Raina's Blogging again - Rhapsody "Around the Horn" & Antarctica.

[AussieVisi2r]

Montevideo, Uruguay.

Day 33

 

A book shop that was so beautiful. It was originally a house that supplied the medical trade.

 

 

Stunning buildings everywhere.

 

 

We visited the "Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, St Philip and St James".

 

 

 

 

Terrible photo - but walking eight large dogs is pretty impressive!

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Montevideo, Uruguay.

Day 33

 

Plaza Zabala, is named for the city founder. There is a great statue of him with his crypt underneath.

 

 

Palacio Salvo - hotel then private residences. The tallest building in South America until 1935.

 

 

I had seen photos of this sculpture and was so glad to see it.

 

 

 

 

Old Town was lovely.

[AussieVisi2r]

Montevideo, Uruguay.

Day 33

 

We then left old town and headed into the 'burbs'. The 1930’s stadium is still the main one and hold 65,000.

On a few occasions, trotting along in the traffic were horse and carts going about their business.

 

 

 

The streets were really wide, and as in all of this part of the world have a great street tree planting program. So lovely.

 

 

Fire wood is purchased at the supermarket in small ******s. Everyone uses BBQs.

 

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Montevideo, Uruguay.

Day 33

 

We visited the fruit markets…..kind of. The Mercado del Puerto. Something was lost in the translation. When you say you want to visit markets, But…you go to the development that was done a few years ago on the site of the OLD markets. LOL.

But it was filled with little shops and was interesting. One shop was selling native rainforest plants!

 

The fruit was beautiful.

 

 

And the meat looked amazing.

 

 

We then drove around and saw more great stuff.

 

 

The place has a large number of beaches and many housing developments along them. But remember it is only a brown river, not the ocean. We could see out to where the river water meets the ocean water. Yes there is a line.

 

 

This guy is enjoying the day, and a 'Mate' (Mar -taa). Mate is the leaf of a tree made into tea. It has three times more canine that coffee. It is soaked in cold water, then steeped in hot water. The cup is shared around with everyone using the same straw. Very communal. Everyone drinks it. The cups are one of the main tourist item. No good for Australians those as they are leather around a gourd.

 

When we got back to the ship (5 hr tour), the guide told us that the best BBQ shops were just across the road. So I decided that I had better go over and have some. Sad to say - compared to Argentinian BBQ it was rubbish. If your doing here don't bother. Maybe if I hadn't been to Argentina it would have been good.

 

 

Montevideo was lovely, and really interesting!

[AussieVisi2r]

Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Day 34

 

Punta del Este is a small city with a year round population of under 10,000 until summer arrives and so do the people. A million of them. Very like Batemans Bay. It is on a peninsular about 140 ks from Montevideo.

The Spanish arrived in the early 16th century but didn’t settle until the end of the 18th century – and that was to stop the Portuguese settling here.

 

It was originally sand dunes but in 1896, Antonia Lussich bought 4,447 acres and planted his own botanical gardens with plants from around the world. The trees eventually spread on their own and the area is covered in Eucalyptus, Acacia and Pine to name a few.

 

It's a tourist/resort town and I was not at all excited to be going here. I don't like resort towns! But it was extremely attractive. Great beaches and views.

 

We tendered into a pretty harbour and marina. As i was stepping off the tender the sailor held out an arm. I gave him a very firm 'sailors grip' with both hands and stepped off. His eyes did pop a bit. Well - that is how I had to do it to ensure my safety in Antarctica. LOL.

 

 

The marina was full of million dollar yachts and cruisers, and a fleet of little old commercial fishing boats.

 

 

Near our dock were local fishermen cleaning and selling their catch. Of course I had to go and look. I had read about the Sea Lions that hang around for scrapes. That shouldn’t be exciting. I have just seen a few thousand Southern Sea Lions.

 

 

 

But OH MY GOD! There is not a chance I will ever be going to a South Georgian beach in spring when the bull Sea Lions are guarding their territory. They are giants. Their heads are as big as a car tyre. If fact....they look a bit like lions. They were well over two metres long and they must weigh hundreds of kilos.

 

 

I jumped onto a city tour - $25US for a 2 ½ hr mini bus trip – in Spanish.

 

Faro – Built in 1860, it’s a brick lighthouse built to guide ships from the Atlantic to the Rio de la Plate. It was a crystal prism system. It’s 25 metres high and has a range of 8.8 nautical miles.

