Chasing Summer –

January 18-26

Sea Days

Some of my greatest joys on a voyage this long are sea days. These are the days when there is no need to leave the ship and explore a city, no monuments to visit, or long walks to take in all of the history and sights of a place.

Some argue that this is our lifestyle, and we don’t need to see and do everything, but I can’t agree. I respond, “Just watch me,” so those precious few days when I can relax are amazing. Chile, being so long, afforded the Odyssey with some scheduled sea days, and I was down for them.

The entire west side of South America has been experiencing some nasty storms over the past few weeks, and we’ve already made some minor adjustments to our schedule to stay safe. The waves and winds were harder than usual, and several folks were back to pills and sea sickness patches. I am so lucky that I never (knock on wood) get sea sick.

Changes Ahead

The Captain also had to make a decision that to avoid some nasty waves coming up behind us we needed to forgo the next port of Puerto Chacaburo and keep going around to move into the fjords and calmer waters.

This meant that our 2 sea days – 1 port day – 3 sea days, became 6 sea days. That is almost as many sea days as we had on the Atlantic crossing.

Besides the lack of 20-meter waves, the bonus was that we got to visit more of the Chilean Fjords and several glaciers. For some, this was the first time they had ever seen glaciers.

The scenery was amazing, and while I’m sure the crew would have appreciated a break from us, they did a great job of ensuring the residents had activities to do.

Of our adjusted itinerary, we visited Seno Glacier instead of Puerto Chacaburo.

On the second day, we continued through the fjords to Skua Glacier, which is the backside of Torres del Paine National Park. I was in this park last year at this time, so it was fun to see the peaks from the opposite side. The park is better, but this was a fun surprise, too.

Next, we went to the third largest icefield in the world after Antarctica and Greenland, the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. There are thousands of icebergs floating by.

Our changes also meant that we arrived at the Strait of Magellan early and had more time to visit one last glacier, Marinelli Glacier. The Strait of Magellan brings us along the southernmost tip of South America. There are islands on our right, but to the left is the most south one can travel on land.

Land Ahoy, Puntas Arenas

After a week of amazing scenery, as we sailed, we finally made it to land. We had 2 1/2 days in Puntas Arenas.

Many of my friends signed up for day trips to Torres del Paine National Park. It would be a 17-hour bus ride, which I did last year, so I stayed in the city itself.

The first morning, Paul and I headed ashore early and turned left. I didn’t want to get too far away since I was having wine night with Kate and Carmen online starting at 2 for me.

Turn left

We walked through a misty rainy morning with some winds toward several abandoned ships. The first belongs to the Chilean Navy, and the final one is a monument to the exploration and colonization of the region.

I can only assume that this side of town was more developed for tourism at one time but then was forgotten and neglected. Across from the deteriorating husk of a ship is an equally abandoned park/zoo with a drained pond and crumbling dinosaur statues.

From these treasures, we made our way back into the town center of Plaza des Armas. There were the usual cathedral and government buildings.

This plaza also had a fountain, amazing large trees, and a statue with shiny toes.

With a little time to spare, we then walked up to the town mirador for a great view of the city.

As we made our soggy way back, I picked up some wine for my wine visit, and we checked out a small mercado of artisanal goods.

Turn right

The next day, my wine-head was ignored after a couple of painkillers. We were off again, but this time, I went right along the board walk.

Now, this area is obviously where the funding and budget were developed. The boardwalk area is popular with locals as a running and biking trail.

Along the boardwalk, there are several monuments, statues, and fountains. It was a chilly and windy day, but no rain, so that was good.

The end destination was a museum that had several replica boats and was a 2-hour walk away. It was a flat walk and shouldn’t have been bad with all the phot stops, but that wind made it like resistance training, and it was a long, long, long two hours.

Museo Nao Victoria

After yesterday’s creepy abandoned park, we figured this museum had to be better. Lol

We walked here, and I was damned if I wouldn’t go in after all that. It cost 10,000 pesos, which is 10usd.

While it appears almost normal, this is someone’s passion project, and there are all sorts of weird elements, half figures of seamen, and bronze dog statues, that once again make it slightly creepy.

We collectively agreed that we were not walking back and Uber came to bring us home for $5. I managed to get Michael to go out for lunch before calling it a day.

Back to Sea

Our last day here was Sunday, and everyone needed to be back onboard by 11:30, so I had a quick trip to an open store to spend my last few pesos. We are heading to Ushuaia, Argentina.

Again, playing dodge the crappy weather, we are going back down the Strait of Magellan, and we might see the Cape of Horn.