March 1st

February 23, 2009

Cruising Cape Horn

Today we rounded the southernmost tip of the Americas! The scenery was spectacular and the weather was cloudy and in the upper 40s. We thought it would be a lot rougher than it was. The ship sent one of the tenders to a post office on the shore to have their manifest stamped. Quite an exciting day!

From Cape Horn

February 24, 2009

Ushuaia, Argentina

Ushuaia is the world’s southernmost city, and is known as the Port at the End of the World. It is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, a large triangular island beyond the Magellan Straits. It was originally colonized as an Argentinean penal colony in 1902 and remained a prison outpost until 1947. It is now a major S.A. tourist destination rivaled only by Buenos Aires for ship traffic. Ushuaia is one of the few cities on earth that offer the sea, mountains, and forests all in one place. When we arrived, we felt as though we were in Switzerland; complete with chalets! In fact, it was breathtakingly beautiful; and we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. One of our friends took a cab and the driver said he had lived there for 21 years and this was the prettiest day he could ever remember! It was a little cool in the morning but you could wear short sleeves by the afternoon.

LuAnn and I disembarked at 8 am to visit the tourist office to come up with a plan. We had so many choices but settled on doing everything by cab. When the guys arrived at 8:30, we negotiated and finally found a driver who would take us to Tierra del Fuego National Park and back for $100 for all of us (better than $60 per person charged by the ship). The park is about 10 miles outside the city spanning almost 30,000 square miles. I thought this area received its name due to volcanoes in the area – wrong, there aren’t any. When Ferdinand Magellan first traveled here in 1520, he saw the light from all the Yamana Indian’s campfires along the shore, hence the name land of fire. Within the park is the end of the Pan-American Highway, which begins in Alaska and literally brings you to the end of the world 17,848 km away! Our driver, Mario (he’s 44 with 7 children and 2 grandchildren!) wanted to make sure we experienced everything. He would take us to an area, drop us off and then we hiked to where he would pick us up. We walked along the shores of lakes, down a mountain and through a forest – all beautiful walks (Bobby even enjoyed them!).

We returned to town around 1 pm. Bobby still has his cold so he went back to the ship. We walked down the main shopping street to the grocery store (always a thrill to see what they have to offer!) where Bob got beer and LuAnn and I bought chocolate/coffee liquor ($4). Bob then went back to the ship and we wandered back going in and out of shops. Our last stop was a local craft market beside the pier. I don’t buy much (I have no room in the RV) but I did find a woman who dies and spins her own yarn and then makes beautiful wall hangings. I chose one with a tree that they call a flag because it is usually extremely windy here and most trees angle the same way like a flag blowing in the wind.

Unfortunately, we had to be on the ship by 3:30 pm. When we walked out of the market to the pier entrance we almost had heart failure because the line to get into the pier area was over a block long and we had allowed only 10 minutes! We started asking people what ship they were on and were relieved when we realized most of them were on our ship! We knew they wouldn’t leave all of us! We finally boarded at 4 pm, which was when we were supposed to depart. We didn’t leave until 8:30 pm! They kept telling us we couldn’t leave because of high winds in the channel. Well, the water where we were was just like glass and two ships came in and a smaller one left hours before us so no one believes the high winds story!

Tonight our entertainment was all people who had performed on their own on different evenings so we had a trio - Peter Fisher played the violin, then Tom Sutton, a comedian and we ended with Annette Wardell who has sung opera many times at Kensington Palace and with Sarah Brightman. Annette is a little bitty thing, about 5’3” with beautiful, powerful voice!

From Ushuaia, Argentina

February 25, 2009

Day at Sea

Today we were told that due to the high winds we would not be able to go into Punta Arenas, Chile, especially since we would have to tender in. I have to tell you, like the day before it was a perfect day with seas so calm you could water ski on them! They really aren’t telling us something! They said we would spend the day cruising the Strait of Magellan so we could see everything in the daylight. The Strait of Magellan separates S.A. from the Tierra del Fuego and other islands south of the continent and is one of the most scenic waterways in the world.

At noon LuAnn and I ran into the three entertainers from the previous evening and they told us they were supposed to leave the ship in Punta Arenas to get to their next engagement and weren’t sure what they were going to do. At 2 we had an announcement saying we were going to stop in front of Punta Arenas so we could take a photo and the Chilean Immigration Officials would be boarding for a short time. I told LuAnn the entertainers were leaving so I called Peter Fisher and he said they had to be in the lobby to depart immediately. He asked me to meet him in the lobby to give us and another friend a CD! The tender then swept them away!

From Strait of Magellan

February 26 & 27, 2009

Days at Sea

The 26th was spent cruising the Chilean Fjords along the Pacific coast of southern Chile. This area is similar to the fjords found in Northern Europe. It is a dissected region of islands, channels, inlets, straits and bays. The Chilean Fjords are sparsely populated with only a few small towns and cattle ranches seen along the shores.

After breakfast, Heidi, Terry, LuAnn and I jumped in the hot tubs to watch the incredible scenery! It was about 45 out and the water was around 100; a perfect way to spend the morning! I couldn’t believe it; I didn’t bring a towel since they give us all warm terrycloth robes….my robe fell off the railing into a small pool of water leaving me with a 12”dry square – I about froze trying to get in and to my room!

Today we saw two huge glaciers - one in the sunshine of the morning and the other in the rain at 5 pm. I have now used all my clothes – summer and winter!

At 10 pm Bobby went up to the Lido deck and watched The Godfather on the big screen. I stayed in the room and watched another movie. When he returned around 1 pm, I was asleep and woke up as he was taking off all his clothes, right down to his underwear because it was all wet. I asked him what happened and he said there were 90 mph winds with high waves so the ship was rocking and rolling. He said the next thing he knew a huge wave got him and several others soaking wet. It was warm, since they had the roof closed, so they all stayed till the end of the movie. I said “WOW, that’s unbelievable!” and went right back to sleep. The next morning in aerobics I was telling Heidi and she asked if it was from the pool….sure enough, it was!

The 27th we did laundry after breakfast. This takes a couple of hours since there are not many washers. But, this is where lots of the drama and gossip takes place – the stories from the laundry are unbelievable!

Tonight was another elegant evening where we all dressed up. After dinner, we had a harpist as entertainment. She was fantastic, playing lively, popular music!

From Chilean Fijords