EmmJays Travel Journal

March 2003

Our journey in Chile continued after a three day stay in Valparaisso. The ship left at 8pm, March 1^st. There were no sports activities on this ship. We attended lectures everyday we were at sea. The ships outdoor pool was approximately 12' x 12' and could accommodate about 6 people, all standing. It was not meant for swimming. As we approached the Antarctic the weather had become cold and the pool was emptied. We still had cocktails on deck and everyone was very chatty.

Our evening dinner table included a man from the USA ,who was on some sort of religious pilgrimage, a guy who told us he was gay and his travel companion, a lady who was not gay. Margaret did not like the religious guy and spent most of her time talking to the gay guy. Caroline kept to herself and I got stuck with the religious guy. One morning at breakfast I was approached by the guy whom we had shared our taxi with in Panama. He asked me if I would join him for breakfast. I did and he was very nice. He was a retired college football coach and his name was Glenn. When Margaret and Caroline came down for breakfast I introduced Glenn to them, and it turned out that Margaret's husband used to teach at the same university that Glenn was the football coach. They had mutual friends.

Puerto Montt, Chile

We had one day in Puerto Montt. We spent the morning exploring the port, the Naval Academy and the town square. It was a quaint town with a large fish market. We took a train from the port to a local beach, walked around the beach for a while then took the train back to the port. Back on the ship we heard that Margaret's friend, Paul had been robbed that day. When the ship left the port at 7pm we were headed for the Patagonia Channels and the Magellan Straits. Hundreds of glaciers line the coast of Chile. We sailed through these waters for four days. The captain took us right into an inlet so we could get an up close look at a huge glacier. The water was calm as mist ran parallel to its surface. The glacier and the surrounding mountains were reflected in the water. It was fantastic.

Punta Arenas, Chile

The port offered us a shopping day. We walked to the craft markets about ½ mile away and spent the day looking through the merchandise. Everything was hand made and nothing had 'made in china' on the tag. In fact, there were no tags. There were some good bargains to be had here. At the end of the day we just made it back to the ship with 10 minutes to spare.

Ushuaia, Argentina

The ship was now headed to the city of Ushuaia, Argentina. This city is on the southern most tip of South America. We sailed into the bay at 2pm that day and everyone was on deck. The homes were small and spread out. Our travel club was in charge of our destiny today. They had booked 3 motor coaches to take us to Tierra del Fuego Park. It is the only park in Argentina that includes both sea and mountains. It has forests, bays, lakes, rivers, lagoons, peaks and glaciers. En route to the park we passed Mount Susana, the Pipo River Valley and the Southern Fuegian Railway where stood a replica of an old train, used by prisoners to transport wood into town. We saw a beaver building a dam and the park ranger told us that the beaver came from Quebec, Canada and he wished it would go home. He considered it a pest.

After a full day at the park the coaches took us up into the mountains to a fabulous restaurant where we had a sea food feast overlooking the Bay. The evening came to an end at 9pm and we had to return to the ship. It was a wonderful evening and everyone really enjoyed it.

The ship left port at about 10pm and we headed for our cabin for a good nights sleep. In the morning we would be sailing around Cape Horn, Chile. Yes, it is Chile not Argentina...we were not sailing in reverse gear. In our lecture on ports-of-call we were told that the Cape Horn crossing could be very rough. It had a reputation as a graveyard for mariners. Hundreds of ships had sunk trying to make this crossing, as the seas are like the Roaring Forties in the Southern Ocean , they can envelope a ship very quickly. As we sailed passed the Horn everyone lined the decks ... the sea was like glass!

A full day at sea followed as we headed east toward the Falkland Islands. The ownership of this group of islands is still in dispute. Argentina and Great Britain went to war over it twice. Nobody won.

Port Stanley, Falklands

The ship pulled into a Bay and dropped anchor. It then lowered its tenders and we all boarded them for the 20 minute scoot over the Bay to Port Stanley. Margaret and Caroline were seated behind me and I was seated next to the retired US Ambassador to Iraq. We chatted all the way to the port. We decided that we would walk along the main road to see what there was to be seen.

