South America, Days 102 to 108 - Stage 21: San Antonio to Punta Areans, The Chilean Fjords

Our ship awaits at San Antonio port, Chile

Day 102 Sunday 

We had to wait till midday to check in which was fine, though I was quite keen to get on. Check on and embarkation was very smooth, though we came in down the corridor and past our cabin we weren't allowed in. Oh well, lunch then.

Into the cabin at 14.00, no sign of our bags yet. Shame as I really wanted to do our laundry. We'll do the tour of the ship then, just for something to do, though we'll end up taking ourselves all over. Still no sign of the bags, but muster station practice, incase of disaster. Finally the bags arrived, but we had a very short window now as it is important to be on deck, with a drink in hand, as the ship sails away.

Our cabin, or should I say Stateroom (they don't call them cabins on here!)

We made it to the sail away party and waved goodbye to San Antonio with a GnT. Amazingly we bumped into Jane and Simon, our Falklands tour partners, so that was good, though talking was tricky as the band had started. Nice to meet up though.

Seafood buffet in the cafe, so it would be rude not to. We can go to the main dining room to be waited on tomorrow! I think I'm going to enjoy this.

Our captain introduces the main staff at the welcome gathering

9pm for the first show, a quick introduction to the various performers. A few statistics too. The ship is not quite full, about 20 down I think. Almost equal numbers of Americans and Australians, 190 and 191. I can't remember if Brits were 4th or 5th, but we'll be ok!

Day 103 Monday

A fair night sleep, despite the motion of the ocean, we have no squeaks and a quiet cabin. A sea day, so settling in. Laundry first then, we were 10 minutes early for 08.00 and second in line. Laundry may be free, and we needed it, but I think it's going to be irritating, we walked past a lady who looked like she was going to wash three pairs of pants! 

Puerto Montt wooden cathedral. Quite small and covered in tin to protect it, but its quite quaint and dates to the first German settlers in the 1800's

Breakfast and a couple of trivia quizzes with the couple we sat next to at breakfast. Brian went to a talk on the UN, not for me, though I followed when I was ready after remembering to collect the, now dry, laundry, which must have been finished for 20 minutes. I'm surprised I got out alive, you'd think I'd murdered a kitten. Why I got such grief rather than someone just taking it out of the machine I don't know!

Introduction to the other three speakers, a geologist, a wildlife expert and a historian which was rammed, but really inspired everyone I think, the things we are expecting to see, whales, albatross, scenery. Just have to be on deck to look. Lunch, and a music quiz, only because it was '80's lyrics, so just my era. With 7 out of 10 believe it or not we won! First lecture of the afternoon, Magellan, more interesting for Brian than me, so I've been half listening, half writing, well it was that or join half the people here who were listening with their eyes closed!

The Caracara. There were lots flying around Puerto Montt

Geology next, (though I thought it was wildlife), then we have a spinning class in the gym, assuming they do it as there is really quite a lot of movement, and has been since we set off yesterday. We are both doing ok though Brian has taken a Kwell, kindly brought from the UK by Jane and Simon.

Free seating worked well for us at dinner, a table with 2 Australians and 2 Kiwis gave for a pleasant evening before the Argentinian pianist 

A walk up to a viewpoint in Puerto Montt. There's our ship out in the bay. We had to be shipped into port on the tenders (actually the ships lifeboats, but they call them tenders when getting people ashore - perhaps it sounds better than shouting 'man the lifeboats!') 

Day 104 Tuesday 

Puerto Montt.

We were tendered ashore which went quite smoothly though we had to wait until most of the ships tours had got off, but that was fine, we were just going for an amble.

I took this photo of a dolphin in the bay after Jackie pointed them out, whilst we walked along the front at Puerto Montt. When I showed it to Caroline the cruise wildlife expert she became very excited. 'That's a rare Chilean dolphin' she said. 'You can tell by its rounded fin, absolutely unmistakable. Do you have any idea how rare it is to see those?' She asked me to send her this photo saying its the photo not only of this cruise but of the last one too. She'd only seen one before. Well, we went on to see and photograph another two at the next port, but I won't put them on here, they are pretty much the same as this one. She was very excited. We were famous at the next wildlife meeting and everyone wanted to see this photo. She wanted to know if I was a professional wildlife photographer! I told her I was just lucky, Jackie points them out, I point and shoot! I nearly didn't bother to take the photo as 'it's just a dolphin!'

Ran the gauntlet of taxi drivers offering tours and walked along the seafront. I saw a few dolphin and made Brian take a picture, just because. Some interesting birds, like pigeons on acid, slightly bigger, browner and with birds of prey beaks. Caracara, according to Google lens.

We got some cash out, free from Scotia bank, though I had read they started charging. So the money we saved there I spent half of it (£2.50) on a pair of second hand white jeans, primarily for white night, but very comfy they are so I wore them in the evening. A stop off at the wood built cathedral which I really liked for it's simplicity. 

