Friday, March 22,
2019
The ship did not leave until about 6:00 PM so we wandered
off to another part of town (“Puerto Madero”) for a light lunch. Back on board,
we joined Lyn and Tony for a Bon Voyage drink on the fantail. The ship left
port a few minutes late.
We like our ship (the “Zaandam”). Its “only” about 60,000
tons so about 40% smaller than the Norwegian Line ships we have recently
cruised. I suspect its also a bit older – maybe launched in 2000 Which seems to
make it feel a bit less huge and a bit more gracious? It really is beautifully
finished and cared for. Plus, our cabin is about 1/3 bigger than our cabins on
the Norwegians, with a big bed, a desk, a couch and lots of storage. (I still
do not have a decent photo of the ship.)
Since we boarded in Buenos Aires, I expected a majority of
the passengers to be Latin – not so. Mostly English, European and a sprinkling
of Americans and Australians.
Friday night we accepted a “mixed” table and we ended up
with 2 Americans, 2 Pommies, 2 Australians and 2 Australian-Americans (us). It
was fun.
Saturday March 23,
2019
We docked in Montevideo at 8 AM. The River Plate was totally
calm and very brown, and there was absolutely no feeling of motion at dinner or
during the night. I am sure that will change over the next week or so.
After breakfast we walked into the “old town” and discovered
it was not only old but also shabby. I have some photos but if I had been
paying Kodak for film I might have put the camera away. There was a small
unimpressive memorial to the Graf Spee. (When we leave this afternoon I hope to
spot the wreck, but no one seems to know were it is.
After walking 10K steps we did find some good wifi and we
were able to “face time” Kylie and Audrey. Lunch back on the boat. Deidre is
having a snooze and I am catching up on the blog. So much for Montevideo.
I now plan to walk back into town to the wifi bar and upload
these notes into the blog.
 |
| Range Finder from the Graf Spee |
Sunday March 24, 2019
I slept like a log. When we woke the ship was moving around
a bit, nothing serious, but as the day wore on the southerly wind built up to
about 30 kts. The seas built accordingly and I was happy that we were not in
Tide Hiker. The captain announced that the seas would get worse before they got
better, and he was right! Deidre took a seasick prevention pill and I sucked on
some ginger candy.
By mid afternoon it was pretty rough. The dance performance
scheduled for that evening was cancelled and replaced with a “multi instrument”
two man show. The promenade was open but hard to walk on. We spent most of the
afternoon dozing in our cabin. The captain announced he was slowing down the
ship and e might be late arriving at Port Stanley
We had dinner in the main dining room that is located in the
stern on the 4th deck. It was a bit bumpy, occasionally we had to
grab our water glasses. I cannot imagine cooking with this amount of movement.
Every now and again the ship hit a wave awkwardly and there would be a big bang
and the whole place shook.
We went to the 8 PM “multiple instrument show” and it was
decent. The theatre is in the bow and the bow was obviously moving up and down
a lot all the time. The two performers were in their 50’s or 60’s and had a
tough time holding on, standing with their lets spread-eagled to avoid falling.
In the circumstances they did very well.
We were in bed before 10 PM.
Monday March 25th
We woke to sunny skies and calmer seas. We ate a bit, walked
a bit, read a bit, slept a bit. ….
The captain said that because of the storm we were running a
bit late.
We had dinner and went to the 8 PM show and it was good.
Port Stanley tomorrow.
Tuesday March 26th,
2019
The Falkland Islands were in sight when we woke up. They
appeared just as expected – lowish and wind swept. I seem to remember that we
were told there is two “major” islands and about 700 “other” islands. The ship
approached Port Stanley along a very sheltered inlet, and dropped anchor with
Port Stanley in sight, but “one bay over”. Apparently, we were a bit big to
enter the actual port, although we watched as a fairly large freighter exited
that bay. The day’s weather was “very good” for the area – about 50 degrees,
some sun and about 25 kts of wind. “Just like a summer day in Hobart” according
to Lyn.
We had our breakfast and obtained tickets for the launch at
about 9:10 AM. Then we sat around and waited for two hours (!) before we
actually loaded. The ship had dropped its 5 “tenders” to move the guests
ashore. Each tender carried about 60 people. I do not understand why it all
took so long.
The town also appeared as expected – lowish and wind swept,
but tidy enough. We had been offered a selection of very expensive “penguin
tours” but we declined – we have seen penguins before and preferred to keep the
$500 in our pockets for maybe a beer and lunch in an English pub.