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Day 34

 

There was also a really pretty church.

 

 

 

And a lovely meteorological station in a beautiful old building with tower.

 

 

We then drove down to the beach area and saw the thousands of units with amazing views over the beaches. Many were massive with amazing views. Some looked like hotels but were not!

 

 

 

The whole coastline was lined in units.

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Day 34

 

The coastline is divided into two regions. One is “Brava” (fierce) and the other is “Mansa” (tame). This marks the end of the Rio de la Plata (River Plata) and start of the Atlantic Ocean. The Brava beaches are a thick golden sand and the Mansa side sand is fine and white.

 

 

A huge sculpture on the beach marks the spot where Brava and Mansa meet, and warns swimmers of the rougher waters. “Mano de Punta del Este” is a huge sculpture, five fingers coming out of the sand. Pretty cool as far as modern art goes.

 

 

 

Then a drive through what had to be ‘Millionaire Row’. One was at least a five acre block with a huge fence around it. Tennis courts, pools etc. They were all huge.

 

The down through a normal rich suburb. Lovely giant houses.

 

We drove over La Barra bridge – a wavy bridge; twice; and everyone on the bus hooted with delight. It was awesome. And really pretty.

 

 

 

A stop at the nicest looking food shop. Their empanadas were not as good as their shop..but the shop was lovely.

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Day 34

 

And there was Casapueblo! A giant gleaming white building, flowing down the Cliffside – nine stories down. A ‘whimsical’ local artist built it as a workshop, although it is now a hotel, restaurant etc. It took him 37 years to complete and apparently he mixed the concrete and carried it one bucket at a time.

It certainly is white and it certainly is big.

 

 

 

 

Inside Casapueblo is a shrine to the artists son who died in a 1972 plane crash where the Uruguay Rugby Team crashed into the Andes. This was the crash that inspired the movie "Alive".

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Day 34

 

 

Sail out was pretty.

 

 

 

 

A fun day.

 

Punta del Este = very nice. And my $25 tour was brilliant.

 

We are now heading off down the coast of South America.

 

At dinner my waiter told me my fish was caught by his brother off the back of the ship today. Lucky..... It was Atlantic Salmon and we are in the Atlantic.

[OnTheJourney]

Thanks for your continuing adventures!! Forgot to mention that my Celebrity Antarctica cruise also stops at Montevideo, so it was nice to see some pics and info from there.

[robandana]

We are enjoying this so much, reliving this incredible trip.

 

Hope you are well!

 

Thanks!

[JamesEM]

Once again great photos, thanks for sharing.

[AussieVisi2r]

At sea - South Atlantic

Day 35

 

A very quiet day with a sleep in, chatting, nap and dinner at Chops. Lovely day.

 

The sun was shining when I went for a nap. I even read outside on the deck - I rarely use the deck on the odd occasion that I have one.

 

A SEA DAY! It is day 35 of my trip and my first slack day since leaving Australia. (We had many sea days on the small ship but they averaged three lectures and an activity!) So I was excited. Progressive trivia was the only thing I did. I even got time for a nap. YAY!

 

When I went to snooze I hadn't shut the deck door properly and was woken up by a screaming wind. The sky was dark, rain and the water was choppy with huge winds....but no big seas. On the pool deck the deck chairs went wild and all ran up the deck and blocked off the entrance near the lifts, before the guys could get out and tie them up.

 

Two hours later everything was peaceful again. The pool was full and the deck as covered in people.

A fun night was had in the lounge. I caught up with people I knew from other cruises - and met some amazing new people (You know who you are).

 

I really like Rhapsody. I like the small ships and their personal nature. (Guess I'll be in for a shock on the Harmony TA). Rhapsody is really friendly with great staff. I do MTD and am very erratic with meal times. LOL. And I don't go to many shows. I prefer sitting in the lounge and chatting.

 

There were 80ish D+ and 10 Pinnacles. More than this Aussie girl has ever seen. And of course the suite guests. Lots of great people. And of course....

 

The weather is being so kind to us. the people on the previous cruise missed three (??) ports/places and got stuck in Ushuaia for a whole day.they had seas and winds. Fingers crossed for the rest.

[AussieVisi2r]

Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Day 36

 

So here I am back in Patagonia.

