We're now cruising up the inland waterways of Chile, from the far south, up to Valparaiso. We traced very much of this route during our previous cruise here (2003). After our exhilarating time in Antarctica, we headed back to the real world. It took us two days to cross the Drake Passage back to southern Chile. Despite its fearsome reputation, the Passage was mild-mannered. Kathy took the time to sort and crop the 1500+ pictures she had taken to date. Imagine, in our little, luggage-ladin cabin, if that was 1500 4x6 prints.

We rounded Cape Horn at 3am – no, we didn't get up to see it (it was dark then, for some reason) and entered the Beagle Channel, a stunning passage amidst the islands that make up the bottom of South America (photo above).

To celebrate our return from Antarctica, a “red parka party” was held, with every one donning their gear for one last time. There was a contest for the “best wellies” (i.e. boots).

We had to clear Chilean customers at Puerto Williams, the southernmost outpost in the South America. It's mainly a Chilean military outpost, though there are some families that live there. We didn't get to go ashore – it would have been interesting, but our time there was too short.

We continued through the fjords of Southern Chile. Unusually, the weather was bright and sunny, with temperatures at times in the 60s and even 70s. They were quite stunning, even jaded as we were from the spectacular sights of Antarctica. The fjords are actually the top of a submerged mountain range, their sides lined with sheer cliffs that jutted thousands of feet into the sky. Though often the sides were no more than a mile apart, the water was over 1000 feet deep. There were numerous glaciers along the way, and many waterfalls.

Side Trip

We were treated to an unexpected “port visit” one afternoon – we sidetracked from the main passage, going down a side fjord that had a magnificent glacier at the end. We were taken in Zodiacs to a long beach that faced the glacier and were given the afternoon to do some climbing around (an interesting experience when wearing tall, heavy rubber boots) and explore the weathered flora that survives in this cold and wet climate. There were a lot of small bergy bits broken off the glacier, and we grabbed one to fulfill a goal of ours – to savor a gin & tonic, cooled by glacial ice. One must follow one's dreams.

Later, we put on our swimsuits and got into a hot tub on the back deck of the ship, watching from the steaming, bubbling water as we sailed away from the glacier.

Landing on beach	Tall Grass, Taller Glacier	Hot babe, Hot Water, Cold Ice

After a few days, we made it to Punta Arenas, a once-major port and the only city on the island of Tierra del Fuego (at the base of Chile). Punta Arenas has seen its fortunes decline since the opening of the Panama Canal. It was dark, gloomy and rainy all day. We'd seen the sights when we visited there a few years ago – We found much needed laundry services, a supermarket (rum, gin, soft drinks...) and an internet cafe cum coffee shop. "I'll have the hour of internet, and a cafe cortado por favor". It was cold and rainy all day, and since we'd already been to Pt Arenas, performing these "chores" seemed a rather good use of our time.

Onward

The weather had been getting steadily warmer as we headed north – it was fun to see how people reacted. Some continued to wear their red Antarctic parkas, some wore shorts, and some wore both parka AND shorts. We continued northward through the Fjords for another few days, stopping next at Puerto Montt. As with our previous port, we'd been here before and seen the sights. We took the chance to update our website, pick up more odds and ends for the cabin, and do a minor death march. <photos TBS> That's the penultimate stop on this segment of the cruise, at Valparaiso (the final stop) the majority of passengers will disembark, and we'll get a new set of "kids" to play with.

For our group (booked through TravlTips), there are 52 people on for the whole (104 day) cruise already, and we're told 4 more will join us in Valparaiso.

Meanwhile, the lecture series onboard has switched from glacial geology to medicine, with an slant toward on elder care. Interesting enough, but less "topical" than the many geology / biology / ornithology lectures we'd take in during the previous cruise segment. Did you know penguins had knees?

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