The second half of the trip sailed by as quickly as the first, sadly. We stayed inside the islands and had days of cruising and lots and lots of watching glacier after glacier go by.
| Date | Day | Destination | Miles | Total |
| 10/26 | Sat | Torres del Paine National Park | ||
| 10/27 | Sun | @ Sea (Bernal Clacier) | 53 | 1504 |
| 10/28 | Mon | @ Sea (Garibaldi / Pia Glacier) | 346 | 1850 |
| 10/29 | Tues | Cape Horn | 126 | 1976 |
| 10/30 | Wed | Puerto Williams / Ushuaia | 100 | 2076 |
| 10/31 | Thurs | Ushuaia / Buenos Aires |
We were aboard the ship from Saturday night to Tuesday morning, when we went ashore at Cape Horn. Then it was overnight to Puerto Williams and one final short hop to Ushuaia, where we spent the last night aboard at the dock. Much of this last week’s itinerary was adjusted due to weather, but that is to be expected in this part of the world. We were actually extremely lucky during that time with warm sunny spring weather.
The week began with the event I was looking forward to the most – a hike in Torres del Paine National Park! What we learned was that Paine is not a Spanish word, it’s a word in the original aboriginal language that means Blue. The lakes were stunningly blue from the glacial silt, and the mountains were rugged and towering, just as the name of the park suggested they would be.
It was a two hour drive each way from the dock to the park where we hiked. We stopped at several viewpoints for pretty pictures of the Patagonian countryside. This is the Rio Paine where we stopped to take pix and started feeling the wind that was going to become our biggest challenge for the hike.
The trail that we hiked was about and hour each way and on relatively flat ground and a nice solid path. But the wind blew hard, probably in the 30 to 40 miles per hour range. It was against us going up, and mostly at our back coming back down. It was cold, but not freezing. What we learned is that the wind blows in Torres del Paine all summer. This spring time visit was actually a better time of year because the wind was not as strong as it typically is in the summer.
It was a fantastic day for a hike, and we were grateful the rain held off and the wind conditions weren’t so bad the park rangers had to close the trail.
The next day they had open house and we got a tour of the bridge. The Captain is Norweigan, and has worked for Hurtigruten for 40 years. As expected this is an impressive setup with monitors all around. There are three Chilean pilots onboard who work 4 hours on / 8 hours off shifts. I know the Chilean Navy is very active with vessels cruising in their waters, and it was interesting talking to the pilot. We also learned that yes, the boat does have a button to hold it in place, the technology is called Dynamic Positioning. It’s actually better for the boat if they don’t have to hang off an anchor, and safer for the crew and passengers when they can position the loading of the tenders on the lee side of the boat.
We made a mid day stop at Bernal Glacier where we got to go ashore and walk to the foot of the glacier. It was the beginning of many glaciers we would see during the next two days.
They provided muck boots, hiking poles and expedition rain jackets. We used the big 12 person zodiacs and went ashore for a short walk.
The next morning we woke up to the sound of bergy bits hitting the hull of the ship. They were very big bits, and much thicker than what was expected. We were trying to get to Garibaldi Glacier, but it was not meant to be.
The captain got as close as he could and held the boat in position for 5 minutes, then we backed out of the canal. Never fear, though, there was another gorgeous glacier an hour away up another channel.
Unfortunately I had a small cold so I didn’t get in the zodiac for that trip. There was no shoreline to walk, and the weather was warm and sunny enough for a day on the balcony just watching.
Tuesday morning the captain changed course and we headed to Cape Horn. Apparently there is a one in ten chance the weather will be good enough for a stop and shore side visit, and we got very lucky that day.
It was a bit rough climbing in and out of the zodiac, but the shore team worked hard to keep us all safe.
I had always hoped we would sail by and see this from the decks of Yohelah, but that’s not going to happen now. It was one of the highlights of this trip for me to get to see this in person.
We stopped in Puerto Williams for a walk, but I was too preoccupied to enjoy the day. Instead I went back aboard to deal with Expedia/VRBO because the upcoming hotel in Buenos Aires was being non responsive. Hector was about to get on a plane from Seattle to join us for the weekend and I needed to sort out the hotel situation. It turned out that VRBO was exceptionally helpful and while our resulting place was far from the charming spot we had originally booked, it was in the right neighborhood and it worked.
We went to Argentina the last night and the boat docked in Ushuaia, along with three other expedition ships. This is the main port for Antarctica cruises, and where this ship will be based for the rest of the southern hemisphere summer, taking cruises into the Southern Ocean. We poked around Ushuaia and then headed for a charter flight to Buenos Aires.
I have uploaded pictures for this trip, but not had time to add comments. The pix are here for all of Chile. And they are here for Patagonia and the cruise.
