A few days from steamy Brazil!!!

                                          John Deere harvesters at Rio Grande and dancers doing  a show for us.

Well we’re back in the tropics and the weather is just like home hot and humid although we have had no rain.Since we left Rio Grande we have ben to Porto Bello, Santos, and Iiha Grande, we don’t get to Rio until Friday 24th.

Porto Bello was fun we tendered ashore and caught a cable car from the beach at Camboriu over a rain forest mountain and down to the beach at Laranjeiras where you’ve never seen wall to wall people. It was impossible to see the beach as there were literally hundreds of beach umbrellas, (see pic.) and thousands of people. It was unbelievable.

We visited  Santos the port for Sao Paulo (21 mill) where we did a highlights of the City.

Umm it’s not the prettiest place on earth obviously because it is very Industrial, however we went to an aquarium (yuk) and then went to the Santos Football Club stadium and Museum. Santos is one of the worlds best soccer teams, it was quite an eye opener for a non soccer fan. Josh would have loved it! WE finished up at the Coffee museum a former palace (1922) which was where they trade coffee, it was quite interesting although the guide was very hard to understand. There was a  trading floor where the coffee beans were auctioned and some lovely stained glass and murals.  

We visited a little island called Iiha Grande only 150 kms. to Rio but very much like the Whitsunday's, trees right down to the sea. There were no excursions so we went ashore by tender and spent about an hour there, it was hot, but quite pleasant with heaps of young tourists. It is Carnival time in Brazil and we were unaware that each City or Town all have there own carnival, we saw lots of floats at Santos yesterday. It finishes  today Tuesday, they certainly know how to enjoy themselves in Brazil.

Some very choice real estate in Santos taken from our cabin balcony! Nice place!!!!!!!!!!!

Well were now into our 46th day and still no sign of homesickness, it makes life easier when you have free internet and Gloria has been able to ring her mother  every few days. everyday is a new day, we have met many people and its is a lovely ship, the girth is slightly larger not too bad, but there will be some heavy dieting on our return!!!!

The duo on the way from BA back to Montevideo, Punta de Este and Rio Grande Brazil

This is a short video of the Devil's Throat Fall. Very amateurish but was very exciting.

Well after all the excitement of the Iguazu Falls, we left BA to go back to Montevideo where we took an excursion provided by our agent and saw a different side of Montevideo than we saw on the previous visit. We saw the best beaches so far, some very nice real estate and had the fortune to visit the famous Solis Theartre built in 1856 with features we have never seen before, magnificent chandeliers, the individual boxes the patrons use and the colours were amazing. We then travelled to a vineyard where we tasted some lovely Uruguayan wine, had a lovely lunch and drank some more wine. We were then entertained by a couple of Tango dancers, Tony was selected to have a dance with the lady guess it was an experience. yesterday we spent the day in a tourist resort called Punta de Este a very minor version of the Sunshine Coast, lots of nice beaches, some huge mansions where many of the rich Brazilians come for their summer vacations. Visited an art gallery which is not our normal vocation, but the artwork was something special, we thoroughly enjoyed it. Amongst the art were two gardens of bronze statues see the photo of 2 little girls but there would have been 50 more of different poses.
Today we are in our first Brazilian City, Rio Grande, we were told it is not so nice, more of a stopover to get through the formal immigration approvals, apparently Brazil is very strict and if it is left to do in Rio de Janeiro the delay can be anything up to 8 hours. We've chosen to stay aboard, we are still recovering from the falls visit and with another sea day tomorrow we should be ready to "go to Rio" in a few days.

                                                    Tony and the tango Dancer in Montevideo.

                                                A crazy bridge in Punta de Este

                                               Bronze statues in the gardens of the art gallery
                                                2 little kids feeding a squirrel.

                                          Statues of the hand on the beach in Punta de Este

Day two of the adventure to the Iguazu Falls

Early rise and 8.30 am start by walking from the Hotel about one and half km. to catch the ecological train to the beginning of a 1.5 km. catwalk that takes you over all the Iguazu River and tributaries to where it crashes over at Devil’s Throat. The walk is flat and easy to do except on the way back hordes of people had decided that they would go there too. From the top of the falls you can look back to see the Sheraton in exactly the reverse we saw when we arrived the day before.

There have been many highlights of the Iguazu Falls and if you had to choose going under the falls and this event watching the torrents of water crashing over at Devil’s Throat these had to be the two best.

