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| Punta Arenas would have been a great port of call to visit, but bad weather prevented the necessary use of the tenders. We sailed away. |
“Sightings from the Veranda while Cruising”
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| Tom captured this rainbow when we were in Punta Arenas, Chile. |
A few frustrations popped up this morning. One is due to rough seas; we won’t be able to visit today’s port of call, Punta Arenas, Chile, one we’d very much looked forward to seeing during this cruise.
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| Another view of Tom’s rainbow capture. |
Well, missing the port isn’t so crucial for us when we plan to return to South America for an extended stay in 2019-2020. Thus, we take that in our stride. However, being unable to upload photos is an entirely different scenario altogether.
I’ll continue to try, but if I can’t get them uploaded, we’ll have to post our story for today, adding the photos as soon as we receive a better signal. Since all passengers are staying on board today, they are busy on cellphones, tablets, and computers.
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| A cruise ship, a freighter, and a fishing boat in the harbor in Punta Arenas. |
Plus, many passengers had booked private tours for Punta Arenas and are busy attempting to cancel them to receive refunds for monies they may have paid in advance. That must be frustrating.
In these circumstances, the cruise line automatically reverses all charges for ship-sponsored booked tours without the necessity of passengers heading to the guest relations desk. But, they do not reimburse passengers for any lost funds they cannot recover from private tours.
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| What a pretty city view. |
Hopefully, the tour company operators understand the weather conditions and will refund all monies paid in advance. Nonetheless, it’s quite an inconvenience for those passengers working on that today. Luckily, we hadn’t planned anything specific when we grabbed a taxi for a few-hour tour of the area.
Instead, we’re now leaving Chile to be on our way to Ushuaia, Argentina, for tomorrow’s port of call. Oddly, we’ll be back in Ushuaia on January 23rd, when we fly from Buenos Aires to board the Ponant Antarctica Cruise.
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| View of Punta Arenas from the bow of the ship. |
When we arrive on January 23rd, we won’t have much time in the most southerly city in the world, so we hope to disembark the ship tomorrow and explore on our own.
We’re so fortunate to have this upcoming Antarctica cruise since we’ve been wearing several items we purchased for that cruise to stay warm, especially during these high winds rough seas in the area.
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| A ferry making its way to the port. |
The ship keeps the indoor temperature very cool to control the spread of germs. As a result, most passengers, including us, are bundled up in warm clothing, with many wearing heavy jackets. We haven’t needed to wear our jackets but take advantage of sweaters and nice sweatshirts we have on hand—Safari luck.
Last night, again, we stayed up very late having too much fun! I don’t think I slept for four hours. Tom’s slept a few hours more than I did and is feeling well after his pesky cold subsided.
On the other hand, I may have dodged a bullet by not catching Tom’s cold but today. I feel a bit raggedy. Perhaps a short nap will be on today’s agenda later in the day.
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| As we sailed away from Punta Arenas… |
At the moment, we’re in the Cafe al Bacio doing the usual, writing to all of our worldwide readers while enjoying the delightful conversation that periodically ensues with passengers stopping by to chat.
May you have a great day engaged in delightful conversation!
Photo from one year ago today, December 14, 2016:
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| Last year at this time, we called Pyengana Dairy Company in Tasmania to order ten packages to be shipped to us in Penguin, Tasmania, as a holiday time treat since we don’t eat traditional Christmas baked goods and candies. For more details, please click here. |