Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 8

Reports about cruises on Aurora
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melsea
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Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 8

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Post by melsea »

Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 8

Day 24. The Glaciers. Cold..

31st January Evening Casual.

Amalia Glacier plus another one called Brujo Glacier.

Overnight we had sailed in the Pacific Ocean and then we re entered into the region where we sailed between islands and mountains all around us. We gently sailed towards where the spectacular sight of the Amalia Glacier. We have visited here twice before and on each occasion it has been very cold and cloudy. Today was nowhere near as cold and for the first time we could actually see the top edge of the Glacier as we had partial cloudy skies but still lots of blue sky.
With the skies being blue you could see how the Glacier brimmed of all shades of blue & turquoise. I expect many a photograph was taken here. The ship had been turned so that everyone could get good look at the Glacier from wherever they were, especially those who were on their balconies and those staff who could only look out of those windows that were available to them to see out of. The pilot we had on board also spoke of how lucky we were with the weather. I have been there when the waters around us was full of ice and very low clouds, no such thing this time except what we were looking at was beautiful.
As on my previous two occasions we were granted a special trip to visit another Glacier, this one is called Brujo Glacier. This one is narrower to look at down by the waters edge but as you cast your eyes up and look beyond this one you could see the length of it just going far into the horizon and again the skies were so much clearer and you could see so much more. Last time the who glacier was shrouded in low cloud and it was freezing. I was so pleased to have seen its beauty this time round. There were a few chucks of ice around but not a lot though. Being so far south daylight was with us for a long time. We left the beautiful Brujo Glacier to sail onto our next natural wonder tomorrow.

Day 25. More wonderful Glaciers.

1st February

Pio XI Glacier or rather the regions name for it, Brúggen Glacier, which when we awoke and turned on the television we saw were already there. So I jumped out of bed and put some clothes on, picked up camera and Ipad and went out back and walked towards the front up on deck 14.
Brüggen Glacier, also known as Pío XI Glacier, is in southern Chile and is the largest western outflow from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Now about 66 km in length, it is the longest glacier in the southern hemisphere outside of Antarctica. I looked up that last bit when I eventually got wifi. It is from the look of it wider too, much wider. We did get to see how impressive it was. The conditions were obviously good because they sent out a tender boat with three staff and a photographer, it was the manager who got to go. As they got neared the glacier they got incredibly tiny with the glacier looking like the heights of sky scrapers. You really don't get the measure of scale of it until you put a tender boat near, although having that they didn't get too close in case a piece came away from the glacier. We stayed for a couple of hours and then we sail away through the Chilean Fjords which are beautiful and very peaceful considering we were practically in the middle of nowhere.

Day 26 at sea. Black & White night.

2nd February

Breakfast in a very busy Glass House.
Lunch at the Horizon
Art class, we painted rocks & sunset on water reflexion
Walked around the decks in afternoon.
Saw a number of Albatrosses, especially out the back of the ship, the aft, I was trying to take photos but they moved so quickly it was almost impossible to catch them especially if you use a camera that only has a led screen on the back for you to see from. My camera is such a type, its a bridge one and I was beginning to find out how much I missed a camera with a view finder. I have been taking photographs for about 38 years and so in trying to work out, how do I capture these amazing Albatrosses? I stood and watched them from deck 7 at the aft end and discovered they approached the back in pretty much the same way over and over again. Once I established that I was able to capture them but it was still a challenge.

Evening Entertainment was once again the great performer Jimmy James.

Day 27. Puerto Montt, Chile. 8am - last tender 5.30

3rd February

Bill came out me as we were going to go to the small supermarket we have visited before to get some drinks and nibbles. Once we had done that Bill carried all that we bought back to the ship. He did very well doing that as it was all very heavy. I stayed on shore and made my way down the street to walk around the coast a bit. I ended up walking down the side streets and finding some steps to go higher. When I got to the top I could see Aurora out to sea. The geography of this town is somewhat different to others we have been to as there are a group of hills which go to a peak and then drop back down on the other and go up again. As I walked up and over a hill I came across a main road that had several car dealerships all looking very shiny and then down another street not far it looked so empty with small wooden homes which at the end of it I discovered five shops out of nowhere almost that had the most amazing flowers hanging for their porch like areas and thinking how they looked when I soon realised that in fact they were not homes but florist it was when I looked ahead a bit I found another cemetery that was spread over a hill and on its peak there was a large tree. I walked towards it and had a look round, it dominates this part of the town. While looking around, families were visiting and tending the graves of their love ones.
The weather today was a bit misleading as it looked as though it was going to rain again as it had done this morning. But once ashore and while walking towards the supermarket the weather started to improve. As the day progressed it got very warm and I ended up applying sun cream to my face. I continued my walk by making my way down to shore line but before I got there I visited a store called Ripley and I bought a few things from there, a white bag, a pair of shorts, a skirt and a sleeveless blouse, all for £26. Time was moving on so I started to make my way back by walking along the promenade where the locals were taking photos of themselves with our ship in the background. There were various activities going on, skateboarding, a sort of go-karting ride. In the distance you could see a snow capped mountain which was in fact Calbuco volcano.

Almost at the end of the second Sector which will end at Valparaiso.. This is one place I won't forget.

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Suekersh
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 8

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Post by Suekersh »

Sounds wonderful Mel.

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GillD46
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 8

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Post by GillD46 »

You paint a wonderful picture that allows us to "see" the sights. It sounds amazing.
Gill


cruisin_duo
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 8

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Post by cruisin_duo »

The glaciers sound amazing. Thank you for sharing this with us.

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Dancing Queen
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 8

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Post by Dancing Queen »

Another great read, it certainly does sound amazing.
Jo

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emjay45
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 8

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Post by emjay45 »

A good read melsea, I enjoyed that. :thumbup:

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melsea
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 8

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Post by melsea »

Thank you ladies.
I can't believe it's a month ago when we got back. How are you Emjay?

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emjay45
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 8

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Post by emjay45 »

I'm fine now thank you melsea. No more coughing and I can climb up steps without needing the 'Kiss of Life' at the top. ;)

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