Today I joined with some of the people I toured with in Montevideo, and from the lounge. We were going out to the Valdez Peninsular to see……Magellanic Penguins, Fur Seals, Sea Lions and Elephant Seals. The brochure also talked about all these, and Southern Right Whales and Orcas. All of which were checked off my list!

“Why am I going?” I asked myself several times throughout the night, and again when my alarm went off at seven am.

But off I went “ ‘cause there will be good things to see.”

 

The ship docked at the industrial port 15 ks from Puerto Madryn. It is in a huge sheltered bay Gulf Nuevo. The Valdez Peninsular forms the top side of the gulf. The peninsular is huge with a narrow isthmus, ‘Carlos Ameghino’, joining it.

 

We had a private van. There were 5 of us and it was $100 each. A bit less than the ships tour but we travelled in comfort, saw twice as much and were out all day.

 

 

So off we set in our van to drive around the gulf then onto the peninsular.

 

The whole peninsular is incredibly semi-arid and almost desert. It has a few huge salt lakes, one of them 40m below sea level.

 

 

The area is positioned between the sub polar low pressure belt (60-70 degrees south) and the subtropical high (30 south) so winds are almost always from the west. Therefore, although it is on the coast, it only gets 250mm rain a year.

 

I thought it was quite spectacular (not to live on, just to visit). Flat and barren with 500mm high gorse bushes. No trees – too windy for them.

 

 

The temperature was perfect today. Sunshine and about 15 degrees with a light wind. Perfect.

 

 

 

The peninsular is a national park and is a World Heritage area due to its importance for marine life.

Southern Right Whales calf in the gulf (but not now, it was the wrong season). Orcas hunt the Magellan Penguins here (but it was the wrong season). This is where all the documentaries are filmed that show Orcas beaching themselves to catch penguins, sea lions and young elephant seals… (but it was the wrong season to see it now).

The beaches are the biggest Magellan rookery with 1,000,000 penguins….but…it was the wrong season so they were not there.

We drove for about an hour then had a stop at the National Park entrance. Then another hour out across the peninsular towards Punta Delgade. It was flat and lovely.

[AussieVisi2r]

Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Day 36

 

This area is the home to Guanacos – a ‘camelid’ (the family that includes camels, dromedary’s, llama and alpacas). They are about 1.2m at the shoulder and weigh about 90kg. They have really long necks and have evolved very thick skin to protect the neck. Bolivians use the neck skin to make shoes!

 

 

They live in herds of about 10, with a dominant male. They are very much a flight creature. When they see the car….. off they go. The male runs behind to defend them.

The males are very aggressive during breeding season and fight violently. BUT the really cool thing is how they fight. They chase the other male and bite it on the balls! Yep. Bite them hard! That’s an efficient way to get rid of other breeding males.

We saw heaps of them. Guanacos – not balls.

 

 

 

I also saw a Patagonian Mara (also known as the Patagonian Cavy). They look like they are made from the animal scrap factory. They look like a hare / antelope cross. Much bigger than a hare with similar back legs. It walks around on its toes but sits down on its haunches like a dog. It has a really box head. It’s a rodent and is only found in Argentina, especially the Valdez Peninsular.

We drove past the salt pans. They are not used for salt production any more.

 

We went to the famous penguin beach. There is a sand island protecting it from the gulf making a deep channel. Sadly we didn’t see 1,000,000 penguins. But there were 27 there – I counted them. But they were cute. The landscape certainly made up for the lack of penguins.

 

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Day 36

 

Then onto the Elephant Seal beach which showed us about 20 Elephants. Not the big bulls that we were told of but the beach was amazing.

 

 

It was dark ‘sand’ with turquoise water. Jutting out were a stack of rock outcrops covered in vibrant green plant life. The colours were amazing. The beach had a really big drop off so appeared to roll like a giant wave. There where huge white cliffs across the gulf. Very beautiful.

 

 

Kelp Gulls and Giant Petrels were everywhere.

It would have been sad if I had done this trip for the Penguins and Elephants – but I didn’t, so it was fantastic.

The trip was worth it for this beach.

 

 

But then…… as I was walking up the path from the beach there was a “Hairy Armadillo”. Didn’t even know they existed until I saw info about them at the National Park display.

 

 

SO CUTE! An Armadillo with thick hairs poking out. And a big plate on its head. It was shuffling along the path with its ‘Dumm Dee Dumm Dumm” manner. It did jump when it saw people but them went about snuffling in the sand. So cute!!!

