December 25, 26, 27--Cruising the Chilean Fjords and Punta Arenas

What beautiful country! We'll try to refrain from posting countless fjord photos. We mostly had good weather, except whenever we were to see a glacier--mostly cloudy then. You can see from the ship's navigation the kind of path we will follow. Much calmer in the channel than in the open seas, although we had only a few brief periods of rough water, mostly at night.



 Aysen Fjord

 

Asyen Fjord at sunset (9:30 pm) 
 


Valentin glacier, which Cap saw from a catamaran
 
 
 
Valentin Glacier's calved icebergs
 
 
 

The Amalia glacier and its nearby icefield in Bernardo O'Higgins National Parque
 
Climate change is clearly evident here in the Chilean fjords. Decades ago we learned the glaciers are the thermostat of the world. Sadly, at these glaciers, and at those we saw in the Beagle Channel (more to come in a later post), recession of the glaciers was well documented, i.e., 30 meters a year for the last 25+ years (Valentin), 7 km from 1945-1984 (Amalia), and crew members saying what a difference they saw from even 4 years ago.

 
The occasional shipwreck


We worked our way via the Magellan Strait to Punta Arenas, where our stop was abbreviated by strong offshore winds that kept Marina away from the dock, even with two tugs trying to hold her in (left).

Ten days later we had such strong winds in Punta del Este that the Captain had to use thrusters to keep us at the pier. Winds were so high that the glass in our 4’ sq. deck table got blown out and shattered on our deck and the deck below. Fortunately the glass was tempered. Staff said they’d never experienced that since Marina was launched 10+ years ago.



 

 

 

 

 

 

Cap went ashore and shares these images from Punta Arenas.

There’s a heavy European  architectural influence in the older stone buildings and mansions. The story of Sara Braun and her early influence in the region is fascinating.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Braun .  Her palace (below) is now a restaurant and men's club.



 


 


The cemetary in Punta Arenas, established by Sara Braun, CNN calls ‘one of the most beautiful in the world."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cemetery_of_Punta_Arenas. The high arch with rainbow style stained glass is supposedly the covering behind where Sara is buried. One of the enduring legends about Braun is that she is uninterred each year on 1 November to have her makeup redone and hair styled.








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