We will begin with the end of our day, because who would have ever thought – sitting on our balcony in bathing suits toasting a warm day at the bottom of the world? We are about 650 miles north of Antarctica here, but the pictures don’t lie! Speaking of Antarctica, there is a group of very unhappy passengers on this ship. They paid $3,000 EACH (not a misprint) for a 10-hour round-trip to the Chilean portion of Antarctica, to basically say, “Yeh, I have been to Antarctica.” Anyway, as there are no Navaids down there for the pilots, the gravel road the plane lands on was below VFR minimums, so the trip was scrubbed, thus lots of disappointed people. We hiked with one family that just saved itself $18,000 for this single excursion! We saw a ... read more

About 0330 we transitioned from the inside passage out of Puerto Montt into the Pacific and got nailed by 20’ swells and 35-knot headwinds, which got us rocking and rolling again. In the Captain’s midwatch report he said this is “average” for these latitudes (now 46 degrees south). We are steaming in open ocean on a course of 192 degrees at 19.5 knots with the stabilizers out, and we will continue to get pounded until we hit the inside passage to the Gulf of Trinidad at 2330 tonight. Sunrise is now right at 0600, with sunset right about 2230, so we are headed toward the land of the midnight sun, southern style. We will tour Chilean fjords most of tomorrow, with a stop at Amalia Glacier. As it is Christmas the ship is in full regalia. ... read more

Another rough night and day here at sea, but the wind is minimal right now, so it cuts down on the wildness of the ride. Just long, tall rolling swells as we pound through them. It makes it real interesting to run on a treadmill, do exercises on one leg, or lifting free weights while rolling up-and-down through the swells. It is Sunday so short gym workout today (as we will be off the ship tomorrow in Puerto Montt). Three troubling bits of news reached us today….. Not sure if we mentioned it previously, but the Argentines and the Brits are still not on very good terms regarding “Las Malvinas” (Falkland) Islands, which we are supposed to visit. Our ship, while belonging to an American company, is registered in Hamilton, which is a British protectorate. Rumors ... read more

Today’s entry is a little long (Sorry Matt Knowles), but we think you will enjoy the story. FINALLY…. We hit Coquimbo Port and the ass beating is over! Man, the sea just continued to grow all day yesterday and throughout the night. Not a lot of sleep happening in our cabin, and we heard that from many other passengers as well. Probably more of that tonight when we hit the open sea, so welcome to the Southern Hemisphere and beginning of the lower latitudes. We hope this is not how the remainder of the trip is going to be. Captain came on and apologized for the sea being “a little rough” last night…. If that is his definition of “rough,” we cannot wait for “Heavy” or “Nasty” seas. NOT! Anyway, we got up and got out ... read more

Just a chill day. Winds are up to force six and the seas are getting rougher as we steam south in 8 to 10 foot swells. A lot of it has to do with our direction of travel now, which is steady on 140 degrees true, and we have averaged 21 knots (almost 25 MPH) since we left, which is humming right along for a tub this size. Worked out and laid in the sun. No sign of “Das Thong” today…. The sun is so close to us here (18 degrees south of the equator), we both put on SPF 60 sun block, and Steve still got burned after laying out a total about 45 minutes on front and back. Saw a great video of Machu Picchu (which literally means “Big Mountain”) today in preparation for ... read more