Jan 25/26 Puerto Chacabuco & San Rafael Glacier

On both the 25th and 26th we have been cruising in narrow fjords, with calm water and beautiful scenery (photo).

On Monday the 25th we arrived in the port of Chacabuco (photo).    You know the drill, Google Earth S45 28.236 W72 50.008.  We went on a bus tour about 60KM to Coyhaique, the capital city of the region.   Our tour guide was a woman named Karen.  She is an American, who met her husband, who is from Chile in Idaho.  he is a gaucho (cowboy), but also a plumber and landscaper.  They moved back to Coyhaique, where she teaches English in the public schools.  We visited a small historical museum and some local crafts stalls.   Along the way we crossed the Andes Mountains and saw some pretty waterfalls (photo).  On the way back we stopped for a taste of typical Chilean appetizers and wine at a local restaurant, of course we ended up purchasing four bottles of vino….  I stopped and launched the previous blog on the way back to the ship.

The ship weighed anchor on Monday evening and after a very calm sail (Holly, you would have even liked it) the ship dropped anchor early Tues. morning outside the Laguna San Rafael (Google Earth S46 22.621 W73 44.594) and we took a catamaran (photo) for an hour cruise into the Lagoon to the San Rafael Glacier (photos).    The Glacier is at the foot of a huge ice field, with ice a thousand feet thick that feeds the glacier.   But the Glacier is retreating 600 feet a year, and by 2030 will no longer flow directly into the Lagoon.  After we cruised back to the ship, we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the ship, including walking almost three miles on the track, to wear off the delightful meals that we have enjoyed, healthy of course.

  

We went to one of the evening entertainments, and found that one of the entertainment staff is Margaret Linn who was on the entertainment staff on the Mediterranean Cruise we took in 2006.

Tonight we are starting a two and a half day cruise to Puerto Arenas, via more fjords.   Early tomorrow morning we will have a ten hour period where we will be out in the ocean again, and probably feeling the motion of the ocean.