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Buenos Aires to UK via PanamaBuenos Aires to UK via Panama
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A 46-day adventure by Browning Retirement Fun & Rubber Shark Read more
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  • Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
    Day 15

    Brüggen Glacier - Auditions for Frozen.

    March 16, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌫 6 °C

    Still wiggling our way through the Chilean fjords. The scenery is unrelenting. Hour after hour of snow capped peaks, waterfalls, forest etc.

    Highlight of the morning was a visit to the Bruggen glacier. This is bigger than the two we saw before and where they cascaded down the side of the mountain range the Bruggen blocks the fjord and the ship can be driven right up to it. Doesn't look much from the deck of a large ship but it towers above the surrounding forest. Caught hints of the gorgeous blue of the ice but the sun refused to do its bit and show the ice off at its best.

    This is a 'live' glacier coming down from the Patagonian Ice Cap and it cracks and groans and bits fall off every time you fiddle in your pockets or point the camera somewhere else.

    Then we were off down more fjords to check out more waterfalls and snow capped peaks plus seeing how narrow a space you can fit a 82,000 tonne cruise ship through. I was hoping we could get through past Port Eden but nope, too shallow up that way.

    Currently heading through the maze to the Pacific Ocean were it is reported windy AF and rough. Bleah! Then back into more channels to Puerto Montt the day after tomorrow.

    I will be sad to leave Patagonia. It is eye wateringly beautiful.

    Oh PS. It's very wet here. In this area there are on average 18 days a year it does not rain.    Read more

  • Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
    Day 16

    Northern Chile Fjords

    March 17, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Spent the night on a lumpy Pacific Ocean. What fool called it that! Mid afternoon we nipped into the Darwin Channel to cut through to the big Bay, lagoon, whatever to the south of Puerto Montt.
    The channel gets pretty narrow between Isla Luz and Isla Quemada. Similar feel to the southern fjords, but the mountains are not as high, no cascading waterfalls and no snow. The weather is as normal,overcast. There are some snow-capped volcanoes off to the east towards the main range of the Andes, but I can't get a decent photo.
    Day spent reading, veging and taking a few photos. Flat calm at the moment, but expect some Ocean Commotion when we cross the gap that connects the body of water we are in to the ocean. Should be in Puerto Montt in the morning.    Read more

  • Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
    Day 16

    Puerto Montt- we split up

    March 17 in Chile ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Today we spilt up with Angela off to see volcanoes and rapids etc and me off to do a bucket list item of fly fishing in Chile.

    Have not seen the main bit of the town as we were both off on our tours fairly early.

    Fishing Report
    Only 6 people on this tour which was drift fishing the Maullin River. This is a style of fishing I have not done before. The trip to our start point was only about 30 minutes.

    Did some gear and technique coaching before we set off. I thought I would be the chump when it came to fly casting but there were at least two people worse than me. Anyway long story short it's a beautiful small and fast flowing river. We set off on our pontoon boats, 2 people per boat. Took a while to get the hang of the technique but I missed one medium large brown trout, hooked and lost three small trout and hooked and landed two brown trout, one small and the other one medium small. Very satisfied with that result. I will leave the 20kg Salmon to someone more deserving. Got rained on, cold, drank some Chilean red wine, caught fish. Who could ask for more?

    Not many photos. Too busy fishing! Expensive but good value. Had about 4 and a bit hours of fishing.

    Volcano was clouded in and waterfalls not much to write home about. Lunch was wonderful. Scenery fantastic.    Read more

  • Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
    Day 18

    Just Cruising - day at sea

    March 19, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Day at sea cruising from Puerto Montt to San Antonio in Chile. No fjords 😞
    Pacific is living up to its name today. Also saw a big bright thing in the sky. Evidently it's called 'The Sun'. Getting warmer as we head north. Our chances for a speccy aurora are now passed. More sad faces.
    Doing a 5km charity walk in 20 min so Angela is prepping with a cocktail. Then will be reading, offloading pictures from cameras to backup drives and all the day at sea stuff.
    Oh and checking if you can do drift fishing in New Zealand.
    PS my 'stripping' finger is red raw from yesterday. Non fly fishers won't understand.    Read more

  • Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
    Day 18

    San Antonio n Valparaiso

    March 19 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    A lot of graffiti. Went to Valparaiso on a coach trip. Rode the Funicular to get a wonderful lunch.

    Darrylbit : about 90km from San Antonio to Valparaíso. Into a dryer part of Chile now with a lot of scrub country, dry creeks and gum trees.