Jackie finds a cat!

Started the walk back to the ship, via a viewpoint and a little craft market, where no sooner had the words "there must be a cat somewhere" left my lips when I saw one sleeping on a doormat, closely followed by a second. That's my cat fix then, hurrah.

The evening meal was an outdoor, South American themed, extravaganza with a local band. They weren't bad, but most notable for their weird instruments. The large jawbone of something that is thumped to make the molars rattle, and a funny shaky thing. Google was no good to me so I primed Steven, the cruise director, to find out. He thought seashells, I thought llama toenails. I was closest with goats feet!

The outdoor Chilean themed extravaganza on the pool deck. The local band are performing on the stage at the end and had all sorts of weird instruments including a horses lower jaw that, when hit, produces a rattling round that is the teeth rattling in the jaw!

Day 105 Wednesday 

Castro on Chiloe island.

Another tender port, but no queueing today and we found ourselves sitting by Caroline, the whale lady. "We saw some dolphins yesterday, and I did get a picture, of sorts." She had a look and came over all funny. This is the second of these cruises she has done apparently and has spent the whole time looking for the rare Chilean dolphin, found only in these fjords and easily recognisable by the shape of its dorsal fin. "That's the photo of the cruise so far, in fact, that's the photo of two cruises. Could you please send it to me?" With that we docked, and she got on her tour bus and we walked along the seafront, guess what? Another couple of very rare Chilean dolphin, so he sent a picture of them too. 

The stilt houses in Castro

We got caught in the rain, but we were dressed for it. We found the stilt houses which look quite normal from the land, it's just as they hang over the sea you realise they are odd. Another wooden church, yellow and lilac, and free council WiFi. We tried to find a little coastal path and failed, but did find a friendly cat, so that's today's cat fix, and back on board.

Bumped into Jane and Simon who are coming on our Falklands tour so had lunch with them which was very pleasant. They live between Málaga and London, but are both originally from the Midlands. In fact Simon used to live in Hanbury Hall, where mother used to volunteer. They only rented it, but even so!

The cathedral at Castro, built in wood and painted in orange and lilac (now faded a bit)

Our regular afternoon quizzes before the first nature spotting from the sun deck, this being the first time we have moved at a sensible time. We were a bit late, but after she'd finished her spiel we were introduced. Suddenly we are famous for the very rare dolphin pictures, two in two days. All a bit embarrassing really!

Impressive inside and all constructed in wood 

Dinner and the show, which we didn't love, but was ok. It's still light so pop out onto deck, just as dolphins are leaping and spinning. He gets another great photo, though I don't think it's the rare Chilean dolphin!

It gets dark very late here, this was after 9:00pm and we happened to go on deck just as dolphins were leaping out round the ship as we travelled. I managed to get this photo and couldn't wait to show it to Caroline, the wildlife expert. She wasn't terribly impressed, said, 'oh yes, that's a Peale's dolphin, well done'. Now, to me, this is much more impressive than the photo above, but what do I know!

Day 106 Thursday 

Puerto Chacabuco 

Woke up to amazing scenery as we travel to port. 10.00 being scheduled arrival time.

Photos never do a location justice, but cruising through the Chilean Fjords are absolutely amazing, just stunning scenery

We are doing our first excursion today, kayaking on Los Palos lake. Seemed like a good idea when we booked it. Looking a bit cold, and potentially wet now we are here. Fortunately we've got all the waterproof and cold weather gear we haven't needed so far, so we can jolly well wear it!

Puerto Chacubuco, our third port in the Fjords, another stunning location. The red and white boat on the left is the tender that bought us ashore from the ship out there in the bay in the distance. As a tender it takes 100 people - and that's pretty full. As a lifeboat they'd get 150 people in it - now that would be cosy! Lets hope we don't have to find out!

Waterproof trousers and jacket, though actually, as the captain predicted, the weather improved and we were lucky. Our driver was very slow so it took a while to get to the lake, but the first group were only just coming ashore. A gentle paddle in single canoes as there were three couples wanting two doubles and someone had to give, and it was me! Then I somehow ended up in the narrowest canoe which felt really really unstable. I was not a happy bunny till I got used to it. We paddles to a little beach where we had a snack before continuing round and back to the starting point. A short walk up the hill, particularly as the bus wasn't back anyway. Fortunately it arrived not long after we got back for it's slow journey back! A pleasant enough little outing though probably expensive for what it was. No lunch, just our snack, so when he's stopped messing about it's GnT and popcorn time!

