in line and they were put on the smaller boat. Those of us that followed the directions were sent to the larger boat once we had our life jackets.

I estimated about 45 people were on our boat, but that was too many to be comfortable. The semicircular seats would have been fine for 5 people, but it was necessary to squeeze 6 people into each seat. By the time Bob and I got on there were no seats where we could sit together. I wasn't very popular, but I sat in a group of 5 people and poor Bob ended up standing for the long and rough ride to the island.

So crowded...so stuffy...so rough.

After paying nearly $100 for the tour he didn't even get a seat. :(

I checked my watch when we boarded and it was 11:49 am...almost 2 hours since we had left town. The boat ride to Magdalena Island was advertised to be 45 minutes but it took over an hour...an hour that was very rough and very uncomfortable for me and even worse for Bob.

Once we were on the island we had an hour to spend with the penguins...and there were many! The path we walked lead down along the beach, up to the lighthouse and then back down to the dock. A little longer time would have been nice, but the hour did give us time to take many photos...we just couldn't dawdle and enjoy our time on the island.

We started the loop along the shore and headed up the hill to the lighthouse.

A couple of baby chicks still sporting their downy feathers.

Lots of birds on the island besides penguins.

View from the top of the hill looking down towards our boat.

When we re-boarded the boat, everyone grabbed their same seats (most had left backpacks and stuff on the boat). I needed to use the restroom and waited for quite some time at the door of the women's bathroom at the back of the boat until another passenger finally told me it was out of order. (I used the men's instead.) One of the crew was serving small cups of hot chocolate or instant coffee and some packaged cookies, but I was afraid to take any for fear of spilling it on myself on the rough ride. The inside of the boat was hot and stuffy so Bob (who still didn't get a seat) and I stayed outside on the back of the boat. I found a small metal box to sit on and we remained there for the ride back to the dock. Several other passengers joined us including a father with a young son who was very sea sick.

Hold on Bob!

With the boat going so fast it was necessary to hang on to keep from falling. The wind had picked up and the waves were so large that they were splashing over the side of the boat. Bob got pretty damp from the spray. The fresh air did feel good however and we got to see a dolphin swim alongside the boat for awhile.

The boat made a brief stop at Marta Island where there was a colony of sea lions. The boat didn't dock and anyone who wanted a photo had to come outside and stand on a narrow walkway on the side of the boat. One man tripped and nearly fell into the water as the boat was bobbing around in the waves. It was hard to get photos in focus with the movement of the boat, but I wedged myself into the corner of the back of the boat and was able to stay steady enough to get a few.

Birds on top, sea lions below.

Close up of the above photo...the male sea lion and his harem.

It was around 3:45 when our boat returned to the dock and we boarded the bus back to town. There were quite a few of us from the Zaandam so the driver dropped us off right at the ship. I loved seeing the penguins, but would consider taking the ferry instead of the speedboat if I ever did the tour again. I talked to some other cruisers who had done the ferry tour and they seemed happy with how it went and it was much smoother than what we experienced.

It had been a long time since breakfast so when we got back on the ship, we grabbed some nachos from the Dive-In at the mid-ship pool. After that I took a quick nap. When I got up I went out onto the lower promenade deck to take some photos of the area around the port and found Bob napping in one of the lounge chairs!

Dinner was at the buffet around 7 pm and we got done just in time to get to the evening show, Rock Legends, a production show with the Zaandam singers and dancers. There were no seats left in our usual spot in the balcony of the theater but we found seats on the lower level close to the stage.

We perused the gifts shops after the show and then Bob and I went up to the buffet to get something to drink. I walked outside by the pool to photograph the sunset...or what little there was of it. On our way back through the buffet we ran into one of the Cruise Critic couples and chatted a bit. I have enjoyed getting to know some of the people from the message boards and others that we have met as well.

The sun is setting and the cows are bedded down for the night.

And the night ended as many others during the cruise...Bob got a couple of DVD's from guest services and I worked on my blog notes. Oh...and as usual...one of the DVD's didn't work. 😒

Brujo Glacier...and then the Strait of Magellan

Tuesday, February 5

A sea day...but also an early day to be out of bed. The When & Where indicated that we would be sailing by the Brujo Glacier and commentary would begin at 7 am. We flipped on the TV when we got up and by tuning into the channel showing the front view of the ship we could hear when Kevin, one of the expedition guides, began talking. That was our cue to head up to the bow.

