Dec. 28. Puerto Chacabuco, Chili. 66, partly cloudy.
We left almost 2 hours late last night. Something about a problem with one of the tenders. Usual cocktail and dinner with Purba in CR, at our table which they have set up and waiting for us. After dinner I wanted to go to the Production cast show, “Crossroads’. All 3 of them poo-pooed it, but reluctantly came along with me, and….were blown away. Very energetic and great music and dancing! Since leaving, we seem to be sailing in an “inner passage” rather that on the open ocean. We woke up to sailing up a fjord, to Puerto Chacabuco, and honestly I am totally awed by the beauty. Actually, all day I was in a state of amazement at the incredibly beauty of this part of Patagonia. The scenery of the sail in was totally reminiscent of Prince Christian Sound in Greenland. We had a blue sky with a few low clouds, and many of the mountains going down to the sea were snow capped. I talked to several crew and passengers who have be here before and they all said this was the most beautiful that they have ever seen here.
Again, this is a super rainy area, so we lucked out. We anchored at the end of the fjord, in a small town. Our tour was so amazingly scenic. The weather was perfect at mostly sunny and 68, but the only maybe drawback was the guide’s English and also that the tour started at 1pm and ended at 7pm! I can’t begin to describe the scenery and pictures, which I couldn’t stop taking, don’t do justice. We drove up a wide valley, laden with wild flowers (Lupus, Foxglove, Buttercups and Daisy’s) for an hour to a National Park. Here we walked an easy walk by the river bank. Then on, over a pass at 3500’, with a 360 vista stop, to a charming town for a bit of shopping. After the town we went to a restaurant for a “snack” (George and I passed on the food but did have a glass of wine). The return drive was 1 1/2 hours but it was so scenic, with snow capped mountains, hillsides covered with purple Lupus, OMG, just beautiful, who knew! Even George didn’t nod off, it was that beautiful. As we didn’t get back til 7pm, we just did room service for dinner, and that was a great choice too, as the sail away started at 8pm and was incredible.
Watching the bridge camera, we could see crew out taking pictures, it was that impressive! It didn’t get dark until 10:30pm when we crashed, cause we couldn’t see anything more. I think the next 3 days in the Chilean fjords, if today is a precursor, will astound us!
Dec. 29. LaGuana San Rafael, Chili. 58-60, low clouds am, bright sunny pm. Calm.
Another beautiful day in this rainy part of Chili. Here it can rain as much as 175” annually! But, we have a spectacular day. There is literally nothing here. We are anchored in a quiet bay. The point of being here is to see the glacier(s). The “tour” today is on a catamaran, holding 100 passengers, to the San Rafael glacier. There was only 1 boat, so there were 4 tours, 3:15 hours long each, starting at 7am and the last tour getting back about 8:30pm. We were on the 1:30 tour, and between the spectacularly rare weather and the scenery, it was magnificent. The tour guide said that in his career he had only seen the top of the mountain where the glacier is 5 times. Today was the second time this season, which started in August! It was about an hour up the fjord to the glacier, then an hour or so floating around the glacier and an hour home.
We got up very close to the glacier, but I was more impressed with the ice field’s incredibly blue floes than the glacier. This glacier has receded 2 kilometers in the last 30 years. Also, our luck, we saw a Leopard Seal lolligagging on a burg. This was almost as rare a sighting for the crew as was the top of the mountain. Even the boat captain came out to take pictures of the seal! Apparently there are 4 of them in the area, but they don’t lounge about all that often. So, it was a phenomenal tour. We got back to the ship about 5:15, in time for a quick change to meet in Observation Lounge for our pre-dinner martini. We had dinner in CR, then hung in the atrium until the 9:30 ABBA Dance Party. This crowd was way more energetic than on the previous leg. The people watching and the music was way fun!
G
2023-12-30
Oh my! These picture are amazing.
Rick and Barb
2023-12-30
It reminds us of Norway! Many pics are replicas! You guys sure did get lucky with the weather.
karenwirtzy
2023-12-30
Wow! Just beautiful.
marcie
2023-12-31
Wow on this stuff Dori! We loved the fjiords too but think maybe it was a different area. Seems like they must have “ramped up” this tour with better locations to see. Oh…..how nice to have the sun shining for you. Love seeing the pics and your comments are great. ❤️❤️❤️❤️