to get it back in order-Oops
While getting from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas last night we had to
sail out into the Pacific for a short while. This happened about
12:30 AM and the reason I know this is because we had scary
seas. I kept feeling the boat drop and then rise quickly with numerous
THUMPS occurring during this time. People I spoke to today talked
about being terrified and one lady mentioned she grabbed her rosary
and prayed. Caro slept through it. Ha ha.
Today the port sea was extremely rough. We went on the tender to
shore about 9:30 AM. As our tender was attempting to line up with
the disembarkation platform the back end got smashed into some
of the deck structure and broke a plexiglass window right beside a
passengers head. Yikes. About an hour or so later the captain stopped
any tenders from going to shore so many people missed their penguin
sanctuary tours. The plane to Antarctica made it out and their tender
was the last returning. We know this because while watching the
tenders come in we were talking to an Aussie and she mentioned
her husband was on that tour ($C4000 a ticket-too rich for us). As
we found out the next day, unbeknown to the Aussie lady the
Antarctica trip was cancelled due to bad weather and instead they
went to Torres del Paine. Too bad for those who went on this cruise
just for that particular side trip.
In Punta Arenas we took a 2 hour free walking tour (you paid a
tip of whatever you thought it was worth ). The tour was OK but merely “OK”.
Next we toured a natural history museum which was interesting
After a stop at a chocolateria for wonderful hot chocolate for me and
coffee for Caro we grabbed a cab and took it out of town a short
ways to a museum that had replicas of several important ships including
Magellan’s ship, The Beagle of Charles Darwin fame, and the most
important for me, a replica of Shackleton’s lifeboat he took to South Georgia
Island in his heroic quest to save the rest of his crew on Elephant Island.
It was a great place to see but getting back to the city was a little hairy as
there were no cabs around and we had to walk about ½ kilometer to a
main road to flag one down.
Replica of Magellan's ship Noa Victoria
Last stop was the mansion of a very rich lady from the turn of the
20th century. The house took four years to build using European
craftsmen and was absolutely stunning inside. Beautiful woodwork.
A thing that was very important for me to learn was the Shackleton
was at that very house to get assistance for rescuing his crew left
behind on Elephant Island. Too Cool!
Caro beside a replica of the boat that Shackleton and five others sailed across 800 miles of hellish water from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island. Incredible!
In this house Shackleton came to get help to pick up his men stranded on Elephant Island
We had a light supper late at night after watching one of the regular
ships singers perform. She was awesome and she mentioned she
has sung at Royal Albert Hall in front of 11000 people. The singers and
dancers on this cruise really are good (as is usual on all of our cruises)
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