Up close to an iceberg from our veranda.

CRUISIING ANTARCTIC WATERS-NATURE'S WONDERLAND ALL AROUND-SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2011

Penquins swimming.
View from our veranda.
Small dots are penquins.
View.
DECEPTION ISLAND IN ABOVE PHOTO.
Today we cruised by Deception Island, transited "Iceberg Alley"(the Antarctic Sound) and Hope Bay. Two million King Penguins call Antarctica home and Chinstrap Penquins live on Deception Island. There are seals in these waters as well.

Dinner @ Silk Road w/ Susie & Don Campbell- the lecturer)

The Campbells with the Campbells @ Silk Road
Don and Susie Campbell

Saturday, January 29, 2011. WOW!!!!!!
Icebergs.
More icebergs.
Men and women from Palmer Station.
Spectacular scenery.

CRUISING ANTARCTIC WATERS-SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2011

We arrived at Palmer Station @ 9:00 AM and scientists from the United Stated Antarctic Research Program (USARP) arrived in their Zodiacs and came aboard and presented a talk followed by a Q&A session. They were young, dedicated and enthusiastic about their time in the South Pole. They left the ship after lunch with boxes of fresh fruit (and Heiniken Beer) from Crystal in their Zodiacs. There were 13 in all and from the USA.
The views from the ship were spectacular and the sea has been very calm.

CRUISING ANTARCTICA-THE SEVENTH CONTINENT-FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2011.

Reception will be spotty for the next 5 days while we cruise the ANTARCTICA, so you may not hear from me for while. We will be seeing penguins, albatross, fur seals, and humpback whales!! Photos will follow when I am able.

Our hostess Susan Tanzman at the Wine Tasting.
FIN- End of the World wine. (Merlot)
Snacks provided.
Nancy and Don.
Our wine expert at the Restaurant Gustino.
The ship that Darwin set out from England on in 1831 to chart South America. The 22 year old naturalist's main focus of the journey later became the Galapagos Islands.
Don, outside the Prison Museum with a "friend".
Legendary Jail at the end of the World, the symbol of Ushuaia's colonization.
View from above the city.
Nancy and Don in the Tierro del Fuego National Park.
The town of Ushuaia.
Flower garden in town. The flowers only bloom for one month (January) and then it is too cold. January in Antarctica is summer.
Scene from the port looking at the town.
The yacht "OCTOPUS" which was in our harbour and belongs to Peter Allen (co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates). It was really huge and as big as a commercial cruise ship!

We had a fabulous day in Ushuaia, the city at the bottom of the World. It reminded me of a Colorado mountain town and is my favorite port city so far. The city population is 64,000 and as the world's southernmost town, lies on the triangular-shaped island of Tierra del Fuego. Its steep streets overlook the green watera of the Beagle Channel, named after the ship on which Charles Darwin (Origin of the Species) sailed in 1832. We went on an Ensemble Experience with our umbrella travel company and toured the area. Ushuaia was founded in the late 1800's as a penal colony for Argentina's most dangerous criminals. The legendary Jail at the End of the World was constructed in 1902 and continued until 1920. It was closed in 1947 and today it is a museum that shows the life of the inmates. Next was a visit to the End of the World Museum which housed a collection of exhibits relating to the first settlements of the area, the expeditions, the shipwrecks and the origins of the first men to venture into populating these latitudes.
Last was a wine tasting at the Restaurant Gustino where we tasted some of the unique grapes which are grown in some of the southernmost wineries on earth!

Passing Cape Horn.
This is the place where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans meet at the bottom of the world!!!
This monument, located on a hill on Cape Horn, is for the sailors who lost their lives crossing it.
You have to look closely at the photo to see the albatross in the center(cut out). Quite emotional.

CAPE HORN-WEDNESDAY EVENING @ 8:30 PM

We passed Cape Horn at 8:30 PM and had spectacular weather and were able to stand outside and take photos. It marks the exact point at which two oceans join, but there is a third force at work. The water surrounding Antarctica, sometimes referred to as the Southern Ocean, has its own current. At this latitude, there is no land to block the ocean current as it swirls around the polar region. It was a beautiful sight, and I am glad that we had the opportunity to see this unique landmark.

Spectacular glaciers are the region's most popular entities.
Nancy on the top deck enjoying the scenery!
The atmosphere among the fjords here is at once peculiar and primitive.
We have a lecturer on board named Don Campbell! His talk was "Around the Horn-Land of Fire"
At times, one almost expects to see dinosaurs emerge from the eerie mist along the shore.

CRUISING CAPE HORN AND THE BEAGLE CHANNEL-WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2011.

The land down at the end of the world is like Alaska, northern Siberia or Greenland in many ways. As we navigate the passages at the tip of South America we will view magnificent scenery. European explorer Ferdinand Magellan named much of the area. He is even credited with the name Paatagonia: Spanish for "large feet" and refers to the bulky foot coverings worn by indigenous people further north. He arrived in 1520 after having sailed for one year from Spain.

Fabulous furniture.
Solarium.
Mrs. Sara Braun-Jose Nogueira's widow.
Street scene.
Club de la Union-around the Main Square. The Palace was declared a National Monument in 1982 and is considered a real treasure of the architecture in the Austral Patagonia. It was the first expression of architecture made in brick and the construction took 4 years.
Photos from Don's Whale Sanctuary.
200 seals on the bank on Don's adventure.

PUNTA ARENAS, CHILE: AT THE END OF THE EARTH

The windswept city of Punta Arenas is one of the world's most southerly. It lies virtually suspended on the tip of Chile at the boundary of the famous 300-mile-long Strait of Magellan just across the water's edge from Tierra del Fuego, or the " land of fires." This legendary strait was named for the famous Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan who is acknowledged by historians as the first explorer to sail these uncharted waters. The city's relative importance in the world is due to its strategic location. Punta Arenas is almost directly half way between the Atlantic and the Pacific as it washes through the Magellan Strait. The city is home to only150,000 citizens, approximately. Nearly one-third of the people residing in the area are immigrants from Yugoslavia. When the Panama Canal was opened in 1914 ships no longer needed to sail around the Horn, crossing instead through the Panama Canal. Punta Arenas lost virtually all its sea traffic and her business community felt a terrible loss.

Don is the adventurer and taking a helicopter journey to the Humpback Whale Sanctuary. He flew to Carlos III Island on the helicopter with 3 other Crystal shipmates and from there set off in search of wildlife on board an open-air, semi-rigid, inflatable boat known as a Zodiac.

I, on the other hand, took a shuttle bus to the city and explored there. A stop at the Union Club was interesting as it was once the palace of a local personality named Sara Braun. It depicts the European Belle Epoque style. Back to the ship in time for lunch!!

Llamas seen from window of the restaurant where Don had lunch.
His tour was mountains, lakes & waterfall. (This must be one of those.)
Definitely a waterfall!
Don=A happy traveler!

Our first course-cerviche (raw fish marinated in lemon juice) Octupus etc. and who knows what!
Chef Richard preparing our lunch in his restaurant kitchen.
View of the garden of the German farmhouse where we purchased fresh produce. Beautiful!!

Fisherman preparing our Chilean sea bass that he caught that morning. Pacific Ocean in background.
Another fish being prepared. You can see our ship in the background. Probably the freshest fish I have ever eaten!.