Today another seaday. Sleep in a bit this AM. On board activities and gym day today. Gala night tonight, that means that I have to bring out the suite. I noticed the pants are getting a little tight after 1 month cruising. After dinner we watched the show and finished the night with a few friends we met from Minnesota.
Looking back on the 4 days of scenic cruising, I realise that we were very lucky with the weather. The HAL Amsterdam did the same route less then a week before us, and they never had any clear days. The scenery was definitely breathtaking. We seen a lot of wales and bird species during these 4 days. If any of you guys ever have an opportunity to travel here, I definitely recommend it.
Today is our last day of cruising the waters around the Antarctic peninsula. First thing this morning we started with cruising the waters of Antarctic Sound and Hope Bay. There was some early morning fog around the area. We managed to spot a few killer whales going by the ship while we were having breakfast. After breakfast we started crossing the choppy waters of Bransfield Strait towards the South Shetland Islands, in peticular King George Island. This is the largest of the islands. After a 2 hr crossing we came up to the Island. Meanwhile the Greenpeace ship had sailed up beside us, I guess they were keeping an eye on what we were up to. Greenpeace also has a base in the area. We spotted the Uruguayan base station. Surounding the station , there were thousands of Adelie Penguins on the shoreline and up on the hills. The weather had taken a turn for the better, the sun came out and blue sky’s and tottally no wind. Temp 4C deg. The scenery of the snow covered hills and the glacier green mirror like water was stunning. With the sun shining on the outside deck and no wind, it was pretty comfortable on deck. The boat’s dance team took this opportunity to take pictures in their swimwear. It was announced that 2 days ago, they recorded the warmest temperature ever in Antarctica 18.3C deg. We kept slowly cruising by the shoreline and several more base camps were observed. Polish, Equadorian, Peruvian and Brazilian camps were seen. All throughout the afternoon their was commentary from the bridge by the Antarctic experts informing us about the shoreline and wildlife details. After cruising by the shoreline of King George Island for the remainer of the afternoon and enjoying the sunshine, we set sail towards the Falkland Islands by 5 pm. One of the officers on board said that this was the 7th time he was at this island and today was the first time he seen the sun. (that shows how lucky we were today)
Today we visited the following waters: Bransfield Strait, Antarctic Sound, Hope Bay, South Shetland Islands.
We were ready to roll for another day of cruising through these Antarctic waterways. The ships commentary came on at 6:30 this morning, informing us about the scenery and wildlife. This morning we were greeted to some light rain outside and 1 C deg. There were low clouds, that prevented us from seeing the upper parts of the mountains. Througout the morning we seen quite a few humpback whales. The whales were easy to spot due to the mirror like sea’s. At one point we seen a enormous group of tiny chinstraps Penguin’s go by the ship. Interesting thing was, we didn’t see any killer whales all morning. for the later part of the afternoon we crossed a large section of open water to Deception Island. As soon as we hit open water the wave size increased dramatically. During the afternoon there were several lectures in the theatre about the Antarctic environment. Every afternoon at 4:30 during the Antarctic cruising the antarctic informative team is available for Q & A’s. After an early dinner we pulled up to Deception Island. This Island used to be an old vulcano, and all what was left of the volcano was a large bowl. We couldn’t quite look inside the bowl. There is a large Chinstraps Penguin colony located on the island. The captain rotated the ship for the next 1/2 hr to give the passengers an opportunity to look at the colony with their binoculars. After this penguin event, we set sail for the open waters for the night. We retreated for our cabin shortly after and watched the penguin movie on our TV, accompanied by a cocktail of some sort.
Today we cruided following waters: Gerlache Strait, Bransfield Strait, Antartic Sound.
