January 7th NCL Star cruise to Antarctica , Argentina and Chile with a 10 day stay photo travelogue

[scubacruiserx2]

 Penguins have the right of way here

 

 

It is about a mile from the car park to the beach and there are a number of elevated walkways

 

 

The penquins can pass under or get some shade here in desert like conditions and get a break from the paparazzi .

 

 

Catching some rays

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 Husband and wife for life

 

 

Hitting the beach

 

 

Spring Break

 

 

They are called Jacka** Penguins because of their braying

 

 

Skuas are looking for eggs or babies that stray from their parents

 

 

When the busses arrived we left

 

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

6 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

Skuas are looking for eggs or babies that stray from their parents

 

I watched a skua going after a penguin chick. Nature can be cruel and so painful to watch...nothing we can do.

 

[scubacruiserx2]

6 hours ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

 

I watched a skua going after a penguin chick. Nature can be cruel and so painful to watch...nothing we can do.

 

 

That's for sure . It's kinda like growing old . Some mornings I look in the mirror to shave and think who is that old goat in the mirror ? It not me is it ?

 

 On our last visit to Antarctica we were watching a small pod of Lemaire Killer whales and my wife was taking a video . Then we noticed that they were chasing a small penquin . Here's the video

 

 

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

After returning to the cruise port we asked our guide if there was a place to take a profile photo of our ship and he took us here to this monument . Patagonia was inhabited by the indigenous Tehuelche, the subject of the sculpture.

 

 

Our ship from the monument area

 

 

 

When we got back to our ship this guy was lounging on the bulbous bow  .

 

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 The monument area where we took the shot of the ship from .

 

 

Escort service

 

 

 

 

This cloud looked like a hurricane in the sky

 

 

The sunset

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 The next scheduled stop on our future cruise is Punta Arenas , Chile . 

The NCL Star is currently in port at B.A . ready to sail on a 16 day trip to Antarctica . We are scheduled to board after they return . You can see them now and track them here .

 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9195157

[scubacruiserx2]

We will show a couple of options in Punta Arenas today .

Edited December 23, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

  We don't normally recommend the ship's tours as we prefer to travel in smaller groups which sometimes cost more . Economics 101 , more people = a lower price  . We tend to prefer the quality and freedom of a smaller group even if it costs more . On our last cruise we see penquins in 4 places and this was our least favorite .

 The way that Solo expeditions did business was no prepay and cash only meant 2 bus loads of people lined up waiting to pay and then waiting to board the 2 busses  . The trip on the small boats was bouncy with some sea sickness . You only spend 1 hour with the Magellanic penquins and lots of people . We think that the cruise ships boat may be less prone to sea sickness and we belive that they have a bathroom which the small boats didn't as I recall .

 

 

 

Lighthouse and bathrooms we think

 

 

We believe that the large boat was the cruise ships tour

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 A lot of chicks live here

 

 

Future chicks

 

 

An alarm clock

 

 

Two's company

 

 

But three's a crowd

 

 

Synchronized sunbathing

 

 

Marta Island

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

  Unfortunately NCL doesn't offer the trip to Torres del Paine that we took on the HAL Zaandam . We will so it in hopes that NCL will see it and consider it in the future and to show you why we plan on visiting it after our cruise on the Star .

 

 

It was cool , windy and rainy that morning in P.A. Chile .We had hoped to make the 1 hour flight on the larger DHC twin Otter plane .

 

 

 But we wound up in the smaller Cessna with a pilot that had plenty of experence . I had hoped that I could sit next to my wife but I had told the Pilot that I had trained and flown in the Air Rescue helicoper as a flight medic , so he wanted me to sit up front with him . My wife sat in the back and took a nice shot of the back of my head .

 

 

 It made us feel better that one of the ship's officers was on our flight  ( the lady on the right in the blue jacket ) . After all , one of the ship's officers would want his wife to be on the safer plane , right ?

 Here is the view from my seat .

 

 

It rained the whole flight so the flight was IFR . So nothing to see except the instruments .

 

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 At the Puerto Natales air field we some bath rooms and a bus to take us to the park

 

 

We had hoped that this would be our flight back but no such luck

 

 

The first photo form the bus was a cattle drive

 

 

1st wildlife was a Rhea

 

 

Mr and Mrs Condor enjoying a snack

 

 

A Crested Caracara

 

[scubacruiserx2]

A Merry Christmas to All people

Edited December 25, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

Our first sighting of the Paine Massif

 

 

Dusty Roads and a long ride

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torres_del_Paine_National_Park

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 

They can run much faster than a human at 35 mph. This Gucano was mellow .

 

 

Guanacos stand between 1.0 and 1.3 m (3 ft 3 in and 4 ft 3 in) at the shoulder, body length of 2.1 to 2.2 m (6 ft 11 in to 7 ft 3 in),^[7][8][9] and weigh 90 to 140 kg (200 to 310 lb).^[10

 

^Wikipedia

 

 

We don't know if they were racing us or each other

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Getting closer

 

 

 

 

The Torres ( The towers of granite )

 

 

 

 

Our first look at the Horns ( Los Cuernos )

 

 

 

 

[ColdCruise]

On 12/22/2023 at 7:44 AM, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

That's for sure . It's kinda like growing old . Some mornings I look in the mirror to shave and think who is that old goat in the mirror ? It not me is it ?

