Valparaiso, Chile - March 14, 2016

The first half of our cruise ended here in Valparaiso.  We docked at the shipyard, surrounded by Chilean navy vessels, tankers and container ships.  With about 60% of the passengers leaving the ship, there was a big turnaround day.  In order to go ashore, we had to take the shuttle bus.

There were several geocaches we could do here, but we quickly realized that in order to do them, we would have to take taxi's and go to some rather shady areas of town.  All passengers had been advised to be very careful in this port city.  Instead we decided to take the shuttle bus out of the port area and walk to the "mall".  Actually, we were interested in checking out the Chilean wines.


(from Wikipedia) ....  Nicknamed "The Jewel of the Pacific", Valparaíso was declared a world heritage site based upon its improvised urban design and unique architecture. In 1996, the World Monuments Fund declared Valparaíso's unusual system of funicular lifts (steeply inclined carriages) one of the world's 100 most endangered historical treasures. In 1998, grassroots activists convinced the Chilean government and local authorities to apply for UNESCO world heritage status for Valparaíso. Valparaíso was declared a World Heritage Site in 2003. Built upon dozens of steep hillsides overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Valparaíso has a labyrinth of streets and cobblestone alleyways, embodying a rich architectural and cultural legacy. 

Somewhat hazy photo of the harbour with city and mountains in background

Part of the Chilean navy

Apparently anything you do in this country turns out to be an adventure.  Just walking to the mall from the exit to the port area proved to be a huge challenge.  Stop signs are just a suggestion and the pedestrians simply walk where they choose.  Being obvious tourists, we left anything of value, including our big camera on the ship.

Our quest was to have a look at the Chilean wines of which we have a good selection in our local liquor stores.  We really did  hit the jackpot here but of course we could not bring any on board the ship, so we just looked and went "ahhhhh".  Had to take some photos though as this was a really nice store.

The prices on the wines were incredibly cheap.  Just do a conversion from the Chilean peso to Canadian dollar and see.  We actually did buy two large boxes of Chilean carmenere and chardonnay.  We could bring these aboard the ship safely through the scanner.  Interestingly, when we cashed out, we used our US dollars and the poor girl got so confused (just like us) that when we got back to the ship, we realized she had given us a double conversion.  Now we REALLY got a good deal!

On our next port, we did a winery tour where this wine was produced

This city could stand another visit from us.  We just did not have the time to do it justice at all.  Valparaiso has a curious mixture of buildings old and new.  There are also many stately buildings reminiscent of London.  The British have had a strong influence in Chile for well over a century and there is still a sizeable British community.

Tall ship, part of the navy

It was actually quite interesting to walk around the ship and watch all the activity in the port.  Also, our balcony on the port side, gave us a nice warm sunny afternoon to relax with a nice glass of Carmanere  and a good book.

Puerto Montt, Chile - March 12, 2016

We enjoyed a day at sea and were pleased to be heading north into warmer temperatures.  The Star Princess followed a northerly course throughout the day passing capo Raper of Golfo de Penas, archipelago de los Chones, and Guamblin Island.

Chile has one of the world's longest and most dangerous coastlines, more than 4000 km long with at least 5000 rocky islands.  To guard this coast, the Chilean navy operated for many years one of the world's most active and most distinguished lighthouse services, the Chilean Maritime Signaling Service.  This organization seems to have disappeared in a recent reorganization of the Navy, leaving the management of aids to navigation in the hands of the regional naval commands, one in each of the country's 15 regions.

In the early hours of the morning, Star Princess approached Paso Queulin, Banco San Jose and after she approached the Anchorage position, the tender boats were made ready for us.

Puerto Montt is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncavi Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago.  It spans an area of 1,673 sq km and has a population of 175,000.  Today it was sunny and 12 celsius.

The gateway to Chile's renowned Lake District, here you will marvel at the multitude of snow-capped volcanoes interspersed with charming alpine valleys surrounded by rolling hills.  This region was once a nexus for German immigrants, hence the distinct "German Villages" you can find. The quaint town of Puerto Varas was established by German immigrants over 150 years ago.  It is an excellent showcase of German architecture and food.