But first Lyn, Tony and I went for a walk. After an hour or
so in the wind we gave up and headed back into town (also against the wind) and
headed for one of the pubs where we planned to meet Deidre. We found two pubs
and they were both as u inspirational as each other. Both had the same two meal
choices – “fish and chips” or “chips and fish”. The same tired joke in both
places. We made our choices and regretted it shortly thereafter.
Back on the boat by 5PM and dinner and the 8 PM show, which
was good. Please remind you to tell you the joke about the three young snakes
that were sent to hiss in Mrs. Potts snake pit, because I remember when Mrs. Potts
did not have a pit to hiss in!
Wednesday, March 27th,
2019
Sea day today. This evening the ship enters the Magellan
Straights, but in the dark a bit before midnight. Tomorrow we visit Punta Arenas, located in the Straight.
The port does not seem that interesting, but I do hope to take my laptop ashore
and have a chance to load this onto the blog and send a few emails and texts.
Its amazing how time just slides by on these sea days. One
way of thinking of it is as
breakfast-reading-morning-tea-walking-lunch-walking-coffee-reading-dinner-show
and bed. However, I am managing to get my steps every day by walking a few laps
on the 3rd deck promenade each day. But as we go south its getting
colder and requires more rugging-up, although the captain is telling us its
still “mild”.
We really like the ship. The facilities, decoration and
service are all excellent. The food is good quality and abundant. The hardest
task we have is not overeating. The biggest negative with the ship is the wine
and spirits pricing - beer is about $10 a glass and the least expensive bottle
of wine about $35, which is preposterous. I just will not pay prices like that
and this will end up sober for two weeks. I think they are shooting themselves
in the foot because in my observation, very few are partaking.
Today we enjoyed a Q&A with the Captain, and that was
entertaining. Tonight the “singers and dancers” are putting on a rock and roll
show.
Thursday March 28,
2019
When we got up the ship was parked on a dock paralleling the
shore, with a substantial city in the near distance. Our immediate view was
stacks of containers. The city center was a few miles away so we took a taxi.
On the drive into town the city looked neat enough, and the
downtown garden/square was also pleasant and cared for. There was not much to
see, the usual statues and a few modest colonial type buildings. We wandered
around a bit aimlessly but found a coffee shop with wifi, and we were able to
get on line and catch up on emails and discover that Collingwood had won the
first match of the season. All good.
We had heard of a “maritime museum” with a replica of
Magellan’s ship so we found a cab and headed back towards the water. The
“maritime museum” was a bit shoddy but did have full size replicas of the Nao
Victoria and Darwin’s ship the Beagle. We had seen better.
Back on our ship for lunch and a snooze.
The Captain interrupted dinner. Very stern voice. “I am
sorry to tell you that there is bad weather coming. This region can expect
Hurricane force winds in the next two days. The winds will be 80 MPH and
probably gust up to 100 MPH in the narrow fiords on the western side. We have
to avoid the ocean and the fiords on western side. Sorry that we will miss Ushuala, Cape Horn,
Canal Samiento, the glacier fiords and etc. My message will now be repeated in
German, Spanish and Japanese. (This is when I new he was serious – all
announcements to this point had been exclusively in English.) I will give you a
new report tomorrow at 10:00 AM”
The ship left the dock on time at about 7:00PM and headed
south. Its now 10:50 PM and in the last few minutes we have turned 180 degrees
and now heading north. We are in a wide section of the straights, so now I am
thinking that maybe we will be doing race track circles all night. What would
Tide Hiker do?
Friday March 29, 2019
In fact, Zaandan did racetrack circles all night, and we
slept well. After breakfast just about the whole complement of passengers
attended the special captains briefing at 10 AM in the main theatre. Standing
room only
The Captain is popular with the passengers, amazing how that
happens for some people. He explained that the winds were 80 to 100 MPH in the
fiords on the other side of the mountains and at the Cape, exactly where we had
planned to visit. So, he had decided to stay put during the night and head
north in the fiords today. With the extra time and to compensate for missing
the Cape and the Beagle channel etc, we would approach a tide level Glacier
Saturday morning, a few hundred miles north of our present location. We would
venture out into the Pacific at about 4 PM today, but by then the worst of the
weather would be south of us, and then be back in the protection of the fiords
by nightfall.
We followed the Magellan Straights North West for most of
the day and reached the Pacific as expected, and it got a bit rough for a few
hours, but not as bad as the afternoon heading to the Falklands. By dinner time
we were back in the fiords, generally headed north.
Saturday March 30,
2019
Deidre and I left our curtains open so that the sun would
wake us in the AM. Dawn was expected at about 8:10 AM. Quite late when compared
to the east coast at the same latitude. We were up and warmly dressed by 8 AM
and on the forward deck as we approached the glacier. The glacier was “OK”.,
but having seen images of glaciers in books and TV, being there in person was a
bit of a “ho hum” moment. What was impressive was taking such a big ship into
such a narrow waterway.
