Pros/cons for Nov/Dec sailings to SA?

[edinburgher]

Did you sail in Nov or Dec?

 

We are looking at sailings for Valparaiso to Rio or reverse, or Valparaiso to Buenos Aires or reverse, and although the "season" for SA runs through to March, we noticed that some sailings run from approx mid November.

 

Are the mid/late Nov or early Dec sailings too early for this routing? If so, why? Or ar they preferable to the March sailings? I already read about the February sailings for penguin sightings but cant find any info on Nov?Dec.

[robinpow]

I haven't done it, but have (am) doing my homework on the same subject.

 

I just did the Valparaiso to Miami, and got a bit of info from the crew.

 

Nov. is early season, and the tourist season isn't really going yet. (TOO COLD)

 

I have found that while the ship isn't offering any penguin tours, you can book private local tours. Pisa Tours out of Ushuaia, takes small groups (max 13 people), three times a day to see the penguins.

 

The later you go, the more you will see, not to mention the warmer it will be. However the price is much higher too.

[Aussie Gal]

South America has summer the same time as we do here in Australia so November is still spring and the weather can be very changeable.

 

If you want to go at that time of the year I would choose December as it is starting to get a little warmer.

 

We went at the beginning of January and Rio, B.A. and Montevideo were warm but once we started going south, it became a lot cooler and when we were in Ushuaia we needed jackets to keep warm. We went to Antarctica as well but gather you are not doing that particular cruise.

 

Punta Arenas was wet and very cool, jackets again but Puerto Montt was just divine with lovely sunny blue skies and temperature around 20C (70F). We were told by our guide that it had rained every day until the day we arrived, so we were just lucky.

 

Valpariso and Santiago will be warmer again. The weather in that part of the world is very changeable, especially near Cape Horn so it is just luck if you happen to have good weather.

 

Hope this helps with your decision making. By the way in January we saw thousands of penguins at Otway Bay near Punta Arenas.

 

Jennie

[Wotan758]

I haven't done it, but have (am) doing my homework on the same subject.

 

I just did the Valparaiso to Miami, and got a bit of info from the crew.

 

Nov. is early season, and the tourist season isn't really going yet. (TOO COLD)

 

I have found that while the ship isn't offering any penguin tours, you can book private local tours. Pisa Tours out of Ushuaia, takes small groups (max 13 people), three times a day to see the penguins.

 

The later you go, the more you will see, not to mention the warmer it will be. However the price is much higher too.

 

In a cruise from Rio to Valparaizo, we called at Puerto Mandryn, in the Argentinian Patagonia. From the pier we booked a private tour, in a small van shared with 2 other couples. We went to a National Reserve, very far from the pier were we could see thousands of penguins and other marine animals. The tour lasted about 6/7 hours! The ship: Mercury (Celebrity).

 

In another cruise (Costa) we called at Falklands and we went in tour to see penguins, but not so many as in Puerto Mandryn.

 

We called at Ushuaia on 3 occasions and never saw at penguin tour!

 

NCL cruises call at Puerto Mandryn. Also Costa.

[edinburgher]

Thank you all.

 

No replies came in for some time so we went ahead and booked..........for early March. With HAL.:)

[greatam]

You will likely miss most of the penguins. They are generally born in mid/late October, leave the nests in early December and must learn everything they need to survive in the next three months. The colonies usually go back to sea in late Feb/very early March.

[edinburgher]

Thanks for the advice, but it was more for other species and actual weather conditions that we were thinking about Nov?Dec.

 

There is a penguin colony here in Edinburgh at Edinburgh zoo and we have seen them often over the years. Certainly not as many as in S America, but in sufficient varieties and numbers to satisfy our curiosity.

 

The words "Edinburgh" and "penguins" dont usually spring to mind, :D but if anyone is visiting Edinburgh any time in the future and wants to see some, heres some info.

 

 

http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/SnippetAccess.aspx?id=216&pid=24&letter=P

 

and

 

 

Edinburgh’s long association with penguins owes its origins to the involvement of the Society’s first president, Lord Salvesen, a law lord related to the family who owned the Leith whaling fleet of the South Georgia Whaling Company. Today a relationship between a conservation zoo and whalers would surely be unthinkable, but for the young zoo the whalers provided a rare supply of wildlife from the Southern oceans—among them a seemingly endless quantity of penguins. The first six arrived in 1914, and were met without any great enthusiasm from Gillespic, who was far more interested in the elephant seals that accompanied them. But as more penguins arrived every year, so it became clear that these animals thrived in the mild Scottish climate. Over eight hundred penguins were brought to the city by Salvesens over the years, for Edinburgh and for other zoos, and at one time or another the zoo has had representatives of almost every penguin species, including the first Adelie penguins ever seen in Europe and the first New Zealand ‘fairy’ blue. In the 1950s a came an incident now preserved in folklore. A keeper accidentally left open a gate to the penguin pool, and was followed by a parade of penguins all around the zoo. It was the start of Edinburgh’s now famous ‘Penguin Parade’, an event still enjoyed not only by visitors every summer afternoon, but clearly also by the two thirds of the zoo’s 120 or so penguins who choose to join in.

[Trainer]

I've been the Edinburgh zoo several times. The parade always is a riot to watch. The zoo is very nice and the people in Edinburgh, as all over Scotland, are very friendly and kind to us "Yanks." Edinburgh is one of my favorite cities in the world! You will probably get as close, or closer, than in the wild!

[croftonbill]

sorry i did not get to you earlier but the celebrity infinity on dec 9th.2007 is currently 1000 dollars cheaper than november or january!!buenos aires to valparaiso.

[croozin ASAP]

I cannot find any listing for pisa tours. Does anyone have a website or email address?

Thanks,