 

 On our last visit to Antarctica we were watching a small pod of Lemaire Killer whales and my wife was taking a video . Then we noticed that they were chasing a small penquin . Here's the video

 

 

 

 At least the penguin made those orcas work for their meal. I wonder how they portion out  the meal?

 

thanks for sharing !

[scubacruiserx2]

2 minutes ago, ColdCruise said:

 At least the penguin made those orcas work for their meal. I wonder how they portion out  the meal?

 

thanks for sharing !

 

 You're welcome , I think is served buffet style .

 We hope to share some photos of the Falklands and Antarctica before we leave on Thursday the 4th .

[ColdCruise]

On 12/24/2023 at 9:59 AM, scubacruiserx2 said:

  Unfortunately NCL doesn't offer the trip to Torres del Paine that we took on the HAL Zaandam . We will so it in hopes that NCL will see it and consider it in the future and to show you why we plan on visiting it after our cruise on the Star .

 

 

 

 @scubacruiserx2 to be clear, the photos of the flight &  excursion to Torres del Paine were completed as a HAL excursion (posts #61-6)? 

NCL doesn’t have a comparable excursion?  But you are able to book such as part of your independent travels after the NCL cruise (but not independently during)?

 

Happy Holidays and safe travels !

 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by ColdCruise

[scubacruiserx2]

 The Paine River rapids

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

20 minutes ago, ColdCruise said:

 @scubacruiserx2 to be clear, the photos of the flight &  excursion to Torres del Paine were completed as a HAL excursion (posts #61-6)? 

NCL doesn’t have a comparable excursion?  But you are able to book such as part of your independent travels after the NCL cruise (but not independently during)?

 

Happy Holidays and safe travels !

 

 

 

 Yes , on the Zaandam in 2013 . We called NCL and they do not offer the trip . It was expensive about $1000 p.p. . 

 We did visit it again on our 2018 /2019 cruise to Antarctica and the Falklands before the cruise on the Zaandam again . 

 Our plans are to visit it again after the cruise on the NCL Star . Best wishes for a Joyful holiday season !

Edited December 25, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[ColdCruise]

6 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

 Yes , on the Zaandam in 2013 . We called NCL and they do not offer the trip . It was expensive about $1000 p.p. . 

 We did visit it again on our 2018 /2019 cruise to Antarctica and the Falklands before the cruise on the Zaandam again . 

 Our plans are to visit it again after the cruise on the NCL Star . Best wishes for a Joyful holiday season !

Your photos of the park are inspiring and have moved Torre del Paine up in my queue of places to visit. But I must do more research as I think it might deserve several days (ie not as a cruise excursion). As ever, thanks 🙏 

[scubacruiserx2]

  Being good cruisers - it was time to eat .

 

 

 This was the group from our plane . Daniel and Sarah were seated across from us . Daniel is from South America and Sarah from Australia where they currently live . We did a couple of tous with them and we both have open invitations to visit each other if we ever get to Sydney . Or they ever get to Florida .

 After the cruise their son was getting married in S.A. and we were headed to El Calafate to see the glaciers there .

 We started with Hearts of Palms salad . Where they get palms from in Patagonia we don't know .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 Before the salad was served  ( or we drank the Pisco Sours in front of us on the table )  , I excused myself for a couple of quick photos of where we were eating .

 

Where the bus was parked

 

 

The bridge that we had to walk cross to get to the food

 

 

The place where we ate

 

 

Volcanic beach

 

 

 The Chilean flag looks like the Texas State flag

 

 

 Our final photo of the horns this trip . The darker rock on the top is Sedimentary on top of Granite below

 

 

 If you see any of this in a supermarket or liquor store you may want to buy it . It taste like a Whiskey Sour but it is very strong and has uncooked egg whites that form a froth on top . It is premixed and you just shake it . It was not confiscated when we returned to the ship .

 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

6 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

Your photos of the park are inspiring and have moved Torre del Paine up in my queue of places to visit. But I must do more research as I think it might deserve several days (ie not as a cruise excursion). As ever, thanks 🙏 

 

 You are welcome . We chose to go South for the cooler weather ( And the sights )  . After our cruise on the Star we are scheduled for a quickie tour with lunch and a flight from the Downtown Airport to El Calafate 3 hours away . Spend the night and cruise the next morning in a smaller boat on a 5 glacier cruise day cruise . The following morning is an all day visit to Torres del Paine with a guide . The last time it was about 12 -16 hours with a border crossing 2 times . The following day we are scheduled to rent a car to go to the Perito Moreno Glacier . The day after is a 3 hour drive across Patagonia to El Chalten for 2 nights . There are NO gas stations for 3 hours , so we will be praying all the way . Leave El Chalten back to the El Calafate Airport for our return flight to B.A  at 1400 . Hopefully arrive B.A. at 1700 for 1 night . Leave B. A. the next morning at 0800 for MIA  and arrive @ 1500 . Catch the Brightline train to West Palm Beach where hopefully meet our oldest Grandson for the ride home . There , we hope to catch our breath !!

 

 This trip reminds me of one of my favorite songs in1965 from high school . In fact we almost borrowed ( I believe the new expression is Sampled  ) the title of the song to call our thread . This is the 1st version I heard of the song a year before Dione Warwick made it a standard . But I still like the Billy J.Kramer version best .

 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by scubacruiserx2