Kayaking on Lago Los Palos near Puerto Chacubuco. There's Jackie on the right

Day 106 + 107 Friday and Saturday

The Chilean fjords 

The red dot marks where the ship went to see the Tempanos Glacier. Its just one that flows off the ice cap, shown here in white. The standard route is shown by the vertical blue dotted line on the left, known as the Canal Messier, but we made a special detour down a dead end fjord just to see the glacier and magnificent it was. Its a fairly narrow fjord as you can see and I found it amazing that they even considered it. Once there the ship was able to turn 180 degrees within its own length by using its bow thrusters. This not only allowed it to get back out but was to give all those people who'd paid a lot of money to have a suite with balcony, to have a view without leaving their room! 

The day (and previously night) we were back out in the open ocean, and it was quite rough again. About 11.00 we slowed to collect our Chilean pilots as we entered the Canal Messier. The weather wasn't too good, it was all a bit misty, but still very dramatic, and it was only going to get better. The weather was actually so bad that we weren't allowed on deck until after lunch, but about 15.00 I dressed up and went on deck. We'd booked into the pilates class at 16.00, would we go or would there be too much to see?

And what a sight it was. This glacier carved this long, narrow, deep fjord when it was much larger than it is now. The central part that dips down to the water is zoomed in below 

About 15.55 despite the number of people on deck dramatically increasing it also got quite wet and miserable, so I went in and stripped off to my gym stuff which I'd put on underneath. It was an interesting class as we all stared out of the window as growlers or mini icebergs started to come past. Straight out after the class just as the Tempanos Glacier came into view. It was a long way down a dead end, but a fabulous view after which the ship gently pirouetted and we carried on our way.

There are two caves of ice at the waters edge, both deep blue colours. The left one is the largest and had an image in the ice that looked liker a miner....

Up early on Saturday as it was clear, but cold. Out on deck just after 06.30 with a cup of coffee. We eventually got to Skua Glacier about 08.00, the sun showed its face and the dolphins came out to play. Wonderful views and way to start the day. It began to rain, just as we were pulling away, we really are very lucky. I'm now just waiting for the special brunch as I'm actually almost hungry! There is so much on today I'm not sure how we are going to fit it all in, sea days are great, and I've just seen a penguin from my happy place, sitting in the window. 

Can you see it? It's weird isn't it!

It was a bit wet when we first arrived, as you can see. There are places inside in the warm and dry, but you have to look through glass. There's nothing like being outdoors to take it all in. This was just after the ship had pirouetted around ready to leave. I did take a video of it turning but the wifi is so crap here in Punta Arenas harbour that I'm not even going to try to upload it 

We passed a few shipwrecks on the way. This one had a bit of a story attached to it that I can't quite remember now. It was a ship that was deliberately sunk to claim the insurance. The cargo was offloaded and then scuttled, except that it didn't sink, much to the consternation of the people who tried to claim the insurance. I think they were arrested for it

Next morning and its very early but fairly clear. We're up to see a second glacier and one that we made a special detour to see along the end of another fjord. Stunning scenery once again and wrapped up with a coffee its quite pleasant up there on deck

We're chatting with fellow guests as the ice field and glaciers start to come into view

This is where we're going, to that white glacier at the end. The red dots are marks I made as we went in and the blue triangle was our position when I took this, showing our way out

This was our first view as we rounded the bend

At our nearest position. Its magnificent and the sun almost shone to light the glaciers tumbling off the ice field above. In the sea all around are growlers (small icebergs) floating. All through the fjords Chilean pilots were in the bridge with the captain and, apparently, it was full of people taking depth readings, looking for icebergs and plotting our position and route. We were in safe hands we were assured

A fellow passenger took this for us

Close up of the seracs at the end of the glacier. We'd done all this and it was still only about 8:30am

After that we went into the main restaurant for a special brunch, served from 10:00am to 12:30pm. It was magnificent! I was just impossible to try every dish, even if you just tried a taster of things. It was fabulous food and witha limitless supply of alcohol or soft drinks if you wanted it. We had bucks fizz with our (a few glasses!)

I've put this on just to show an indication of where we've been so far. I've marked red dots where I've thought about it and got a gps signal. We started way off up the top. You can see our first stop at Puerto Montt as its marked, Castro is a bit lower on the island let and down from Puerto Montt, Puerto Chacabuco and our kayaking is next down. Then the white is the ice field and our route down through the fjords. The blue triangle was where we were last night. Since then we entered the Magellan Straight and are now in Punta Arenas, which is central in that wider bit of water. We leave there tonight and head to Ushuaia via three more glacier stops, that's bottom right. After that we've got six days at sea down off the map past Cape Horn across Drakes Passage in the Southern Ocean and to the Antarctic Peninsular. Ushuaia will be our last mobile reception for more than a week, when we'll be back up on the right in Argentina. Lets hope the Southern Ocean and weather is kind to us, whales, albatross, pengiuins, glaciers and, possibly the Aurora Australis await