We spent the rest of the day traversing the fiords,
generally headed north. Its pretty rugged and deserted territory, not much to
see in the way of wild life or civilization, but certainly interesting. There
seem to be hundreds of islands, channels and peninsulas.
Sunday March 31, 2019
Another day at sea, mostly in the fiords, occasionally
popping out into the Pacific and then back into the fiords, still basically
heading north. The weather is overcast and cool, but not freezing. Since we are
just a few days into autumn/fall, I guess that this area is rather cold in the dead
of winter.
Today we passed north thru the “Darwin Channel”. Not really
any different than any other channel, but we did see some more wild life –
seals and whales. We seem to have plenty of time, the ship is just ambling
along at 10-12 Knots
Monday April 1, 2019
When we woke up the ship was approaching the city of Castro in
a river-like fiord. The captain had explained last night that the last few
miles to Castro was so narrow and twisting that he would delay the ships
approach to the city so that he was navigating the last few miles in daylight.
Tony and Lynn commented that the area reminded them of the Huon river in
Tasmania.
The city looked interesting from the ship so we were in the
line for tender passes straight after breakfast. Once ashore we headed around
the coast road on foot. Sadly, the place looked in better shape from the ship. After
a mile or so, Deidre and I “bailed out” and decided to catch a bus “up the
hill” into the city proper. The fare was 400 Pesos, about 60 cents.
We wandered around the downtown area - typical for the area
– banks and shops and a few government buildings around a garden square. I was
keen to find internet access and we ended up in a café offering coffee and
internet. We only had about $10 in Pesos, so we were a bit limited, but managed
a couple of lattes and a piece of cake and 30 minutes online. Sadly, I forgot
to upload the latest blog entries.
Back outside we wandered back to the waterfront via a craft
market, but with basically zero cash it did not take long until we were back on
the ship for lunch. The ship is quite a palace compared to this rather sad
town.
Tuesday April 2, 2019
We were up early – in the dark - this port (Porto Demott) we
planned to rent a car and max our time on shore! There was two volcanos, a
pretty lake to circumnavigate and some touristy towns to check out. Lyn and
Tony met us for breakfast at about 7:45 AM and we picked up our tender tickets
as soon as they were announced at about 8:15 AM.
Then the waiting started – again! I don’t get it – what is
the issue with the tenders? They have 5 in the water, each can take about 80
people, so the first cycle would total about 400 people! Maybe one cycle takes
about 45 minutes, so by 9:00 AM 800 people should be on shore or on their way?
At about 10 AM I called the front desk and complained. The lady said that the
waves were slowing them down. Looking out the window it was calm as a millpond.
I just don’t get the problem and expressed my point of view. (The tender
service was as issue at Stanley, but since there was nothing to miss in
Stanley, there was no great disappointment. But we had big plans for today!)
We eventually arrived onshore by about 11AM and after
walking from one end of town to the other, we had our rental car by 12 Noon,
about 2 hours later than planned. Porto Demott was bigger than we expected and
quite a busy place. We were soon out of town – I was driving and Tony was
navigating- , heading for Fruteller – “Fruit-loops” for short. We had no local
currency so step one was to find a bank in Fruit-loops and get some Pesos.
We stopped for a bite of lunch in Fruit-loops on the lake,
settled by the Germans 100 years ago and struggling to look like a German
village. Tony and I asked for a small beer and a huge mug of beer was provided.
After lunch we headed off around the lake towards the first
volcano, and ran into some sort of road works on the dirt road. About then we
realized that our plans were dashed and we needed to head back or face the risk
of missing the boat. So much for plan A.
Tomorrow is our last day on the boat. It is a beautiful and
well-run boat, but I have developed two strong negative opinions:
1.
The price
of beer and wine: A single beer costs a bit over $US10 and the cheapest
bottle of wine about $US35. Those prices are not just expensive, they are a rip
off. I will not cruise again with Holland America and be ripped off.
2.
The
tender service: Everything on the ship seems to run like clockwork. The
food is good and hot, the staff are friendly and efficient, the Captain is
charming, we really like our cabin and the ship looks like new. What’s with the
tender service?
The captain said we would be back in the Pacific by about 11
PM, and we have started to roll, right on time.
Wednesday April 3, 2019
Wednesday April 3, 2019
Day at sea. Fair well champagne with Lyn and Tony. We would
arrive in port tomorrow morning. We needed to get packed and place our bags outside
the cabin by midnight.
