Advertisement
Published: January 22nd 2023
Misc. Ship-to-Shore Pictures
On the Way to the Sea Lane, The Captain Was Authorized to Get Us a View of the Paracas Candelabra, Ancient Rock Art FormationWe departed General San Martin (Pisco), Peru in the afternoon of Monday, January 16, 2023 but didn’t arrive at our next port, Coquimbo (La Serena), Chile, until the morning of Thursday, January 19, 2023. That’s three nights and two days of sailing the ocean blue; however, there were some interesting things to occupy our time at sea. I don’t know how strictly ships’ routes over the vast expanse of the oceans are regulated (probably less than aircraft and that’s, probably, a good thing), but the captain announced just as we had left the pier that he had obtained permission for us to pass near a prehistoric rock art formation, or geoglyph, known as the Paracas Candelabra, or the Candelabra of the Andes. I’m not a prehistoric art enthusiast but do find them interesting and worth a little bit of my time and/or a short deviation from the shortest distance between two points.
During our time at sea and in addition to Port Talk: Coquimbo (La Serena), Chile, there were several other presentations: “Mining in South America,” “Chilean Wines and Fruit,” “Cosmology and Dark Matter” and “The Edge of the Universe.” On Tuesday evening there was a performance by the Volendam
Singers and Dancers, “Your Song,” a tribute to the music of Elton John, and on Wednesday, our second full day at sea, there was a “Singles and Solo Travelers Meet for Brunch.” I sat next to a retired telephone line installer/repairman who grew up in numerous locations in Alaska and whose father was a professional dog musher. He and his brother now own and live on a farm in Dominican Republic. I’m looking forward to some more conversations with him. The extra time also gave me the opportunity to examine the upcoming shore excursions more closely so I can, hopefully, get more bang for my buck.
The only shore excursion in Coquimbo (La Serena), Chile that interested me was “Scenes Of La Serena & Elqui Valley,” but the $184.95 price tag was a little bit much for a ride through a, beautiful I am sure, wine producing area. I guess I just don’t have the extended pinky finger thingy down pat just yet. Soooo, on Cruise Day 17, January 19, 2023, I went to the walking deck to look around the dock area for a prospective refrigerator magnet procurement opportunity but found none for as far as the eye
Coquimbo (La Serena), Chile from the MS Volendam
Let Alone One That Would Be Selling a Refrigerator Magnet!!! could see. Given that I will have five more ports where I should be able to get a Chilean refrigerator magnet, I decided to forego supporting the local economy and stayed on the ship.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.252s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 22; qc: 68; dbt: 0.106s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
