December 2013 cruise review with many pictures

[scubacruiserx2]

Fueled by lunch it was time to think about returning to the ship. So it was time to return to work trying to capture the amazing beauty of this area. Walking along the volcanic beach I paused to shoot this quick video clip

 

 

 

 

A little closer toward the bus were these beautiful flowers

 

 

 

 

 

On the bridge you can see the geological upthrust that shaped the mountains of this area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Returning on a different route toward the ship we encountered different views of the Cuernos.

 

 

 

 

 

As we passed this viewing point I wanted to stop and take photos from outside of the bus , but the time was growing short and we had along trip ahead of us

 

 

 

 

 

With one last close up of the torres and cuernos we began the long ride to the airport .

 

 

 

Feeling a nap coming on , I contemplated the dinner that would be served at the Pinnacle Grill that evening. It was an evening at Le Cirque and this event happens only once on this cruise.

[scubacruiserx2]

Our return flight and bus trip was uneventful and it was good to be back to our home away from home the Zaandam. We knew the ship would be waiting for us because we were on the longest ships tour - 11 hours. We had time for a cup of tea and a quick shower before our dinner date at Le Cirque. Unlike some cruise ships that have numerous separate restaurants , HAL uses the same dinning areas - but changes the dinning venues. Le Cirque is held in the Pinnacle grill but has different place settings and a different menu taken from the restaurant in New York.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Cirque

 

After being greeted and seated we were presented with an Amuse - Bouche from the chef. It was a liver foam that my wife loved. A caution about the following photos. I found it amusing when I first saw my wife taking pictures of our food - until I looked at the pictures ! I found myself staring at and craving the food in the pictures. It made my mouth water . Without realizing it I had become involved in food porn :eek: Yes there is such a thing !

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_porn

 

So if you choose to look at the food photos - You have been warned !

 

 

 

 

 

Le Menu

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lobster Salad starter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Le Trio starter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We both Love the Butternut Squash soup

 

 

 

 

 

Part II - Dinner continues

[scubacruiserx2]

Chateaubriand

 

 

 

 

Rack of Lamb

 

 

 

 

 

 

Napoleon with berries

 

 

 

 

 

Sorbets

 

 

 

 

The Pinnacle was outstanding. It's hard for us to believe that they only charge $25 for this quality of food and service.

 

Our last animal sighting was this cutie in our stateroom

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

After finding our today ON LOCATION we wanted to go for a walk and watch the sunset at 10 pm

 

 

 

The high temperature for the next day in Ushuaia was only 41 F so we thought that we should wear gloves , hats and scarfs . We were right but the cold air was refreshing after such a long day. The sky had cleared and it was beautiful to watch the sun set behind the mountains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving to the other side of the ship we were treated to a sunset reflected on the mountains and clouds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were scheduled to cruise Glacier Alley at 7 am the next morning but its hard to imagine a more perfect day.

[scubacruiserx2]

Glacier Alley is one of the highlights of most cruises in this area. One of the reasons that we did this cruise is to see if it is as beautiful as we remember it. Our signoff photo features a thumbnail from our 2007 NCL Dream trip.

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't get much sleep dreaming about the morning's visit . Rising early for coffee and a walk we were greeted with more dreary skies and freezing temperatures.

 

 

 

 

There appeared to be a glimmer of hope so we prayed for clear skies and went to an early breakfast

 

 

 

 

 

When we returned about an hour later Patrick began his commentary. Wow how the weather had changed !

 

 

 

 

 

A close up shot revealed a small glacier in the valley.

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

We will be cruising along the Beagle Canal past 5 glaciers in Glacier Alley . They are annotated in red .

 

 

 

 

 

Video clip of the area. You may want to change the setting to HD in Youtube

 

 

 

Here are some more photos from this beautiful area

 

 

 

 

A small waterfall on the right

 

 

 

 

 

 

A glacier on the right behind the island

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A high waterfall video clip

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

We were now entering the stretch of the Canal Beagle known as Glacier Alley .

 

 

 

 

 

The first glacier seen was the Romanche Glacier with it's spectacular waterfall .

 

 

 

 

 

It was estimated that from the top of the glacier to the water was 2000'. Thus the cascade is in excess of 1000' !

 

 

 

 

A video clip of the glacier

 

 

 

 

The tiny green " dots" on the left side of the picture are 50' tall trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enlarged photo of where the waterfall emanates from the glacier

 

 

 

[t60]

Lovely photos, making me look forward to our cruise there in March

 

Sandy in Spain

[Floridiana]

Your pictures make me want to go back to South America!

[Tcb-Baseman]

What camera did you purchase, if i may ask? Pictures look awesome, that's why i am curious :)

[scubacruiserx2]

What camera did you purchase, if i may ask? Pictures look awesome, that's why i am curious :)

 

Thanks Tcb-Baseman and welcome to the thread ! I have A Canon SL1 SLR and a Canon T3i SLR. I usually keep a 70-300 mm Telephoto on the T3i . The smaller SL1 I normally uses a 24-105 mm and I change to a wide angle 10-22 mm sometimes. All lenses are Canon. Great question , don't be afraid to ask OK ?

 

 

Lovely photos, making me look forward to our cruise there in March

 

Sandy in Spain

 

 

Thank you to our friend in Spain . It won't be long now ! We're envious , any more room on your cruise ?

 

 

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Your pictures make me want to go back to South America!

 

 

 

Us too Floridiana ! If we go again we are considering a cruise to Antarctica / South America or a land based trip with a visit to the Falkland Islands . Keep tuned - better photos ahead !

