Cruise Around Cape Horn

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To celebrate turning 70, I fulfilled a long-time dream November, 2010, to cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso in Chile via Patagonia. This trip took us via Montevideo then onto Port Stanley, Falkland Islands. The main population here seem to be members of the British garrison and English sheep farmers. You would have to be a hardy soul to survive the harsh climate. As one person said re the war in the Falklands. "It was like two bald men fighting over a comb."

From the Falklands we cruised down to Cape Horn. Luckily we were on the sheltered side and you could have water skied if you could guarantee not falling off. We experienced everything from overcast clouds, to sunshine to a shower of snow - so I had to run out onto the open deck to experience it all.

Then it was on to Ushuaia and through the Beagle Channel. This channel was like cruising through an avenue of glaciers many of which tumbled right into the sea. It was great having a naturalist on board who gave informative lectures before we reached each place and a running commentary as we cruised past areas of great interest.

As we entered the Pacific Ocean about 2 a.m. we were woken up by the huge seas of the Pacific Ocean - the Pacific certainly was not living up to its name on this occasion. After entering the calm waters of the Straits of Magellan we arrived at Punta Arenas. From here we did a tour to a penguin colony. While it was quite cold, the temps were affected even more by the strong southerly wind which was blowing my woollen scarf at right angles to my body. There is an avenue of trees in the main street of Punta Arenas and they all grow in a perfect line at 45 degrees to the ground.

Then it was up through the Chilean Fjords to Puerto Mont which we found to be very similar to NZ - fertile fruit growing area (complete with troublesome gorse) with a backdrop of snowy mountains and beautiful lakes.

Finally our ship cruised into Valparaiso which is the seaside playground particularly for residents of Santiago, the capital of Chile.

Having cruised in may parts of the world I felt that I left Buenos Aires a tourist but arrived in Valparaiso as a traveller. It was the most interesting cruise I had ever done.

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