The sun was just coming up over the mountains and when the ship turned towards the glacier we were looking directly into the sun. It made for lots of squinting and lousy photos. It was hard to even look at the glacier without being blinded. Just as the captain started to turn the ship to leave, the sun finally ducked under a cloud.

So hard to see the glacier when we were looking directly into the sun.

In the opposite direction the mountains were highlighted by the rising sun.

Brujo Glacier...and the sun finally ducks behind a cloud.

A close up of the waterfall in the previous photo.

Once the ship pulled away from the glacier, I went back to the cabin and did my daily chore...backing up the photos from the previous day. I mistakenly thought that the port talk on Punta Arenas was at 10:00 am so went to the theater by 9:30 to get a good seat. Turned out that the talk was at 10:30 but getting there super early wasn't a bad idea. By the time it started, the theater was standing room only with many people sitting on the steps in the balcony.

Tip:  We learned it was necessary to get to the theater early for most scheduled events...port talks, lectures by the expedition guides and the evening entertainment. To pass the time we played games on our phones. Bob and I discovered a game called Wordscapes that is similar to the game Boggle...fun and somewhat addicting! Sometimes I would also take my iPad and update the notes for this blog. It was so nice to have most of it written BEFORE I was dead tired and wanting to go to sleep. Laurel had just gotten a new Kindle for Christmas and actually read quite a bit while she was waiting. And as a low-tech alternative we would pick up the puzzle sheets from guest services and do a crossword or Sudoku.

A map of the highlights in Punta Arenas

We kept our seats and stayed in the theater for the next talk by expedition leader, Scott, on whales. He was still speaking when the captain gave his noon update. Instead of stopping so everyone could hear what the captain was saying over the speaker, Scott just continued talking. We could only hear bits and pieces of the captain's announcement but did understand him to say that we would be heading out into rough open water from 1:30 pm until the evening when we would enter the Strait of Magellan.

I left the whales talk a little early so I could hear the organ in the atrium at 12:15. In the 23 days we were on the Zaandam last April, we never once took time to hear it play. It sounds a bit like an old time music box. When the music starts, the many of the figures on the organ begin to dance or play an instrument. The whale lecture still hadn't finished so after listening to the organ, I went directly to the buffet to beat the crowds. I grabbed a table for four and just waited until the others arrived before picking up any food.

The top of the organ on deck 4 by guest services.

The bottom of the organ in the atrium on deck 3.

Skies were cloudy and by the time we finished eating, visibility had dropped to almost nothing and it was raining. So different than the blue skies we had experienced most every day until now.

At 2:00 pm we went to Tamara's lecture on the heroic explorers to Antarctica. I was familiar with Shackleton's story but we also heard about some of the other expeditions from the same time period. The fact that I stayed awake in a semi-dark room right after eating is a testament to how interesting the talk was!

But...when the lecture was over we all headed back to the cabin for our siestas. As the captain had predicted, we had entered open waters and the seas were quite rough. After dealing with motion sickness last week, Bob was proactive and took some meclazine. The seas were so rough that waves were washing over our window. And even though we are on deck 1, our window is still quite a distance from the surface of the water so you know the waves were high!

I slept longer than I intended and then had to hustle to get ready for dinner. It was our second gala night which we noticed produced a very wide range of attire. I'm convinced some people just forgot that it was gala night based on their clothing. Many of the men (including Bob and Kent) wore just a dress shirt...some with ties and some without. A few guys had sports coats and even fewer were dressed in suits.

Cleaned up for gala night!

No menu had been posted on the Navigator app. (We usually looked at the menu ahead and knew what we wanted to order by the time we got to the dining room.) I had shrimp cocktail for my appetizer and sole with lime rice for the main course. Dessert followed the lime theme...lime coconut souffle. The other three had filet mignon.

I had to run outside after dinner to get a photo of this rainbow!

The show in the main theater was a rerun of two of the past entertainers...Martin Beaumont, the comedian, and Andrea Amat, the flute player. Comedians aren't usually my first choice for entertainment, but this guy was pretty funny and didn't resort to foul language or off color jokes to get laughs.