After maneuvering back across the catwalk, we then caught the train back to do what is known as the Upper Circuit another catwalk that takes you to all the different smaller falls that we saw on our way down to catch the rubber ducky the day before. Each of them were very spectacular. We arrived back at the Hotel in time to shower,change have another lunch and then off to the airport to catch the plane back to Buenos Aires.

No dramas this time, plane on time and then back to the ship by 6.30pm. Luckily the Captain had agreed to hold the ship from a 5pm departure until we got back. What an adventure, thoroughly exhausted, tired but so pleased 20 of us were able to see this magnificent wonder of this amazing world. 

A strange happening on the way to the Iguazu Falls Argentina

Maybe you didn’t read about it at home, but we have a local paper to prove it, with pictures and a two page spread about our happenings on the way to the falls.

Our 2 day trip to Iguazu Falls commenced early at 6.45 am Monday when we assembled to go to the Domestic Airport at Buenos Aires to fly to Iguazu. A quick trip to the airport to find out the plane was delayed three quarters of an hour, exactly the same as the 4 flights to the other destinations taken so far to Quito and Machu Picchu. That‘s okay, so we board the plane and set off taxiing to the runway. Almost get there and Bang a very major thump, everyone looks at each other “what was that”! Soon after the Captain comes on to inform us that another plane has crashed into us as it was taxiing to the terminal after landing. Well the upshot to that was, back to the terminal, the flight was cancelled and we spent another 2 hours waiting for another flight. Meantime some of the group decided that they would prefer to go back to the ship, so 9 of them had a barney with the guide and then off they went.

We eventually landed at Iguazu at 3.30 pm, 4hours late and checked into the Sheraton at the falls and immediately saw what was to amaze us for the next day. This magnificent sight of water crashing down into the river. Every room in the hotel has a view of the Devils Throat,  the largest and most ferocious of the 200 odd falls we were to see.

We were told we would see everything we came for, just juggled around a bit.

The first excitement came when we walked from the hotel about a kilometer to about 300 steps that led us down to the river viewing numerous large waterfalls where we caught a large rubber ducky (40 pax) to view them from river level.

We knew we were going to get wet as the boat gets close to the falls and the spray, but we weren’t aware that we would go underneath Devil’s Throat with the full force of the falls on top of us TWICE. What excitement everyone screaming, laughing and drowned. (they gave us rubber bags to put our belongings and cameras etc so they wouldn’t get wet).

Oh, how fabulous, we then went off down a large number of rapids about 8 kms. to then climb back up another set of stairs to get on a open back truck where we drove back to the Hotel through a rain forest. By this time it was about 6.30 enough time to shower and change and then have a magnificent dinner. What a day!!!! Oh not sure we can continue onto tomorrow because all this will become boring to read. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!!!!!! More piccies too!!!!!

Montevideo Uruguay and Buenos Aires Argentina

We had a delightful day in Montevideo Uruguay yesterday, the town or the City should say of over 1.5 million people. The port is located right in Town so we had no excursion, took a map and conducted our own walking tour. The map gave several alternatives so we did them all in the old City. It is very nice, lots of colonial architecture and easy to walk. Our first visit was to the Port Market where there must have been over 20 restaurants all with a different type of Barbecue than we saw in Ushuaia, this time the fire was set on top and the coals slid under a mesh grill where all the food is cooked. Food selection, tripe, sheep intestines, liver, beef lots of sausages, we were quoted a price of $40 for a feed that would have served about 4. we chose not to accept.

 There were lots of parks and gardens and the theme for Uruguay is the Tango so there are lots of bars that encourage this dance. Last night we had another barbecue on the deck and it was the best night we’ve had possibly, tons of food, but the band played all night and everyone got into the spirit, dancing and singing. Good clean entertainment. We had a lovely sun set that topped it off.

Our cruise director Ray.

We left port late for a very short cruise to Buenos Aires and this is where we spend 3 days, but we are off to the Iguazu Falls for 2 of them. Its a 2 hour flight and we leave very early at 6.40 am. No parties tonight and also this segment ends here, so a lot of passengers are leaving the ship.

