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  Punta Arenas, Patagonia, Chile
Sunday, May 11, 2008

The ship was pure luxury. Amazing. This cruise was not aimed at backpackers and there was only a couple of others on there. Our cabin was like a hotel room with a massive window. The decks were plush, the food was great and the bar was free. What more could you ask for? There were a lot of pretty rich people on there, one guy invited us to come to his island that he manages in the Bahamas, others jingled with jewellery as they walked around. Everyone I spoke to was good fun though. There was also a big crowd of Mexicans that sang at every opportunity, mad people. It turned out that Lluis is a linguistics lecturer, very useful for the old Espaņol!    

The first morning we were woken up early and were in the zodiacs by 7am for a landing at Cape Horn. The weather was incredibly calm, a lot of the time you cant land there because its too dangerous but today the water was like glass. Thereīs a massive statue of an albatross just next to the Cape in memory of the estimated 10,000 sailors and 800 ships which have been wrecked while trying to pass it. Windy as hell up there and very strange to be at the southern tip of the world. Next stop Antartica! Thereīs a family who stay on the Cape and keep the lighthouse going but it has not been as significant as a shipping route since the Panama Canal was built.  

Every time I got in the zodiacs I got excited, it felt like I was in the Life Aquatic... quite sad, I know. We got back on board for breakfast and found our beds had already been made. They were made at least twice every day...quality service I tell you! We spent the afternoon on our way to Wulaia Bay and saw whales spouting and swimming under the ship. We disembarked again for a quick hike and a nature tour thingy (we also had various lectures every day on the local ecology, geography and peoples) and had some dolphins following the boat on our way towards land. We finished it up with a whiskey on the beach on the several thousand year old rocks which were taken from a glacier that we were due to see the next day.   

The next day we woke up in some really narrow fjords with amazing scenery. The wind on deck soon blew away the cobwebs caused by abusing the free bar and it also snowed quite a bit. We passed out of the fjords late in the morning and spent about an hour in the open water of the Pacific. Man that was pretty rough but really great fun. Took loads of pictures of the storms coming in as we bounced on the waves and all our possessions landed on the floors of our cabins. Unluckily for a couple of American guys that meant 20 bottles of beer smashed all over all of their clothes. Maybe they didnt understand the concept of "free bar". Also nearly lost my camera overboard as the strap went flying over my head and I took a knock against the side of the ship. I went down to the bridge later to check out how strong the swell was (because I had never experienced anything like it). Apparently it was only force 6 out of 12. Good man Beaufort... a Navan man he was!  

When we left the Pacific we were again in the narrow fjords. The ship parked up once more and we got back into the zodiacs again to go up a very narrow fjord to see a couple of glaciers - Nena and Pilot. In fairness as we approached the Nena glacier it didnt look too impressive, not as big as the one in Ushuaia anyway. We then rounded a corner and there was the other massive glacier hanging over the water. It was incredibly blue and really really high.    

The different boats had a shouting competition to see who could knock off some ice. The Mexicans sang. We managed to knock off a couple of decent sized lumps and our zodiac driver picked up a few big pieces and put them in the boat to top up the bar. We were greeted back on the boat with hot chocolate and whiskey. Mmm tasty.   I thought that it would be a relaxing few days, but with the early mornings, late nights and Lluisīs snoring I didnt get much rest. The only thing that got me up in time for the visit to the sea lion colony the next morning was the chance to get back in the zodiacs.

When we finally got to Punta Arenas in Chile I had decided that I would check out there duty free area to see if I could get a cheap digital SLR as I seemed to be flying through the film and it was proving both expensive and difficult to find more. I wandered around bleary eyed for a few hours but could only find one old Canon model which wasnīt exactly a bargain and I was too tired and hungover to make a decision so decided to leave it to move on to Puerto Natales to prepare for my big trek in Torres del Paine. 

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