The meclazine that we took during the afternoon was starting to make us sleepy so Bob and I called it a night right after the show ended. From my maps.me app I could see we were entering the narrower portion of the Strait of Magellan. The seas had calmed and we were on our way to Punta Arenas.

                              

 

Cruising the Chilean Fjords

Monday, February 4

I slept better during the night knowing an alarm was not going to startle me awake. During the night I could feel the ship's movement increase which meant we were going faster and in open waters. Once Bob was awake, we went to the buffet for a quick breakfast and then split up.

Bob went to the gym with Kent and I spent some time in the Crow's Nest updating my blog notes. It was hard to concentrate because all I wanted to do was look out the window at the beautiful view! At 10 am, John, a Cruise Critic member, had organized a get together of photography enthusiasts from our roll call to meet in the Crow's Nest. There was a good turnout but unfortunately the team trivia challenge had been moved to the same time. The noise from that group made it very hard to have a good conversation. Still, people made connections and exchanged photography tips and suggestions.

Heading towards the Tempanos Glacier (the blue dot on the map)

The 11:00 am talk on early Antarctica explorers was just beginning as the photo group finished. The theater was packed but Laurel and I managed to find single seats...she on the upper level and me on the lower. The guys had arrived earlier and sat together. The lecture, by Expedition Guide,Tamara, was on the early explorers to Antarctica and provided a lot of facts but was still very interesting. It made me even more anxious to hear her next talk that would include Shackleton.

The four of us hustled to get to lunch to beat the large group coming out of the theater. We wanted to be done eating and outside by the time the ship was approaching the Tempanos Glacier. No announcement was made (that we heard) but we discovered the bow was open for viewing. We went up to the next level to an open deck just below the bridge. Dolphins were playing alongside the ship but I wasn't quick enough to get a photo or video. The captain got the ship very close to the glacier and we were even lucky enough to see it calve!

Bob photographed this interesting current pattern from the window while we were eating lunch.

Getting closer to the glacier.

I snapped this photo just as the glacier calved.

Just after the glacier calved.

Our reflection in the windows of the bridge.

And because you can never have too many photos of a glacier, we went down to deck 3 and took a bunch more from the lower vantage point.

Such an awkward pose! :)

Kent and Laurel left us to go to the 2 pm lecture on the continent of Antarctica. At that time in the afternoon I knew I would start nodding off if I attended. Instead, Bob and I went to the small public area at the back of deck 6. Not many people had discovered this even existed and there was only one other couple besides us. I recognized the two of them from a photo they had shared on the Cruise Critic roll call so I introduced ourselves and we had a nice visit.

The public area at the back of deck 6...a great place to avoid the wind!

Lido Deck aft. Colored cows...not your usual pool decor.

Kent and Laurel joined us after their lecture was over. (I had used the chat feature on the HAL Navigator website to let them know where we were.) We sat there until it was time to get ready for dinner. During the afternoon the captain took us down the Messier Channel and past the wreck of the MV Capitan Leonidas. The story behind the wreck is interesting. In 1968 the ship was carrying a load of sugar and the captain devised a scheme to sell the sugar and then deliberately sink the ship to collect insurance money. The absence of the cargo on the sunken ship would be explained by saying the sugar had dissolved. However, the plot failed when the ship landed on a shallow spot in the channel and didn't sink! The captain lost his license and went to jail and the wreck of the MV Capitan Leonidas is still there today.

The ship was covered with birds.

The ship continued to sail through narrow fjords throughout the time we were at dinner. We spotted what we thought were seals playing in the water but didn't get a close enough view to be sure.

Jaz Danion was the headliner at the evening show in the main theater. He did some juggling and balancing acts which were impressive. Sometimes I wonder how (or why) people take up such careers, but he showed photos and explained that both his father and grandfather were entertainers and had done similar acts.

As we sailed further south, sunset just kept getting later. We sat outside on deck 3 and it was after 9:30 pm before the sun went down. By then the ship was headed out of the fjords and into open water for the night.

Tomorrow...another sea day but an early morning as we sail past the Brujo Glacier.