    The two notable features of Valparaíso were the steepness and the graffiti. There is a lot of good street art but the beautiful city centre is spoiled by all the graffiti. 😔

    The city is stuck on the side of steep hills around the harbour and the houses are so close together. In earlier days when people walked more there were 32 funiculars to get up and down the hills. Now there are only 16 with 7 still operating. We got to ride a short, super steep one up and down to lunch. Would have loved to get a video from outside but there is no clear spot to stand and see it. Anyway that was a minor bucket list item for me.
    Oh they have trolley buses as well. Blast from the past. They had trolley buses in Perth when I were a wee lad.    Read more

  • Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
    Day 19

    Coquimbo

    March 20 in Chile ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Just chilling on board ship today.

    Darrylbit : did not manage to book an excursion for here, so looking at staying on the ship all day. Does not seem to be anything to see. Maybe the big giant cross and a couple of beaches. Seems like more a a resort town on the Chilean Riviera. I don't know where the town centre is and the shuttle buses just drop you at the port entrance. I'm too old and grumpy to negotiate with taxi drivers, etc. At least on our Cunard cruise you could get dropped in the town centre.
    My inner geek is appealed to because there are three astronomical observatories at the base of the mountains about 100km away. A tour out there would have been nice. This part of Chile must have the altitude and dry climate astronomers like.
    PS: there must be a strong tide or something. We are tied up to the dock but we have the thrusters running and the ship is rocking gently as if we were at sea. Weird.    Read more

  • Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
    Day 22

    Another day at sea.

    March 23, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Yes, another day on the briny deep. Ensconced in the deck 10 lounge shuffling around photos, doing crosswords and reading. Supposed to be whale season but we seem to be in a whale free zone.
    Tried some cryptic crosswords yesterday. Nah. Could not figure them out. Gave the book away.
    Pisco and a small boat ride tomorrow to see wildlife. Getting quite north now, about 18degrees north. Weather is notably warmer but still overcast.
    Oh might have my weekly wine today.
    PS : got buzzed by a helicopter earlier. Have no idea why. Also just saw our first flying fish!    Read more

  • Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
    Day 22

    Pisco, Peru - had the spa treatment

    March 23 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Well technically not in Pisco. We are docked across the bay and got the bus around to Paracas where we took a boat trip to one of the Ballestas Islands to do some wildlife spotting.
    The trip included a free massage (50kmh over choppy water), free hydrotherapy with water fresh from the Pacific and aromatherapy as the islands are a major source of guano. Basically we got bounced,soaked and stunk out but in an enjoyable way.
    I'll have to see what pictures I got. The boat was rocking wildly in the swell, people were standing up get pix. It was a trial.
    The town is in the Atacama Desert and would be a good spot if you don't like rain. Average is 26mm per year with zero days classed as 'rainy'. There are two rivers that come down from the mountains here. They are generally dry but the aquifer is used for drip irrigation like Carnarvon. Evidently grow a lot of grapes for winemakers and liquer here.
    Oh there are flamingos here and just outside of town is a big 'off limits' site where many 'natural' Peruvian human mummies have been found.    Read more

  • Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
    Day 23

    Lima, Peru

    March 24 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Short trip up the coast to Lima from Pisco. I thought that Lima was up in the mountains far from the coast but no, it's on the Pacific Ocean. Big place with 11 million people.

    Did a combination tour of a bit of the city centre and the posh suburbs along the coast. The city is a bit like Buenos Aires with a lot of old buildings, squares with statues etc. Some of the very old buildings still exist and they are lightweight construction, cane with mud plastered over and painted. Why? Massive earthquakes.

    The city is located in desert and like Pisco it basically never rains here. There are some decent mountains on the outskirts of the city and the suburbs climb up them to a fair degree. Can't get good pix on the phone.
    The coast is very up market and a lot of people at the beaches today. A lot of surfing, a few people fishing and lots of things to do. Saw go kart tracks, an archery park, tandem paramotor flights and a lot of eateries.
    We have been looking a fuel prices as we go around. Diesel here is about 19 new Sol's a litre which is about $8 aud. Ouch!    Read more

  • Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
    Day 24

    Lima Day 2

    March 25 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Still parked in Lima while people do extended excursions to Machu Pichu, Cuzco and the Galapagos Islands. Yes we did look at doing one of those but the prices were, how shall we say, somewhat elevated and not good value.
    We went off today to a couple of museums to see some artefacts from the different early cultures in Peru. Everyone knows about the Incas but there were others such as the Mochicas and Paracas.
    Museums were interesting as was the drive. We saw the up market part of the city while today we saw more ordinary suburbs and some of the shanty towns.
    Traffic here is a bit crazy. A lot of aggressive drivers. Took 40 minutes to get across the city from one museums to the other. So far I rate the Falkland Islands as the most chill drivers, then Chile, Argentina and Peru. Argentina and Peru both rate as iffy places to cross the road.
    Bought a wall hanging to remember the trip by. Probably made in China but it wasn't expensive so I don't care.
    Leaving here tomorrow at 6:30am to head for Manta in Ecuador. Cruise is almost over 😔. Still have the Panama Canal to look forward to.    Read more

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