Today we did a 4 hour excursion of the highlights of BA for short. It’s a huge City 14 mill. so we only touched the surface. We had a few stops at Government House where Evita was filmed. Won’t go into the history most of you would know more of this ex President of Argentina than we would. The highlight was going to La Boca, a vibrant working class neighborhood where you don’t go by yourself or at night, Here it retains it’s early Italian heritage and there are lots of multi coloured house and restaurants made of corregated roofing iron amidst cobblestone streets. Tons of markets all selling paintings of the area and many couples dancing the Tango, plenty of singers and bands. Very colourful and busy as there are 3 ships in port also. We then drove through the upmarket part of the City some really beautiful parks and gardens, saw some really nice homes, many french styled some Italian. Its a beautiful City, pity we won’t see as much as we would like because of our visit to the falls, but you can’t see everything in such a short time. We also visited the mausoleum at the Cemetery of Evita, not as good as we had seen previously, but nice.

Well thats a little of what we have seen, the weather has been hot the past 2 days, sunny and 30 degrees. Tomorrow is another experience, more to come,

Have some really cool pics. but have no hope of getting them posted, I'll send them in a few days when I can get a good IT reception. GRRRR

Arriving in Montevideo after a day at sea.

Yesterday was a day at sea and not much to report, but we arrive in Montevideo soon and will be going ashore to walk town.

We come back here after we visit Buenos Aires where we will be there for 3 days and also a visit to the Iguazu Falls all very exciting. 

Thought you might be interested in some fact about our ship so included this below.

Regent's innovative, no-compromise-for-quality

approach in luxury cruising even extends to Seven

Seas Mariner’s engineering systems.

Instead of normal propeller shafts, Seven Seas

Mariner utilizes the latest Azipod Mermaid

propulsion system, a wonder of 21st-century

marine technology. This configuration utilizes two

self-contained propulsion pods located on the

underside of the ship, which are able to rotate

360° in any given direction. With a 20ft propeller

attached to each pod, the ship can literally turn on a

dime and navigate quite precisely in tight quarters,

almost entirely eliminating the need for tugs.

This unique electrical system produces a much

quieter operation than conventional propellers

with increased power efficiency and reduced fuel

consumption and environmental pollution. From the

Navigational Bridge, electronic course waypoints

are received from the GPS (Global Positioning

Satellite system), which sends commands to the

automatic pilot, again supplying corrective signals

to either pod. In the stabilizers electronic system,

a vertical gyroscope detects changes in pitch or

roll, along with the bridge gyroscope detecting

changes in heading. The electrical plant and main

switchboard produces 30,000 KW of electricity

from four diesel generators and from here it is

diverted to the electric propulsion system and

partially transformed and distributed all over the

vessel, converting it along the way into 440 volts,

220 volts, and 110 volts in order to feed power to

every appliance on board, including your in-suite

hairdryer.

Each diesel generator provides the same

horsepower as 100 standard automobiles and

combined they burn 115 metric tons of heavy fuel

oil per day to maintain cruising speed. Hundreds of

tons of seawater are pumped into two evaporators

and condensed to create 600 metric tons of fresh

water per day. Some 400 cubic meters are used

as drinking water but most are used for flushing,

boiling and washing.

In a closed loop, water is chilled to 8°C and

circulated throughout the air conditioning system

to create an ambient temperature of 23°C (73°F)

throughout the vessel. Black water and waste water

are treated on board using our state-of-the-art

Membrane Bio Reactor advanced treatment system

to become discharged as white water 12-miles from

shore in the open sea. Such a complex system of

engineering is just part of the experience of when

luxury goes exploring.

Some photos from the last few days

Magnificent Glacier along the Avenue of Glaiers. We saw 3 that day.

Ushuaia a beautiful town the end of the world.

Cooking lamb on the bar b que To die for.

Beautiful Lake in Ushuaia.

The result of the Barby!!!!!!

A small portion of what we saw at Port Stanley Fawkland Islands!

Gloria sending post card to  Mother with friend beside her in Ushuaia.
And making the liqueur coffee(please note the different bottles of Liqueur).

Well we survived the trip back from Fawkland Is. amidst some of the roughest seas we have had to handle, at one stage Captain advised winds at 125 knots. Bloody rough! Today we are in Puerto Madryn just a small town nothing of significance here and we are sailing soon to Montevideo after another sea day tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be kind and sunny. 30 degrees today windy but nice! Cya

Ushuaia - On our way to Falkland Is. and now on the way back - Bugger

Feb 4 - Well as you now know the trip around the Horn was quite ok. There’s a new lighthouse and a family home with 2 kids living there, what a life and one of them a teenager. Would always be cold and windy. Everyone got into the spirit of it plenty of photos etc. Even got a certificate for it.

Feb 5 - Ushuaia - Argentina, the world’s southernmost city with 55,000 pop who import all kinds of parts from all over the world and then assemble them at plants and they may come out as computers, cars, tv’s etc. Then sold.