 

 

 

And just one more time. SO CUTE!

I know all you people from places like Texas hate them - but I was one happy person. I have seen a Hairy Armadillo.

[AussieVisi2r]

Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Day 36

 

On the way back we called into the only town on the peninsular. Puerto Piramides. The town started, to work the salt pans – but when the salt industry closed down they moved on to tourism. It has a population of 480 people – all involved in the Whale Watching trade…..but it was out of season……..! Funny.

 

 

 

 

Not often you can take a photo and fit the whole town into the shot.

But I did drink a local beer and look at the stunning place while dreaming of Orcas chasing seals up the beach and Southern Right Whales breaching with their calves.

 

On the way back we saw a Tarantula walking across the highway - as you do! I giant hairy spider, just wandering across the highway.

 

Back near the ship was yet another ‘ship graveyard’. It seems that in Argentine when something stops working they just leave it there. Every port has had many dead ships and Buenos Aires streets were full of dead cars.

 

 

What a fantastic day! The tour was brilliant. Landscape was amazing. Wildlife sensational. And let me tell you again….I saw a Hairy Armadillo!

 

[OnTheJourney]

Pretty amazing trip....so like around 40 days in all?

Edited May 2, 2016 by three4rd

[AussieVisi2r]

At Sea – Southern Atlantic

Day 37

 

Another lovely sea day. The weather is changing. Cold and wet.

Lovely.

 

Trivia, trivia, then lunch with an Officer. I didn't get my invite but found out just in time. Lucky - as this was one of the most fun ones I have been to.

 

When my room was changed…it didn’t change on the Loyalty Officers list. So I haven’t received my chocolate strawberries, wine etc. Someone rang me (as I had told them the old room number) and asked for me.

“Sorry, Raina doesn’t live here. But thank her for all the presents I keep getting!” Funny!

Except that I nearly missed out of my favourite perk, the lunch. We all had a great time and stayed over two hours. Food was great and the desert was awesome!

 

Then of course a sleep followed by a fun night in the lounge.

 

Now it’s time to cross our fingers for god luck!

Last cruise they did not get to go 'Around The Horn'. The weather was too rough.

 

All looks great on the wave chart and hopping that tomorrow at 2pm we get the circumnavigate Cape Horn!

 

At Sea – “Around the Horn” - Southern Atlantic

Day 38

 

The day started with trivia, then trivia.

Then time to circumnavigate “The Horn”, “Cape Horn, or “Isle Horos”. Isle Horos is the southernmost headland of the Tierra Del Fuego island group. It marks the start of the Drake Passage and is where the Pacific and the Atlantic meet.

We had great weather. Yay for us!

 

 

I still take the credit for our amazing good luck – remember I ate the “LUCKY KIDNEY” when I was in Ushuaia last!

 

 

This was the main route for sailing ships going around the world until the Panama Canal was opened.

It was a really dangerous route with winds roaring in for the west on the “Furious Fifties” and the “Screaming Sixties”. The winds are funnelled through the end of the continents of South America and Antarctica.

 

 

As well as the huge winds there are so many tiny rocky islands and submerged rock. There are hundreds of wrecks there.

 

 

Don’t know why they found it difficult. We found it fairly easy to do a circumnavigation!

 

Maybe it was something to do with the huge metal ship, good weather (Although the photos indicate different), radar, navigation maps, two lighthouses……….

 

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

At Sea – “Around the Horn” - Southern Atlantic

Day 38

 

We did a two hour leisurely sail around (including a stop at the Chile base to drop in our paper work).

 

 

 

 

We got a treat that night. When they dropped staff off at he Chile Base, that also dropped off two suitcases of passports. A few staff sat and stamped more then 3000 passports (they took the staff passports as well). That is pretty exciting. And the real treat was that other staff members went and picked up the same number of beach stones. We each got one. I love to pick up a rock at places I go, so Antarctic was torture that you cannot take or leave anything. A rock from here was very exciting.

 

I was a little bit conflicted about them taking so many rocks......but i guess very few ships get there. And Captain Dimas was so happy to finally get Around the Horn. Turns out it was the two trips before us (and the one after) that didn't make it.

 

After our loop around we went to pick up the rescue boat - and our passports. That was a lot more difficult then planned and we spun around for about half an hour trying to get them out of the wind enough to get them back onto the ship.