We saw a few homes squat to the ground with small garden plots. The surroundings looked bleak. One of the residents stopped to talk and we asked her where the Magellan Penguins were as we wanted to see them. She pointed and we started walking. About 15 minutes into our walk the resident pulled up along side of us in her SUV and said she would drive us to the penguin colony. We walked through the colony and we saw baby penguins in burrows all over the place. Some of the adults were swimming out at sea and others were walking up the cliff edge from the beach.

Having seen the penguins were started walking back to the town. We stopped by a sign in front of a very nice beach that read 'Swimmers beware of unexploded mines'. Now that gave us pause for thought! We carefully removed ourselves from the area and continued our walk. At the port we took a look in the shops until it was time to leave. The ship had moved a bit due to the incoming tide and the waves had picked up some height in the Bay. It was a wet ride but we all arrived safely on board.

Puerto Madryn, Argentina

A full day at sea and we met up with Glenn again. Margaret had some time to talk to him about old times. We were also taking Greek language lessons on the ship. It was very difficult so we later switched to Spanish lessons. At least we got to use what we had learned when we needed it.

We docked at Puerto Madryn at 6am and Laura had arranged two taxis for us. We piled in and we were off to the seals reserve of Punta Loma, three hours away. We passed a lot of Al Pacas and Llamas on the way and I think Laura took a picture of everyone of them. We reached a museum about one hour later and toured it for about 45 minutes.

The drive took us to the coast where we all piled out and headed for the cliff edge. There were elephant seals on the entire stretch of the beach. This is a breeding beach for these sea goers and there were a lot of tiny seals in clear view. The males were snorting at each other and every now and again a fight would break out. It was an incredible sight. We made our way down onto the sand keeping a respectful distance between us and the seals. We spent just over one hour taking in this amazing sight before it was time to leave. A couple of red foxes approached us as we were about to get into our taxis and one of the drivers said that they were tame and were looking for a treat. I had some walnuts and the driver offered them to the foxes. They were now only about 2' away from us. It was a 12 hour day trip in total and one of the best ever.

Montevideo, Uruguay

A full day at sea and more lectures. Our guest speaker this time was Tom Carpenter, one of the Apollo astronauts. He was the one who had to sit in the capsule while the other two walked on the moon. He talked about space exploration and why it is important to civilians and the military alike. The mission to the moon resulted in the MRI, fuel injection systems and many other beneficial technologies.

Montevideo is a beautiful city. It benefits from a mild climate and clear skies. It has charm that blends colonial with modern times. Margaret, Caroline and I took a bus into town and checked out an antique market for a few hours. I returned to the ship early as I had an upset stomach. A lot of people had the flu on the ship and it looked as though I was next. I spent the rest of the day on the ship.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

We had three days in Buenos Aires but I had the flu big time and spent the entire time on the ship. Margaret and Caroline went to a night club to see theTango Dancers. They enjoyed the experience.

Punta del Este, Uruguay

I had overcome the flu and was ready to explore again when we pulled into Punta del Este, Uruguay. This was a really pretty place. We strolled from the ship through some beautifully manicured streets to the beach. There was a giant sculpture of a hand reaching out through the sand toward the sky. We investigated then took our shoes off and walked the beach. In the afternoon we headed into town and did some shopping. Most of our shopping is browsing otherwise we would have to buy extra suitcases to take stuff home with us. The ship was scheduled to leave at 7pm, so we were back on board by 5pm and headed for happy hour. Our little group of friends had already gathered so we joined them.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The following day we were in Rio. Caroline now had the flu and it hit her very hard. We took her to see the ships doctor and he confined her to the cabin until she recovered. She was to be there for three days. Margaret had no symptoms and Caroline told us to go enjoy the day on shore. We set her up with crossword puzzles and crackers before we left.

We took a bus to Ipanema beach where Margaret purchased a lovely watch from Sterns. Sterns took us over to some plush chairs and served us a very strong drink while they completed the sale. The sales lady asked us what we were going to do while in Rio and we told her that we wanted to see the famous beaches first. She told us that we could leave our valuables at Sterns while we were on the beach if we wanted to. We did, and made our way to the beach. We took off our shoes and walked Ipanema and Copacabana on the wet sand. Several hours later we walked back to Sterns and they located our stuff and then called us a cab that took us back to the ship.