In addition to its successful cruise industry, Puerto Montt is currently one of Chile's out rapidly expanding cities thanks to its booming salmon industry.  It got involved with salmon farming during the 1980's and steadily rose to become one of Chile's top five exports.

We tendered ashore and walked the streets in this beautiful town.  There was only one geocache here and thankfully we found it.  Everywhere we looked, the horizon displayed breathtaking volcanic mountains.  Along the shoreline, up to the base of the mountains, there was plush farmland.

The only geocache was here

One of the local markets

Our introduction to Chilean wines

Farm land at the water's edge

We had a beautiful sunset cruise out to sea.  We were looking forward to another "sea day" and then we would arrive at Valparaiso, which would be the finish of the first half of our cruise.  Thankfully, we were booked for 15 more days and little did we realize how fascinating the rest of Chile would be.

Amala Glacier and Chilean Fiords- March 10, 2016

My favourite day on the whole cruise!!  It was 10 celsius, rainy with poor visibility when we navigated through the fiords.  What a desolate place ....  nobody lived there!!  Our ship sailed up the fiords to Amalia Glacier, did a very slow 360 degree turn and then sailed back down the fiords.  We were due to approach the glacier at 4 pm.  We were the only ship there, in fact there was no civilization for hundreds of kilometres in any direction.  As we approached the glacier, the clouds lifted and we were treated to a dazzling "change" in the view of the glacier and at the end, the clouds lifted even more and we got a wonderful panorama.  There are many photos we took and I will just post them here and hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Here is the post from the ship's navigator for this day:

"In the early hours of the morning we exit the Magellan strait on a north westerly course and after Isolates Evangelistas we altered course more to north staying 12 Nm from the Chilean coast before approaching Isla Utrera, Isla Betancourt and Canal Castro.

The Magellan Straights are particularly famous, as they have offered a safe passage for many years, for vessels to pass around South America without having to navigate the treacherous waters of Cape Horn.  They were first discovered in 1520 by Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sailor, who was commissioned by the Spanish King to find a faster route to the Spice Islands of the East.  Until the Panama Canal opened in 1914, the Magellan Straits were the main passage for vessels wishing to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans in safety.

Amalia Glacier, also known as Skua glacier, is a tidewater glacier located in Bernardo O'Higgins National Park on the edge of the Sarmiento Channel.  The glacier originates in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.  From 1945 to 1986, its terminus retreated 7 km, being, along with the recession the O'Higgins Glacier, the most dramatic retreat of the glaciers of the mentioned ice field during that period.  The glacier partially surrounds Reclus volcano and erodes the northern flank of it."

One of the "Growlers"

The heavy cloud cover when we first approached Amalia

The decks were busy with people 

The clouds start to lift

Last look as we leave

Punta Arenas, Chile - March 9, 2016

After our late departure from Ushuaia, all morning shore excursions in Punta Arenas were cancelled.  It turned out to be a cold, windy, cloudy day with a high of 11 celsius.  The sun did come out after lunch, so we were able to enjoy our long walk.  This was one of the ports where wind was a major factor in determining whether or not we could drop anchor.  Fortunately we were able to do so and we were once again tendered ashore.  Our overnight trip was rough and turned out to be the only time we encountered choppy seas.

Punta Arenas 

Punta Arenas (or Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antartica Chilena. The city was officially renamed as Magallanes in 1927, but in 1938 it was changed back to "Punta Arenas". It is the largest city south of the 46th parallel south. As of 1977 Punta Arenas has been one of only two free ports in Chile.^[4] (Note that Punta Arenas itself is not a "free port", but rather outside of the city, there is a small "zona franca" where certain products can be imported into the country under a reduced-tax regimen.)

Located on the Brunswick Peninsula north of the Strait of Magellan, Punta Arenas was originally established by the Chilean government in 1848 as a tiny penal colony to assert sovereignty over the Strait. During the remainder of the 1800s, Punta Arenas grew in size and importance due to the increasing maritime traffic and trade traveling to the west coasts of South and North America. This period of growth also resulted from the waves of European immigrants, mainly from Croatia and Russia attracted to the gold rush and sheep farming boom in the 1880s and early 1900s. The largest sheep company, controlling 10,000 square kilometres in Chile and Argentina, was based in Punta Arenas, and its owners lived there.