 

And of course we got our certificates. A great day!

 

 

Then headed off to Ushuaia. Which is good as I love Ushuaia.

[AussieVisi2r]

Ushuaia, Argentine.

Day 39

 

Back in Ushuaia, Argentina.

And it is still a delightful little town. When I was here nearly 5 weeks ago (can you believe that) it was a charming little fishing town with lots of adventure activities and a cool climate. Now it is a ski resort town gearing up for the winter.

 

 

As I was getting ready to leave the ship, the room steward said that it was really cold out there – about 5 degrees. I decided to go back and put on thermals underneath – since I had a few thermals with me! I opened one of my vacuum packed bags of worn clothing form Antarctica. As I pulled thermals out the waft of Penguin and guano poured out. My room now smells like a Pinguinera. That’s Spanish for a Penguin Rookery! Pretty funny.

 

 

The temp all day was around 8-10 degrees with a sharp little wind. It snowed over night and all the hills had more then a dusting of settled snow. It must be awfully impressive in the winter with the huge rugged mountains right on the edge of town.

 

 

There is a big protest happening in town. It started just after I felt last time. A large section of the main street has been barricaded off and a ‘tent village’ has been built. They are protesting for better retirement benefits so I totally support them. But wow, such a commitment to be camping out in this coming weather. They believe they will be there for at least a month.

 

 

When I say ‘tent village’ it was more of a pallet village. Structures built like sheds out of pallets. Lots of fire drums, meat cooking and lots of people chatting. And of course many of the Ushuaia town dogs there visiting. The people were all really friendly and happy to chat and have photos taken.

 

This is the main street.

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Ushuaia, Argentine.

Day 39

 

I just wondered around town today and looked at things. One place for hot chocolate.

 

 

And of course went to yet another meat place for more ‘Lamb on the Rack”. Didn’t have to eat a dirty kidney thought today. ☺

 

 

 

We arrived in port at 1am this morning. Lots of noise from the fishermen unloading their catches in the wee hours.

 

 

No dirty English Pirates allowed here.

 

 

We left at 4pm so had a lovely afternoon sailing up (the other end) of the Beagle Channel toward Punta Arenas and Chile.

 

 

Edited May 3, 2016 by AussieVisi2r

[AussieVisi2r]

 

Ushuaia, Argentine.

Day 39

 

So off we went along the Beagle Channel. In the other direction this time. And it was stunning.

 

 

Along the Beagle Channel are a number of glaciers. We saw two of them before loosing the light. Francia is high in the mountains and never reaches the Beagle.

 

 

 

Italia Glacier does flow into the Beagle. The captain circled the ship in front of Italia.

 

 

 

Not too shabby a view.

 

 

So it’s “Ciao” to Argentina and “Hola” to Chile.

 

I have absolutely loved Argentine. What a beautiful country. I’ve seen the Pampas – the flat highly productive agricultural plains, The Steppes – the absolutely flat desert country, the Patagonian mountains and highlands, the jungle at Iguazu Falls, as well as towns and cities. Buenos Aires was fantastic. Absolutely beautiful with wonderful people where ever I have been.

 

And Spanish is such a beautiful language. It sounds so happy and expressive.

 

So – I have loved Argentina.

I hope it loved me.

 

I wonder if it will cry for me (leaving). I hope not. "Don't cry for me Argentina".

[AussieVisi2r]

Puerto Arenas, Chile

Day 40

 

Puerto Arenas is a small city on the edge of the Magellan Strait.

It was founders in 1948. It started as a penal colony then developed as a shipping port. It was an important shipping port during the 1880’s gold rushes then continued to grow ‘on the back of the sheep’ with many large sheep farmers living here.

 

 

Puerto Arenas is the starting point for the Antarctic Base trips and has a huge whale/penguin/wildlife watching industry.

 

 

A large mob of dolphins entertained us in the Concierge Lounge this morning, then escorted the tenders back and forth for much of the morning.

 

 

I just wandered around and look at lovely things. I looked at the main tourist attractions – the monuments, cathedral and many really nice old building.

 

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Puerto Arenas, Chile

Day 40

 

 

 

 

Not sure how much time I would be spending on this balcony. Think your kidneys may get fried!

 

 

When Rome..Do like a Roman.

Seafood is to Chile, as Meat is to Argentina. Therefore I had to eat seafood. And a Kingcrab was a good start.