After a spectacular first day, we woke up to a slightly foggy morning again. It was considerable colder on deck compared to yesterday. The teperature was about the same (0C deg) but there was a stiff breeze blowing. We started to see whales right a way, more killer whales then humpbacks today. We sailed past a british basecamp in the morning. Today the clouds wouldn’t lift. You could see that there was sun shining above the mountain tops. We kept cruising through the channels the rest of the afternoon. At one point the captain pulled up right to the end of a narrow channel, we had granite mountain walls rise up out of the water on both sides 2000 ft high, and the depth of the water at that point was another 1500 ft. It was amazing to see how the captain spun the ship around to sail out of the narrow channel. When we were sitting at the end of the channel, we could see a penquin rookery on the rocks. There were only very small penquins there. They seem to do a game of tobagganing down a snowy hill, and then walk back up. Through out the afternoon it was more of the same. I did manage a visit to the gym to work of some desserts. We took in a comedy show this evening. This singing comedian lady from the UK was pretty funny. For you who are interested, it is kind of daylight till about midnight and it daylights again around 4:00 AM.
Today we cruised in the following areas: Gerlache Strait, Neumayer Channel / Port Lockroy, Paradise Harbour.
First off all, some of my previous post have been lacking pictures. This is due to the spotty internet connection on this end of the world. When my connection improves, I promise I will load up some more pictures.
This morning we were suppose to be up early to take in possible wildlife sightings. The weather was around 0C deg and some light fog. You could see there was sun above the clouds. We started to notice small pieces of ice floating by the ship. Better have breakfast before we go on deck. After breakfast, all bundled up in winter clothes we went onto the deck. Soon as I stepped outside, we seen a huge iceberg floating by. This was quite the sight, as this was the first time I have seen a real iceberg. Not long after we saw our first couple of killer whales, very near to the ship. The white on the killer whales here is slightly brownish, to being bright white up north. Shortly after seeing several killer whales, we stated to see humpback whales also. From time to time schools of very small Penguins where riding the waves. Towards mid day the clouds starting to break up and making room for beautiful blue sky’s. It is quite a stunning scenery between the snow capped mountains rising up out of the water, and the bright blue skies making for very nice pictures. In the afternoon we pulled up near a penguin rookery on a rocky beach ahead of us. I could have a good look at them with my binaculars, but they were to far away to get a good photo graph of them. We sailed by a couple of base camps, which belonged to Chile and Argentina. Through out the afternoon we kept seeing whales and small penguins and the odd albatros. We were treated by a beautifull sunset here in Antarctica. I would not call it a total sunset, but it disappeared behind a mountain range. Looking back on today, it was very special.
Today we cruised in the following areas: Gerlache Strait, Cuverville Island, Paradise Harbour Waterboat Point and Brown Station
Another Seaday today. We are crossing the Drake passage towards Antartica today and hope to arrive there by tommorow morning. Not much exitement in the sail, calm seas and cloudy. On board activities to keep us busy for today. Highlight, I won the golf putting contest for the day. Last night we received special environmental rules for the Antartic, curtains closed at night so we don’t attract birds to the windows. No food and drinks on any of the outside decks. Apparently the ship changed towards special diesel fuel. No heavy diesel fuel is allowed on board. This evening we attended the Volendam’s ship singers and dancers performance in the theatre and called’r the night shortly after, in anticipation of tommorow.
This morning we woke up in Ushuaia, our stop for the day. We had booked a bus tour to Tierra del Fuego Park. During the tour,we made stops at Lapataia bay on the Beagle Channel, Roca Lake and at the end of the world highway. This is the end of the highway what runs all the way up to Alaska. On our way back the bus dropped us off in town. The town made me think of Banff, a lot of outdoor stores for hiking, climbing and mountain biking. It is definitely a young people town. Lots of small restaurants, cafe’s and coffee places. After we had lunch, the best spinach pizza I ever eaten and some local beer. We strolled the town for the rest of the afternoon. The scenery in this town is stunning in every direction you look. the mountains are towering up right behind the town and snow capped mountain tops in every direction you look. We were so lucky with the weather here today ,15 deg C and clear sky’s. I talked to a fellow, he said this was his 4th time visiting but the first time he seen the sun here. When we sailed away, there was a stunning view of the town and mountains. This evening we watched the Super Bowl on the big screen in the theatre.
