February 2024

After a fun few days in Santiago, Chile, we’re off on a 3 week cruise on the worlds most luxurious cruise line, Regent Seven Seas, through South America and Antarctica.

Day 1 🛳️
Excited to board Regent Seven Seas Cruises for our itinerary, White Continent Exploration, heading south from Santiago, Chile 🇨🇱

First Day at Sea 🌊

🌧️ Woke up to a drizzly and gray day
🍳 Breakfast set up by the butler
💻 Worked all morning
🌋 Attended a great enrichment talk
🇫🇷 Dinner at the French restaurant

Puerto Montt is a city in the south of Chile and a starting point for adventures in Northern Patagonia. It was founded in the mid 1800’s during the German colonization of southern Chile.

🪻Our first town, Fruitillar, on the edge of Lake Llanquihue, is filled with flowers and timbered chalets.

🌹Puerto Varos is next, known as the “City of Roses”. It is quaint and charming along the shores of Lake Llanquihue with the reflection of the cone-shaped, snow-covered Osorno volcano always there. We stopped at a cafe for coffee and kuchen.

Day 4 on ship 🛳️
Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

We were excited for our day in Puerto Chacabuco, it was a beautiful morning and looking forward to exploring. But the clouds started rolling in with very strong winds so they decided we should stay on the ship as we might have a hard time getting back on in a storm. We cruised along slowly and were able to admire the beautiful scenery, rain, and then a rainbow.

Day 5 Laguna San Rafael
Day 6 & 7 At Sea
🚢
Our first glacier was in Laguna San Rafael National Park, named for the San Rafael Lagoon formed by the retreat of the San Rafael Glacier, a part of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field.

The next two days at sea were relaxing, the weather was nice, and the water was calm cruising through the fjords. There was a cool wind but the sun was warm ☀️

Day 8
Punta Arenas, Chile
🇨🇱
Punta Arenas is the gateway to Chilean Patagonia as it sits at the foot of the Andes. It considers itself the southernmost “city” on the planet and you feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere! The city overlooks the Strait of Magellan and separates the beautiful fjords to the north, that we have been cruising through the past few days, and the frozen mass of Antarctica to the south. This was a major shipping route between the Atlantic and Pacific before the Panama Canal was built in 1914. 🏔️

The city was a delight! The tree lined central square, Plaza Munoz Gamero, with the statue of Magellan and the ornate Braun Mansion was so lively and pretty. We also spent time exploring the cemetery, which was so worth the visit!! There were ornate mausoleums and crypts dripping in flowers and sculpted cypresses lining grid-like walkways. 🪻

A highlight was lunch at La Luna with a lot of king crab! 🦀

Back to the ship to rest 💤

Off to Ushuaia, Argentina tomorrow! 🇦🇷

Day 9
Tierra Del Fuego National Park
🔥
Today was so busy, we did so many things. First, we visited Tierra Del Fuego National Park at the end of the world. Tierra Del Fuego means land of fire and is at the southernmost tip of South America. Also called “Fin del Mundo” or End of the World, you would think it is barren and bleak, instead it is known as the land of rainbows and forests with a much more temperate climate than you would imagine. The weather today was in the low 60’s and comfortable, except when the wind blew, and it was chilling!

We also visited the Post Office located the farthest south in the world. It was an adorable tiny building where you can write a postcard, have it stamped and mailed out from the “end of the world”.

Day 9 Part Two
Ushuaia, Argentina
54’08”S 68’03”W
🚢

Ushuaia, Argentina is known as the southernmost “town” in the world, it is compact, colorful and fun. The town is bordered by the last peaks of the Andes mountains and the Beagle Channel, around the town are lakes and bays, forests and glaciers. It is one of the most rapidly growing tourist towns due to the ships going in and out of Antarctica. It was raining by the time we got back in town from Tierra del Fuego, but we still enjoyed exploring town.

Day 10
Crossing the Drake Passage
58’26”S 63’27”W

Last night was a little rough but not too bad, or as bad as it can be sometimes but we still have about 24 hours to go 🤞🏼

Today was very relaxing and lots of down time and time to explore the ship. Not too much to see yet except a few glaciers towards the end of the day. Tomorrow should be exciting when we get to Antarctica! 🇦🇶

Day 11
Antarctica Day 1
64’5”S 62’5W
🇦🇶
Wow is all I can say! It’s more spectacular than I ever imagined and we’ve only just started seeing land!

We have three days of scenic cruising in Antarctica, that means that the ship barely moves and we can take in everything around us. We spent a lot of time on our veranda, up on the top deck for 360° views or warm in front of picture windows watching whales, seals, penguins and icebergs.

Besides all of this, there are lectures from naturalists, historians, geologists, etc. that we attended. Spent some time warming up in the spa after enjoying the snow, reading, and daily trivia.

We were exhausted from all the excitement today so had dinner in our pajamas in our suite while still watching nature outside our doors.

Day 12
Antarctica Day 2
64’5”S 62’5W
🐧
Today was even better than yesterday!! we spent most of the day outside, sitting quietly watching breaching whales, penguins jumping out of the water, and listening to the glaciers cracking sounds 🐋

We saw a Chilean scientific station covered in penguins – you could smell it before you even arrived! 🇨🇱

In the afternoon we warmed up over tea and scones ☕️

Afternoon games kept us busy during the day and were a great way to meet people.

Day 13
Antarctica Day 3
Elephant Island
62’24”S 56’29”S
🐧
After two days of extraordinary beauty in Antarctica, I couldn’t imagine that we could see anything as beautiful today.

Elephants Island was striking and famous because of Shackleton and the Endurance. We saw beautiful mountains covered in snow with glaciers in between, massive icebergs and of course more penguins!
🇦🇶

Some fun facts on this last day in Antarctica:
❄️A continent holding 90% of the planet’s freshwater ice
❄️ Lake Vostok is buried under 2 miles deep of frozen water
❄️ Mount Erebus is the southern-most active volcano in the world ❄️ The sun does not rise in the winter or set in the summer

Day 14, 15, 16, 17
At Sea
🚢
We had an enjoyable day at sea after we left Antarctica. As the evening proceeded, the seas were getting rougher by the hour. The captain made a decision to change course and not go towards the deep low pressure system near our next port, Stanley, Falkland Islands or Las Malvinas…a touchy subject depending on who you are speaking to. So we diverted course and headed straight towards Uruguay. This added 4 days at sea to our itinerary and it wasn’t completely smooth but I did enjoy the motion, especially sleeping – as long as everything is secure in the suite!

The next few days were fun enjoying everything on the ship and loop on an exciting formal night with the captain and officers and a wonderful dinner.

See you in Montevideo, Uruguay 🇺🇾

Day 18
Montevideo, Uruguay
34’9”S, 56’1”W
🇺🇾
One of the chillest, laid back cities, also one of Anthony Bourdain’s favorite destinations, Montevideo is enchanting and feels like it is frozen in time. With faded Belle Epoque grandeur and Art Deco charm to steakhouses and tango bars to rival its closest neighbor Buenos Aires…but without the tourists. The locals are modest and unpretentious and say that everything gets here 30 years later. It went through turbulence in the 70’s & 80’s but things have been going very well and it is a city not to be missed!!