Scenic Cruising the Chilean Fjords

As compensation for missing Punta Arena, they took us to see a couple of glaciers, the Skua and the Pio XI. It is nice they did something.

Here is what happened back in Punta Arenas: The ship was supposed to leave at 3:00pm, but it did not. As we were watching over the rail in very pleasant conditions, an announcement was made that the winds in the channel were too high for safe passage, so they were going to wait for the winds to slow. At 9:00 pm they announced that the stop in Punta Arenas was canceled because we would arrive too late and the weather forecast was very bad.

At 9:20, I stepped out on the balcony and saw an ambulance and some cars at the gangway. Some passengers got into the cars with their luggage and the whole group of ambulance and cars drove back toward town at slow speed with flashing lights. Immediately, we cast off and went down the channel at 14 knots, which is much slower than the regular cruising speed of 21 knots. There is no wind, so why are they going so slowly? I think they could have gotten to Punta Arenas nearly on time if they had kicked it up.

The ship did go to Punta Arenas and arrived about noon in lovely weather. That was “too late” to allow passengers ashore. It was a tender port and we were scheduled to leave at 3:30 pm. It would have taken until 2:00 to get everyone off the ship and another two hours to get everyone back on.. Some ships business was conducted – entry permission, exchange of performers, and the return of a ship's photographer who went cross country from Buenos Aires taking video, perhaps for future commercials. Then we headed down the Strait of Magellan toward our next stop. We were compensated $20.00 each for the lost port call.

Instead of Punta Arenas we cruised the fjords and looked at glaciers and stunning scenery. We had planned another tour to see penguins in Punta Arenas, but we already saw LOTS of penguins at Puerto Madryn. We probably enjoyed the sightseeing more than if we had made our port stop. The weather was perfect at the Skua Glacier but so foggy at the Pius the 11 that no pictures turned out very well.

At supper the ship suddenly began to list quite sharply. I think about 10 degrees, maybe more. Ten degrees is a lot. Things were falling everywhere. We had been hit by a sudden 70 knot wind coming at us sideways down one of the glacial valleys. It was exciting, but it as over very soon.

Later in the middle of the night something woke me up and I decided to step out on the balcony to take a look. Libby yelled at me, “Don't open that door.” Why is she yelling at me I wondered? I was reaching to open the door when I got the answer. A solid sheet of white spray came blasting by the balcony. We are a hundred feet above the waterline and the bow splash is reaching all the way up here? Wow. “They were bigger a while ago,” she says. Double wow. Today they told us the wind was 90 miles an hour wind pushing the waves up. I can't imagine how an old square rigged sailing ship could have survived. Incredible.

That was happening as we came out of the channel into the open ocean. The plan was to sail up to Puerto Montt by going on the outside through the ocean rather than through the fjords. The 90 mph wind changed their minds. We made an abrupt right turn and found a protected narrow channel that goes a fairly long way, but not all the way. There is a peninsula that blocks the route. We will still have to come out into the open ocean to get north to Puerto Montt.

We have been rocking and rolling all night and day. There are a whole bunch of small low pressure systems lined up like a string of little hurricanes. Inside them, the wind and waves are terrible. In between, the weather is OK. The captain is trying to stay in the gaps between the storms. As I am writing this, about 3 pm, we have come out into the open sea and we are in one of the gaps. The waves are not bad, but the wind is 40 knots and visibility is less than a half mile because of fog. The storms are moving faster than we are, however, so it is a race to see if we can get into the fjord leading to Puerto Montt before the next storm catches us.

This is formal night. I will be wearing my Tux to dinner. I wonder if anyone else will be there. Half the passengers are seasick.