Blogs from Punta Arenas, Magallanes, Chile, South America - page 8

Beautiful lakes and views in Argentina.... read more

book I am now reading: Operation Mincemeat. the true story of deception in WW2 that saved countless thousands of allied lives. became a film - The man who never was. Personnes Ingles I have met so far - ZERO. I remember some time ago someone asked me, when I came back from travelling Vietnam, where next dave? I wasn´t sure at the time but I guess, looking back, a small seed was sown by my history teacher, Mr Pratley. A most wondeful man, full of stories and making history come alive. A joint geograhy-history project completed was about the Inca civilisation in Peru, and included in this was geography of the region, the Andes that form the backbone of the continent, how it this huge mountain range affects everyday life to chileans, peruvians etc. I guess ... read more

12thJanuary When we got back to the ship yesterday we discovered that because of storm forecast in Drakes passage (between Cape Horn and the Antarctic mainland) we were not going to Ushuaia but proceeding directly across the Passage into Antarctica to get ahead of the storm. So here we are at sea 57 degree south in 35 mile an hour winds 683 nautical miles from Antarctica and 143 miles from Cape Horn. Today we saw whales and porpoises so have stopped saying, “come on you whales”. I’m told we will stop being excited about them when we have seen lots and lots. Can’t wait. The decks are being hosed down at the moment so an opportune moment to write the blog as we are not allowed out. I have just been to Tai Chi and have ... read more

Yes finally at Puerto Arenas 9th January Very rough seas last night. 8/9 gale force winds and the boat pitching and rolling. Surprisingly I am not feeling at all sick and Brian is on the tablets. In the night we turned into Canal Trinidad and during the morning cruised the calm waters of Canal Pitt, Andres and Concepcion arriving at the Amalia Glacier by 10 am. Its getting cooler outside but the obsessives walkers are marching round the ship doing their 4 lap miles. This seems to go on all day – a fairly restful day for us with the exception of another tango lesson after lunch then caught up with the twitchers on the promenade deck where we discovered that what I though was a sea gull was actually a small albatross of which there ... read more

We are actually in Puerto Montte but couldn't pin down which region that is in Chile 7th January Brian was at an all day conference so a chance for me to acquaint myself with shipboard life. This is a floating palace – Very Titanic and then some. Amazing food on tap all day long at several venues, a gym, spa and all that entails, swimming pool and whirlpools, a couple of theatres, endless live music bars two with dance floors, a casino, a very well equipped library to name but a few facilities. Add to that an itinerary of talks shows films, camera workshops and much much more. You name it and you will find it. There are 1500 people on board, mainly American, who are housed in ‘staterooms’ of various sizes. Ours is rather modest ... read more