TravelBluebird

At about 1pm we entered the fjords again. Beautiful day! Sunny and warm. I started taking photos on the balcony. Captain wasn’t planning on opening the bow, but he did. If Russ wasn’t in the room with the bow camera on, we wouldn’t have known about it! I enjoyed some uncrowded time on the bow. Of course even with the calm conditions and sun, there was wind. I am definitely sun and wind burned even though I’ve been so careful! Just got back from afternoon tea. My current view:

Tomorrow we are going to the Isla Magdalena penguin reserve. Early start—7am meet up—but I can’t complain another group is going at 6am! If we have time (and energy) we may walk to the Palacio which is just a 20 minute walk from the ship—but up hill—as we should be back to the ship at 1am and we have till 5

The Pier Talk on Punta Arenas was at 10. Ed. The cruise director, always does an excellent job with these with maps, orienting you to the pier, what to avoid, what the sites are, etc.

Of all the native plants we saw yesterday, we found nalca the most fascinating. A GIANT plant that sometimes has leaves 6 foot across, it looks like something out of Jurassic Park. Our guide says the stems are edible and you eat them like cucumbers—very popular in the area. From Wilioedia: Gunnera tinctoria, known as giant rhubarb, Chilean rhubarb, or nalca, is a flowering plant species native to southern Chile and neighboring zones in Argentina. It is unrelated to rhubarb, as the two plants belong to different orders, but looks similar from a distance and has similar culinary uses.

Wow @caneable that is quite an adventure and quite a COVID and cruising story! We don’t count fly overs, airports, and generally not “seen from a ship” BUT we are definitely claiming Antarctica also!

Thank you for the recommendation; we will check that out when offered!

Looks yummy! Blueberry and blackberry mojitos or nojitos are very nice too!

Yes, they are truly terrific! Not playing tonight and neither is Andrew our piano player. Tomorrow is another sea day so I can stay up late and listen to music… The main stage perfomance tonight is a one man band. I do think that Holland America could up their entertainment offerings a bit.

This morning I woke up late, around 8:30. Got some well needed sleep! Ordered continental room service breakfast and coffee, hopped in the shower to wash my hair, and my breakfast has arrived! Less than the 30 minutes promised. We are out in open ocean right now until we head to the Chilean Inside Passage at 12:30. Heavy overcast, low 50s, a bit of ship motion but not bad at all.

Chile is a stunning place! Having incredible experiences and we aren’t even near Antarctica yet!

DH has a massage in the morning and I hope to get some rest. I walked over 17,000 steps today! I am going to go to the Port Talk for Port Arenas at 10, then go outside for the scenic cruising at around 12:30. No plans after that; we shall see where the day takes us!

This last set of photos is of the “lunch” spot. Really it was an early dinner at about 4pm. Lovely setting. We were served Chilean empanadas as appetizers (they are square), lamb cooked over an open fire, salad, and boiled potatoes. Desert (which many of us didn’t have as we wanted to explore the grounds) was cheesecake with black berries. We were served pisco sours and calafate berry sours. I preferred the calafate berry sour. They say if you eat this berry, you will return to Patagonia. They are vaguely reminiscent of blueberries.

The next set of photos are from the Nature Walk Excursion. If you are interested in this excursion, it gives the activity level as “strenuous.”. The walk itself is not strenuous; it is mostly flat. However, you have to be able to walk for 2 hours (there was one spot with benches where you could sit for maybe 5 minutes, and a couple places where you stand for a couple minutes to learn about what you are seeing). Very nice path, but it can be uneven with roots and rocks. Definitely not an excursion for anyone needing a walker or with mobility issues. But if you are looking for a truly strenuous hike, this is not for you either. This area was settled in the early 20th century, and they burned down most of the trees for agriculture and animal husbandry…nearly all the trees in the forest are under 100 years old because of this.

OK…have been going, going all day! Was on the balcony looking at the beautiful fijords till about 9, then the siren song of the casino called, and I played the one armed bandits (err…one button bandits these days?) until now. First, here are some photos from tonight’s scenic cruising. I went a little nuts on the photos tonight, so here are just a few. No photoshops or any other adjustments needed!

Had a 2 hour walk through the forest with our guide Pablo. He was very knowledgeable about the plants and trees we saw. Then traditional lamb cooked over open fire near a lake—no cell or internet service on excursion, as you would imagine. The evening cruising through the Chilean fjords even more beautiful than this morning!

We’ve had a beautiful walk all over the port area. Three BIG buses on way to nature preserve!

@caneableI have some additional photos on my Nikon—I’ll post tonight after our excursion

After breakfast, we walked out to the sea view pool on 9. What views! I think this is one of the prettiest ports I’ve ever been to.

Little pink donuts for breakfast!

We are at the Lido Marketplace for breakfast (open till 10am). As you would imagine, not so crowded this morning! We have decided on a hardy breakfast and the excursion “lunch” as our 2 meals for today. I’m sure I’ll be wanting to take photos and video as we cruise back out of the channel tonight during dinner time! Some of the clouds have cldeared on the snow covered mountains.

I’ll have my photos of the room and balcony in my YouTube room review so others will know if they research—revenge of the blogger! 😂

We have stopped! I believe we are in port super early! Don’t know how DH slept through that but I’m off to get my own coffee!

Wait—probably our tenders, right?

All this photo and video stuff—why I like shooting from balcony! They are doing life boat drills next to me. . Hope they wake up DH soon so he can get me coffee! 😂

should be amazing! Besides the natural beauty and wildlife, 16 wood churches are a UNESCO world heritage site!