We drove through the town which is rustic and natural and houses in pastel colors to brighten things up.Drove towards the Pan American Highway towards North side of Island and across the Fuegian Andes, passing forests and Glaciers, which were truly beautiful, plenty of snow about too. Ended up 1500 feet above Escndidi Lake, which was lovely and even better because the sun came out for us. Very picturesque. Stopped on way back for lunch at a restaurant which served us lamb which was cooked in the big gazebo looking room with an open roaring fire. Had about a dozen lambs cooking, very popular place. Served with potatoes and salads, desert and then they made this coffee. Boiled it over an open fire in the huge black teapot and then added some of the coal from the fire, an orange and last of all about 10 different  liqueurs, not just a drop either. Truly nice till you got to the charcoal, was a wonderful experience. Very nice lunch is great setting.

Back into town for a walk about, very chilly but loved the town very quaint and different.

Feb6 - We are at sea today and it is very rough, 50 mph winds and 6 meter seas. Captain says it will probably get worse south of Falkland Islands so holding our breath and hoping it improves. We are having trouble accessing the internet today so not quite sure how we’ll get this posted or when. So far we are handling the conditions okay with the help of wrist bands and Kwells. There is a chance we may not get to land at Port Stanley depends on the seas and winds as we will be anchored and will tender ashore. This Captain is very safety conscious and everyone has faith in his decisions.

Feb7- Well after flogging through very rough seas and winds we arrived at Port Stanley at 6 am. The Captain has tried twice to get the anchor to set, but the bottom is not suitable, so he’s come on the blower to tell us we are on our way back to South America and the next port Puerto Madryn Argentina. Now we’ll flog ourselves back again. Bugger Bugger Bugger, even Prince Willy has not bothered to show his face. What an experience!

We are going around the Horn right now

Yep its as rough as guts force 8 winds 6 meter seas but how exciting!
Well unfortunately we lost internet contact so now we've been round Cape Horn, absolutely amazing experience in such huge seas and winds. We made it! Now we re just arriving in Ushuaia Argentina where the scenery is just post card colour. Will send some pics next time. HAve to get moving its 7.30 am and off on an excursion.

Still in the Fjords and Punto Arenas

Yesterday we had a whole day cruising the Chilean fjords, a never ending array of different channels with towering cliffs and snow covered mountain tops. We saw 2 more Glaciers yesterday, both much different to the one seen previously and each with their own specialty. It’s difficult to explain just how and depending on the day can also change colours etc. 

We also saw a couple of shipwrecks.

We are still not sure what’s happening re our way around the Cape, but we will at least circumnavigate it by sailing down in sheltered waters. We had a medical evacuation yesterday. 

A Chilean navy helicopter dropped in to take a passenger to Hospital and that created quite a bit of interest for several hours. This morning we arrived at Punto Arenas the worlds most Southern City, so now we’ve seen both, the Northern most last July and now the Southern most City. We had lunch with the Cruise Director  and he is quite a comedian, he stated that Punto Arenas is commonly know as the bottom of the world, hence the name Punto Aranus (hope you get the joke as in anus). it is a large City of 120000 people and we took the shuttle into town and explored it. One of the highlights is the cemetery which consists of huge mausoleums ( the photos explain more than I can). 

There are lots of modern buildings, hotel’s and Casino’s and the City is very pretty, tidy and clean! Well tonight and tomorrow are going to be very interesting, we may have to sit tight and we’ll report on our way to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands.We’re off to see Prince William who has arrived just in time.

The Laguna San Rafael Glacier

This morning we anchored at Paso Quesahuen for what could be one of the highlights of our cruise, a journey to the Laguna San Rafael glacier 60 meters tall and the closest glacier in latitude to the equator on earth. We boarded a catamaran that holds 100 passengers and travelled for an hour to this most magnificent sight. The glacier we saw in the Arctic circle paled in significance to this beauty. 

The blues in colour varied immensely and as you can see from the photos from white to pale blue to the deepest blue almost navy. We must have been as close as 50 meters from it and although we didn’t see any growlers (the term when a massive iceberg falls from the glacier) it was amazing! WOW!

We didn’t sail until after 9 as they ran these cat’s all day and not before the Captain told us we would experience some 4 meter waves overnight. He was right we had a rough one! 
Woops he just came on again and told us to expect the same again tonight and depending on it's performance there is an 80 percent chance we won't go around Cape Horn, but through the Beagle Channel. Hold on!!!!!!!1