South America 2015: Glaciers and Around Cape Horn!

Oct 29-30- At sea

Cruising along the coast of Southern Chile for a couple of days.
It's very rocky with dense bushes and bogs on hundreds of islands that we cruised through. The second day we woke to a delightful surprise: we cruised into a fiord for a spectacular view of the Bruggen Glacier.We were able to go in very close and sit there for 30 minutes to get some great pictures. This a glacier is actually growing and it comes from an ice field that has remained largely unexplored because of the remoteness.

Oct 31st- We got bad news today. Due to 60-90 knot winds around our next ports of call (hurricane level 4!) we are not allowed to dock in our next 3 locations, 2 near Cape Horn and one in the Falkland Islands. Unpredictable weather is the norm down here at the tip of South america but still it is disappointing. No visit to see Torres Del Paine or Tierra del Fuego. We are missing Puerto Arenas,Ushuaia, Argentina, and the Falklands.

It has been an interesting rock and roll journey so far to get into the Beagle Channel. When we briefly hit open seas instead of the calmer channel waters, we got 30 to 90 foot swells!! Going into the swells for the most part but turning sideways gives us an interesting lean sort of like an airplane banking. We can see islands and rocks protruding all around us which can be unnerving at times as well as the bang when the bow hits a swell just so. We even had blowing snow for a very short time.It is beautiful, a misty, white capped sea with waves crashing on the rocks and islands we are traveling through. I am surprised at how well this ship, the MS Zaandam handles this type of weather. She can turn on a dime as well. It was so rough this morning sitting by the indoor pool in the solarium that we had huge crashing waves in the swimming pool and they had to drain the water out. Last evening they locked all the outdoor doors to the outside decks so we were not allowed out there. I guess it's for our safety. It seems that tomorrow we will still go around Cape Horn and then up the east coast of Argentina to a new port, Puerto Madryn.

Today from 3-5 PM we went through "Glacier Alley". There were 5 glaciers over an hour of cruising. One was so spectacular, a hanging glacier with waterfalls pouring off the bottom over the rocks to the sea below. The last one we couldn't see because of dense fog. They were all very blue and thick. We proceeded up the Beagle channel and then turned south to go towards Isla Horna, or Cape Horn, which is an island at the southernmost point off Chile.

Nov 1st, 2015

We woke at 530 AM and what a historical moment for us as we approached the horn from the north and cruised all the way around the island until we crossed from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic ocean where the Captain blew the horn! We could barely see the Cape marker and the Albatross sculpture that was erected to all the ships and men lost at sea here in the Drake passage. 75 ship wrecks over the years have occurred here because of the rough waters. The wind was strong and howling and the swells were very large. It was very foggy and we could only make out the outline of the island in these treacherous waters. Chuck and I sat in the dining room eating croissants and sticky buns and drinking tea as we circled the island! Only once did my fork slide off the table. Imagine us at at the southern most tip of the South American continent, just 500 nautical miles from Antarctica. I told Chuck that we must be upside down and I hope we don't fall! We are at Latitude 55 south and Longitude 66 west. According to my map we are 7000 miles away from Madi and Izzy! We went out on the deck and took a selfie with my American flag scarf on. Even though this is Chile, I feel like I planted the flag here:))

To top it all off we took the elevator to the top floor and a man got on and asked if we enjoyed the trip so far. I said, "oh yes, did you?" He said "well, I am the Chilean pilot and I got on in Valparaiso (Chile) and drove us down here". Wow, we were shocked and only able to say goodbye before he disappeared back into the bridge. You see when we enter a port, that country will send out a pilot to bring the ship in to dock and back out again. Unbeknownst to us Chile had given us a pilot to drive us all the way through the Fjords, down the coast and around Cape Horn. I think he was off duty now that we were cruising up the Atlantic north to Argentina.

pretty cool, I only wish I had my wits about me to get a picture with him...next time.