Departure

Yesterday, around noon, the captain announced that after "negotiations" with the port authority we had been given permission to leave.  The swells were high and the sea had white caps but we still cheered to be on our way.  Since we are now 42 hours behind schedule, the ship is going south along the coast of Chile at high speed.  We will miss our stop at Puerto Montt and one day of scenic cruising along the Amalia Glacier.  However, there are more glaciers in our future before we reach "the end of the world".

As we are headed towards Antarctica, it is getting colder.  

Today the high will be 13 C (55 F) but the days are long with sunset at 9:39 p.m.

San Antonio Chile

We are docked at the port of San Antonio, Chile. We arrived at the airport in Santiago on Monday morning after a 10 hour flight from Toronto.  We emerged into sunny, 28 C (82 F) weather.  We are travelling on the Island Princess, a smaller boat which has just come from Fort Lauderdale, through the Panama Canal, and to Easter Island.  It was expected that we would depart Monday at 6:00 p.m. travelling south along the Chilean coast.  It is now noon on Tuesday, February 4th.  The port is closed because of high swells and big waves.  Well, if you have to be stranded, being on a cruise ship with lots of food and drink and beautiful sunny weather is not a bad place to be.

Our Destination

We will fly from Ottawa on February 2 to Toronto and then overnight to Santiago Chile where our 33 night cruise will begin.