The following day Margaret and I went to the Botanical Gardens for a few hours then we took a cab through the down town area, then out of town and onto the suburbs. We got a good look at Rio. On our last day in Rio we went back into town and browsed through the shops on the main drag. We walked for hours, bought nothing but thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Salvador, Brazil

We sailed into Salvador da Bahia, Brazil at 6am. As we watched from the window in our cabin we could see a church, then another church, then another ... there must have been at least two churches every thirty meters. The barrios covered the sides of hills for miles. Once the gangplank had been lowered we met up with Laura and Norm and we headed out to the old town of Praca da Se. We visited the Sao Francisco Church, built over the course of 40 years beginning in 1597 and the Cathedral originally built in 1572. It was opulent as all Catholic churches are. We spent time looking at all the gold sculptures and ornately carved chapels. We then drove down to see the beaches which were quite lovely. We had lunch in a small town and took a round about route back to the ship in the afternoon.

We had drinks by the pool at the back of the ship before dinner. The ship left port at 8pm.

Fortaleza, Brazil

We had a full day at sea prior to arriving in Fortaleza. Our Spanish lessons were coming along and the lectures on Politics were also very good. Fortaleza is a very interesting place. It has a giant market that is packed with interesting merchandise and an old town that is very interesting to explore. Laura negotiated a van for the day and we started by climbing up a narrow winding street to the old town. He stopped at the top of the hill and everyone dispersed to explore the square. After an hour or so we were back in the van and headed out of town. The trip took us to a local crafts arcade that was multi- storey. Caroline was still recovering so she had not joined us. We spent hours here then the driver drove us back to the port. Margaret and I got out at the huge market and the others continued on back to the ship. We spent a few hours just browsing then walked back to the dock to be on board by 6pm.

Belem, Brazil

We were now headed for the mouth of the Amazon River. We would have three days to explore the Amazon up close and personal. Caroline was feeling better and she was getting cabin fever so we had to free her. The ship spent two full days in the Amazon and then docked at Belem. First we boarded a motor coach which took us to a river boat. The boat had two levels so we three clamored up to the second level. We chugged across a huge expanse of water for about an hour heading for Combu Island.

We reached Santa Maria do Acara where we embarked on a jungle walk. The guide pointed out the regional flora, local plant usage, animal life and tropical fruits. We passed a lot of very large spiders on the way and the jungle floor was very wet and slippery. We then walked down to the waters edge where we got into flat bottomed river boats that took us further up the Amazon. We passed several homes that were built out over the water. They were shanty in style and everyone had a few small fishing boats tied up to a wooden post. The children waved to us as we passed and we waved back. Our river tour took several hours before we were returned to the first boat that took us all back to where we started. We had a delicious meal at a restaurant right on the water. After supper we were driven back to the ship.

Devils Island, French Guyana

The captain successfully anchored the ship and we transferred to tenders for a day on Devils Island. This was my second visit to the island and I basically did the same thing I did last time ... enjoyed it.

Barbados, West Indies

The following day we sailed into Barbados, British West Indies. We were pretty pooped out so we decided to just enjoy the shops at the port for the day. It was a warm day and it allowed us a rest period.

Martinique, French West Indies

Laura had hired a van and we were all ready to see this beautiful Island. Our driver took us high into the mountains where we stopped at a beautiful waterfall to take pictures. The homes were exquisite and the tropical glowers were exploding with colour. Our driver took us to the base of Mount Pelee to a little village called Morne Rouge. This village had been totally destroyed when the volcano erupted in 1902. There was a festival getting underway in the town so the driver took us there as our last stop.

St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

The month of March had ended, and the final stop on our trip was to be on April Fools Day in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. We took a taxi to one of their famed beaches and enjoyed the warmth of the air and water. Having spent several hours swimming and walking the beach we packed up and returned to the port. The port is a duty free port so we checked out all the shops for the remainder of the day. The ship bid this beautiful island farewell at 2:30pm.

The greek for good-bye is Ahdeeo.