[scubacruiserx2]

Looking foward to our next glacier in the brilliant sunshine !

 

 

 

 

 

Alemania (Germany) Glacier . Seeing the glare and sunshine reminded me that I had forgotten and left my polarizing filter at home . Oops , too late now.

 

 

 

There is an island covered with trees in front of this glacier

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we passed this glacier we noticed a large cloud of silt called Till in the water created by the glacier .

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Till

 

 

When we were looking forward toward the sun the glare on the water had made it hard to spot. But after passing it and with the sun now at our backs , it became obvious .

 

[Madtalker]

Enjoying your pictures and coments as we plan for next year. Thank you.

[scubacruiserx2]

Enjoying your pictures and coments as we plan for next year. Thank you.

 

Welcome aboard ! South America is an outstanding vacation location full of natural beauty and a strong European influence. Great idea to plan in advance. Ours was a spur- of- the- moment decision so we missed a few things in the process that we would like to do over .

[scubacruiserx2]

We were at the half way point of Glacier Alley and we were pumped ! The French glacier was next and the weather was cold and crisp . When I think of France I thought of the French Alps , The Grenoble Olympics and Jean- Claude Killy bringing home the Gold. So we expected a lot. On the other side of this dramatic mountain was the Francia Glacier .

 

 

 

 

So without any further adieu we present the Francia Glacier !

 

 

 

 

 

Don't blink or you may miss it . Oh well C'est la vie !

 

 

I asked this guy if he got any video because I only had time to take a couple of pictures !

 

[scubacruiserx2]

We were more prepared for the Glacier Italia before it came into view

 

 

 

 

I was determined to take a similar shot at this glacier as I had done in the previous trip so I hustled from the Port side where everyone had gathered , to the Starboard side .

 

 

 

 

 

So it was deja vu all over again . Missing from this picture were the polar bear swimmers that were present in the previous trip. This vantage point gave us a high angle view aft

 

 

 

And afforded a view like being there with this close up . The unique characteristic of this glacier was the presence of floating icebergs . The commentator said that they were the size of large houses !

 

 

 

 

A small video clip of the Italia Glacier.

 

 

 

 

Notice the "smoking" mountain in the upper right corner as we had passed the glacier . This inspired me to take a look up at the mountains with a telephoto lens.

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

With the telephoto available and the "smoking" mountain in view we looked close and up

 

 

 

 

I was stunned by the beauty in the viewfinder !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Florida flatlander was impressed - I hoped that others were enjoying it as much as we were

 

 

 

We were coming up on our last glacier as seen in this clip

 

 

[t60]

It´s just lovely when the skies are that blue and clear

 

Sandy in Spain

[scubacruiserx2]

It´s just lovely when the skies are that blue and clear

 

Sandy in Spain

 

Amen ! And great for photography too !

[scubacruiserx2]

The Holland Glacier is the last main glacier that we see on our trip through Glacier Alley . On our approach to the glacier we saw some awesome peaks on the top

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a neat video clip as we move to the glacier

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a very impressive glacier !

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's also a very healthy glacier with a robust zone of accumulation . And I loved the blowing snow !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our last view of Glacier Alley .

 

 

 

 

 

As we moved away we realized that we had pick-up an escort that was tailing us.

 

[J-D]

That appears to me to be a Southern Giant Petrel, Macronectes giganteus (Petrel Gigante antartico in Spanish), but I acknowledge that my seabird ID skills are not the best... According to "Birds of Chile" (Jaramillo 2003), lengths of the Southern Giant Petrel are 34-39 inches (86-99 cm), with wingspan 73-81 inches (185-205 cm). Note the prominent "tubenose" along the top of the thick bill.

 

John

[Floridiana]

I am happy to see these beautiful pictures and a bit jealous of the sunny cruise you had.:rolleyes:

[scubacruiserx2]

That appears to me to be a Southern Giant Petrel, Macronectes giganteus (Petrel Gigante antartico in Spanish), but I acknowledge that my seabird ID skills are not the best... According to "Birds of Chile" (Jaramillo 2003), lengths of the Southern Giant Petrel are 34-39 inches (86-99 cm), with wingspan 73-81 inches (185-205 cm). Note the prominent "tubenose" along the top of the thick bill.

 

John

 

Well spotted John , thanks again !

 

 

 

 

I am happy to see these beautiful pictures and a bit jealous of the sunny cruise you had.

 

We are just trying to share the sunshine , Floridiana ;)

[scubacruiserx2]

After passing the last glacier we passed a small island on our port side called Isla del Diablo , the Island of the Devil :eek: My wife pointed out something strange . She said that the water was "getting thick". Sure enough it looked like the water was moving in slow motion ! The island is seen on the right side in this picture

 

 

 

 

 

There is a reason for this increase in density and reflectivity explained here:

 

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~louisab/sedpage/basics.html

 

 

The result is a greater reflection of the blue sky making the water look more blue.

 

 

 

 

On the left side we were able to see the South leg of the Beagle Canal

 

 

 

 

 

And in the center is the Gordon Island that separates the North and South branch of the Beagle Canal

 

 

 

 

 

It was at this point , the confluence of the Beagle Canal , that I took several pictures and "stitched" them together to make this panorama .

 

 

 

 

Complete with a watermark !

[cormike1]

That would make one beautiful picture framed and hanging on a wall somewhere in your house! Your pictures are beautiful!!! I am going in March and hope to get some wonderful pictures also. I hope we have the beautiful weather you had. Thanks....I am enjoying your posts.