This morning we sailed through the Beagle channel. The scenery here was stunning. This section of waterway is refered to as Glacier Alley. Granite mountain walls rising up out of the channel with snow capped mountain tops. On both sides of the channel we seen waterfalls coming down and plunging into the water below. We passed several glaciers coming down from high up down to the water. We kept following the channel and past by the city of Ushuaia in the distance, which would be our stop for tommorow. For the rest of the day we were sailing towards Cape Horn. Towards the end of the channel I spotted a penguin colony on a small island. After a while we left the channel and turned south into the open ocean towards Cape Horn. Shortly after dinner time we spotted Cape Horn. We could see the Albatross shaped monument on the island. This monument remembers the sailers who lost their lives attempting to sail around the Cape. There is also a lighthouse and a small chapel on the island. We sailed around the Cape and took in the sunset with the Cape in the background. (spectacular). That was a lot to take in for the day. Through the night we sailed back to Ushuaia for our next stop tomorrow. (It was a perfect day today!)
This morning when we woke up we were tied up to the dock in the port of Punta Arenas. We didn’t book any orginised tours in this port. After breakfast we walked off board and took the complimentary shuttle bus to the center of town. From here we ventured off on foot. First we had a peak into an beautifull Church (very impressive architecture). Our next stop was an museum displaying the flora and fauna and the history of Chile. After the museum visit, we dropped in at the cemetery. This cemetery was the size of an whole city block. It was quite the vista with all of the grave stones and small family chapels. After the cemetery, we returned to the plaza down town. We stopped for lunch at a local hotel at the plaza and had some Chilean empenadas. Then we strolled through the local market for a while which was set up at the plaza. Shortly after 4:00 we boarded the shuttle bus back to the ship. One thing I forgot to mention, when we were downtown, there was an enormous amount of graffiti on the buildings and a lot of buildings had holes in the glass from rocks been thrown through it during the protests. The protest are against the government for better pensions and heathcare. After dinner, we took in a performance by the latin dance instructors on the ship. They put on a Tango show on the stage in the theatre. Then it was Orange night on the ship. This is to celebrate the dutch heritage with the cruiseline. A lot of ship passengers were dressed in Orange clothing and hats. We were offered dutch appies through out the night and the dutch drinks and cocktails were on sale. During all this, dance party music was being played. Carol and I were personally educated on Genever by the dutch beveridge manager on the ship. We had a couple of the old Genever’s as a night cap before we were heading to our cabin for the night.
Early morning this morning we had to be on deck at 6:30am as we were right in front of Amalia glacier. It was a little bit foggy and cloudy, which obstructed the view somewhat. Besides that it was still spectacular. The fact that they were serving spicey Bloody Mary’s for $5 made it even better. Not quite the perfect Canadian breakfast. (For the folks who don’t know, a Ceaser is referred to as the Canadian breakfast) We managed to get some nice photographs before we sailed away from the glacier. After this we were going back to on board activities. For the rest of the morning we sailed through the protection of the fjords on our way back to the open ocean. When we were entering back into the open waters of the south Pacific, we had to deal with 40+ miles wind and swells as high as 20ft. This went on for the next 5hrs before we entered the next fjord, the strait of Maggelan. The shelter from the fjords made the sailing much more comfortable. Through the day we entered a few trivia games. We learned that Canada has over 310,000 lakes, more then all other country’s combined. Also Canada is the country with the highest percentage of college and university degrees of all country’s. (who knew). That was most of the excitement for the day.
Cheers
“South America” “Cruising” “Amalia”
Amalia GlacierCarol kissing the toe at Tierra del Fuego for good luck
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