Since its founding Chile has used Punta Arenas as a base to defend its sovereignty claims in the southernmost part of South America. This led, among other things, to the Strait of Magellan being recognized as Chilean territory in the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina. The geopolitical importance of Punta Arenas has remained high in the 20th and 21st centuries because of its logistic importance in accessing the Antarctic Peninsula.  (taken from Wikipedia) 

By the time we docked and waited for a tender boat, it was well after 1 pm.  There was good wifi at the dock and we were able to catch up and log our geocaches from Punta Arenas.  The last three cruises were not able to dock here, so we were pleased to be able to explore the town.   One cruise this season had such rough seas and high winds that the tender boats got stuck ashore and over 1,000 people were stranded at the dock until 11 pm.  

We set out on what turned out to be a 11 km walk looking for geocaches (found 3).  The town was busy as this is the Chilean port for expeditions to Antartica.  Here we ran into the first of the stray dogs that seem to be everywhere in Chile.  Eric named them "Chile Dogs".

"Chile Dogs" They were quite tame and apparently well fed

Our first view of the Andes

Our ship on what turned out to be a sunny day with calm seas

View overlooking the port

After a long afternoon of walking, we returned to the ship and had an early night.  We wanted to be prepared for our cruise through the Chilean fiords and the Amalia Glacier the next day.

Ushuaia, Argentina - March 8, 2016

We were eagerly anticipating our arrival in Ushuaia ....  especially since we wanted to do the most southern geocache in the world.  We did 3 geocaches and lots of travel bug trading.  Now that we have this over with ....  on to spectacular Ushuaia.

Ushuaia is a resort town on Argentina's Tierra del Fuego archipelago, the southernmost tip of South America, nicknamed the "End of the World".  The windswept town, perched on a steep hill, is surrounded by the Martial Mountains and the Beagle Channel.  It's the gateways to Antarctica cruises and tours to nearby Isla Yecapasela, knows as "Penguin Island" for its penguin colonies.

Its backdrop of beech trees and towering mountains has a distinct adventurous appeal and it is hard to believe that it was once a former penal colony.  The inmates constructed the town's railway, hospital and port.  When the prison closed its doors in 1947, the city had a meger population of over 3,000 inhabitants.  Currently, Ushuaia's population has steadily grown to around 70,000 residents.

Map of the Town

It was a very busy port and two expedition ships to Antartica were in port.  The wind was very strong as we walked down the dock to our boat tour of Beagle Channel.  This was one shore excursion that we did not want to miss.  This is the point in our trip when the scenery started to become spectacular.

The busy harbour

Two of the expedition ships in harbour

We boarded a catamaran to begin exploring Beagle Channel.  The vistas were superb as we navigated the channel, under the shadows of Mount Olivia and Mount Escapade.  We cruised alongside Sea Lions Island where we saw the South American Sea Lions and the Blue-eyed Cormorant (which can fool you into thinking they are penguins).  We did not know which way to point our camera.

Approaching Seal Island

Seal Island

Blue Eyed Cormorants

Blue Eyed Cormorants .... look like penguins from afar

Sea Lions with seagull

The children

Another lovely panorama 

After our tour of Beagle Channel, we walked through the town.  It was a beautiful little town with interesting architecture ....  all aimed at the tourists.  The local provincial workers were on strike for the day, so none of the information kiosks were open.  We went to a nice cafe for free internet ... along with some of the crew.  We walked around town for several hours, enjoying the local culture and doing our geocaches.  What an interesting place, right in the middle of nowhere.

The Striking workers' protest parade

Some photos from around the town

Our ship

The town - taken from our balcony

The airport - taken from our balcony

The wind was very strong all day (4 celsius with sun, wind and rain), in fact it was so strong that it was pushing our ship against the dock and we could not cast off.  There are no tug boats in Ushuaia, so we had to wait for the winds to calm down before we could pull up the anchor and leave.  It was about 8 pm before we left.  We had reservations at one of the specialty restaurants that night and the photo above was the view we enjoyed while eating our dinner.  Once we cast off, it was a bit rough overnight and into the next day.