Today it rained all day and was windy. The swells and wind along the way last night were the worst they’ve seen in 5 trips- the 5 meter swells came from a different direction from the wind gusts of up to 50 knots/hour.
Because of the weather we did not take any of the planned excursions today. We had presentations and relaxed. After dinner we packed up for our disembarkation tomorrow.
Today we visited the town/village of Caleta Tortel. The village proper doesn’t have any roads and residents walk or bike on boardwalks to get from one place to another.
We continue sailing north towards Messier Channel, and sailed thru the English Narrows.
Lots of rain today, visiting the largest glacier in southern Patagonia and Patagonia Plunge. Guests can jump into the water from the landing platform to experience the Patagonia glacial water. There is a belt/harness that is belted on so you can’t float away. I participated.
Today we went to the beach for the morning excursion. Yep we took the zodiac to a teeny, tiny white, sandy beach in the fjords. It was surrounded by limestone mountains/cliffs. On the way to the beach we saw a limestone open pit mine and southern river otter swimming in the water and running up the hill. It also rained on us.
The mountains here at Isle Madre de Dios are limestone so they look quite different from the mountains we’ve seen before and have sharp edges. They are softer than the other mountains and the rain and water erode the rock to make patterns. The mountains were once covered by glaciers but they have all melted so the land has risen. At the edge where the mountains meet the water there are lines that show the tidal lines from years ago.
In the afternoon, we went on a kayak ride in Canel Conceptcion and we got to see dolphins.
Another day of glaciers but we only visited one glacier today. In the morning we were traveling and had a couple of presentations. In the afternoon we visited Bernal Glacier in Parque Nacional Kawésqar. We got to walk on shore and see all the vegetation and a special thrill- we saw a large bumblebee on the fuchsia flowers. The bumblebee seemed to be extra fuzzy.
More glaciers today after a bit of a rocky ride in the middle of the night that splashed water onto our deck as we just went past the outer edge of the Pacific Ocean. We had a zodiac cruise today to Vergara Glacier which is also named Condor Glacier or Aguilar Glacier. Most of the glaciers have more than one name- some are native, some are common and some are on the map. It’s very confusing to try to mark the route on a map to show the glaciers we visited are since the names don’t necessarily agree with what is listed on our itinerary.
We had gone to the Vergara Glacier on the prior cruise so it was fun to see it a bit later in the season and with different lighting. We took the zodiac and landed on the rocky beach and then were allowed to walk to the glacier and into the forest. Tibor went into the forest but I walked to the glacier. I love having the mud boots so I don’t have to worry about crossing the streams and walking in the mud. On the way back to the zodiac it was fun to see a number of small birds in the forest along the beach. One of them the xx was the focus of a presentation later where they found a new species in a group of islands off of Cape Horn.
In the afternoon we took another zodiac ride to two glaciers- Pupupo and xx. We had just entered the zodiac and left the ship when we were excited to see a humpback whale. It was a beautiful glacier.
We were happy to learn that the conditions were favorable to go on a kayak at the Porter Glacier in Pia Fjord stop. It was a beautiful sunny day with hardly any wind and calm seas. We had a great time kayaking. After we re-boarded the zodiac, it took us to the landing spot where we got out to walk around and see the glacier.
Tibor went to a spot to watch the glacier hoping to see calving but didn’t see any. I hiked up to the lookout spot- the views were amazing. We were both on the last passenger zodiac back. The staff were in the last zodiac.
We had lunch almost immediately after boarding while the ship headed to Garibaldi Glacier.
When we arrived it was still sunny and the seas were relatively calm but the kayak outing was cancelled because of wind. We all went on a zodiac ride thru the broken ice. It was another wonderful outing. While we were on the zodiac, the ship did end up having to more to a slightly more protected area because the wind increased.
When we got back to the ship we had some free time before the end of day briefing and introduction to tomorrow’s activities. Right after the daily briefing it was time for dinner.
We had dinner with two crew members. Crew members are allowed to have lunch/dinner with the guests. It’s up to them if they want to or not.
We could tell as soon as we left the fjords and headed out to the Pacific side of the fjords because the waves and ship motion increased.
Another late morning and breakfast at the hotel. We packed up our bags and stored them at the reception area since we had to checkout by 10am and could not board the ship until 3pm.
We found some nice comfortable chairs in the downstairs lobby and worked on our photos. About 1pm we went out for lunch at a little place Tibor found yesterday on his walk. We had to be back in time for Tibor to get his massage at 2pm.
A little before 3pm we hauled our bags over to the check-in station. We were allowed to check in between 3pm and 4pm. All they did was to check our passport name against a list of passengers to verify we were on the ship. Then we had to haul our bags all the way down to the end of the pier- what a pain. It was very windy and my duffel bag kept falling off my rolling bag and I ended up carrying it. Then I had to stop and change hands/sides a couple of times before we (finally) got to the ramp to board the ship. At this point, the company collected the bags to delivery them to our cabin! Sure wish they could have collected them before we had to walk down the entire pier.
We have a very nice room with a tiny balcony. I love the balcony. We are on a lower deck and are relatively close to the water and have great views out the cabin windows. If we see something we want to photograph, we can just open the door to our balcony and have a clear view.
We did our safety drill, listened to a welcome message, had a captions cocktail, late dinner and then met for our Kayak Safety Briefing. There are 20 spots available for Kayakers and about 15 people had signed up. They broke us up into two groups. If the conditions are good at each stop, one group can go kayaking. The groups then rotate. We have 8 people in our group. The safety briefing was a bit scary because it listed all the things that could go wrong. Many folks had lots of kayaking experience and I have very little.
Here’s how a kayaking excursion would go:
Dinner is plated and you select what you want from a menu. Breakfast and lunch are buffet.
Another day to sleep in and have a late breakfast. Tibor went off to go for a walk/hike. My throat was sore so I stayed at the hotel although I did go out to get some souvenirs and lunch and Tibor brought home pastries.
We slept in today and had breakfast at the hotel. It was a delicious breakfast. After breakfast we took our clothes to the laundromat. It was a blend of self-service and full-service. There were three washers and three dryers. We were directed to put our clothes in the washer, select the temperature and press start. The owner would move the clothes to the dryer. He said come back in an hour and a half and pick up the dried clothes. We took them out of the dryer and brought them back to the hotel.
We worked on photos for a bit in the morning, had a delicious lunch of Chilean King Crab and watched soccer in the evening.
