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!!