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South America and Antarctica
  • Jamie Van Natta
  • Jamie Van Natta

South America and Antarctica

Solo trip on Holland America Oosterdam, Buenos Aires Argentina to Santiago Chile by way of Antarctica and Drake's Passage Read more
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  • Trip start
    December 13, 2024
    Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Buenos Aires, Argentina - Wine & Photos

    December 13, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    It was a long but wonderful first day. Made it from the airport to my hotel way too early to check in. Good news, they had a spa with a shower room! Got freshened up and took an uber to Miravida Hotel and Wine Bar for a small group wine tasting. There were only three of us. We had a white torrentes which was lovely, a Pinot noir, and three different Malbecs. I’m glad they provided snacks because it was a while since breakfast! There was a jam made out of a pumpkin-like spaghetti-like squash that I will now spend many hours trying to find a recipe for.

    I then uber-ed over to the city center to meet my photographer/guide. We walked A LOT. We talked. It was awesome. Buenos Aires is very interesting, the neighborhoods, the architecture, and the hidden gems that a local can provide make it really special. I’m absolutely dead tired now and have some impressive-feeling blisters.    Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Buenos Aires - Embarkation

    December 15, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    Got on the ship early! HAL is very organized, rooms were ready when I boarded around 11, an hour earlier than the scheduled time. So efficient. Met my cabin stewards (Sy and Harry), got my baggage, unpacked and still had time for a rest before my food tour tonight. Also, I am in love with this cabin. Though the view on the balcony is not so amazing just now, the room has more space than I expected. It doesn’t have the standard baby couch, but I don’t think I will be missing that at all.Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Buenos Aires - Food tour

    December 15, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    Stopped a couple of places on my way to my food tour. First, a bookstore in a grand old theatre, two of my favorite things in one place! Also, a well-known tourist sculpture that appears to be undergoing maintenance. The Floralis Generica is supposed to have 6 petals, alas, only 4 were present. The food tour was in the Palermo neighborhood and they did not stint on the portions or the wine. Met other fellow Ohioans, some Canadians and an Aussie or two. Lively and fun group.Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Buenos Aires - Photo Tour: San Telmo

    December 16, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    Antiquities and a really neat food market. This is where I learned about the fileteado script that is both classic and lovely, and that I have expensive taste in same. One more Uber back to Palermo and I had to say goodbye for now to Nicholas. It was a spectacular time, and I look forward to connecting with him after the trip to do some photo reviews. Maybe I can make all these just a little better.Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Buenos Aires - Recoleta Cemetery

    December 16, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    At this point I have third generation blisters on my feet, but I wasn't about to skip this iconic cemetery. What a lovely and peaceful place. I made the obligatory pilgrimage to see the final resting place of Eva Peron (Evita) but I gotta say, it was a bit of a let down, not particularly photogenic at all. The grounds are massive and the aisles between the tombs range from spacious to fairly tiny, making it really hard to get far enough away to get a decent photo. Even switching to my 14-35 didn't solve it entirely, but I do think I got some decent ones. This is certainly not to be missed if you have any interest in funerary art. The mausoleums were many and varied and on a Monday afternoon just wandering aimlessly I found myself completely alone at times. Some of the crypts were clearly very old, and the "youngest" date I saw was in the 1970's.Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Montevideo, Uruguay - sailing in

    December 17, 2024 in Uruguay ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F

    On the way into port, I was interested to see that there appears to be a ship graveyard. I asked our guide about it later and he said that often it is easier and cheaper to buy a new boat than to maintain an old one and that people had often just abandoned their old boats in the middle of the bay. The government is making an effort to remove them and clean up the area but it is apparently slow going.Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Montevideo - Semi-Private Tour

    December 17, 2024 in Uruguay ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    Through a twist of the interwebs I ended up being double booked on a private tour in Montevideo. However, it turned out for the best because I met some lovely Canadian folks and we had a wonderful day together. Javier showed us his amazing city. Our stops included the old fort at the top of the highest point in Montevideo, a very red church, a lovely beach, the congress building, a market, and the wealthiest neighborhood in Montevideo for a lunch break at Bar Arocena. I had a classic chivita, which was apparently beloved by Anthony Bourdain. In the afternoon we stopped to check out an alchemist's castle, right on the rambla, then headed toward the old city where we saw many beautiful squares and buildings. We stopped at the capital building which has a 22nd floor viewing platform that wraps around 360 degrees so we were able to take in all the places we had been. Additionally, We walked into the office building that houses the president (no security). We saw the most important theatre, a piece of the old wall that has been reconstructed, and another church or two, and some lovely old buildings with modern uses.

    Apparently it is very easy to immigrate to Uruguay and it’s very tempting. The congress building is beautiful and is also open to the public except that it is under renovation right now. Separation of church and state is rigorously enforced. The people are friendly and welcoming. Just need to learn some Spanish!    Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Punta del Este, Uruguay

    December 18, 2024 in Uruguay ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    After tendering over to the peninsula of Punta del Este, I walked 2+ miles on the "rambla." On the route were a sea bird sanctuary, the southernmost point of Uruguay and several rocky beaches on the Atlantic side. Got a bit of a sunburn since I didn't really realize the strength of the sun due to the lovely ocean breezes. I wanted to go further up the coast, but decided that discretion was the better part of valor. I stopped the the famous "Los Dedos de Punta del Este" sculpture and took an Uber back to the port to tender back to the ship.Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Punta del Este - Lunch on the Atlantic

    December 18, 2024 in Uruguay ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    Grabbing a bite and a Coke overlooking the ocean. I’m a lucky girl.

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Full Steam Ahead - Sea Day

    December 19, 2024, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 61 °F

    First sea day and I’m taking it real easy to try and let my feet recuperate and my sunburn calm down. Some interesting activities around the ship today, including the first of 4 Spanish lessons. Not sure how much we can learn in 4 sub-hour sessions, but I’m willing to give it a go. Learned a bit about the cruise and travel director this morning (his name is Ed, which is convenient for my memory at least). The view may be a bit monotonous, but it sure beats a typical Ohio winter day. I’m going to spend the morning fixing up my more hasty posts from earlier in the trip and making sure I footprint all the highlights.Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Puerto Madryn, Argentina - sailing in

    December 20, 2024, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 55 °F

    It’s rare that the port side gets the better view on this trip, but once or twice it does.

    Turned out that both sides got a good view since we had to hang out in the bay for a bit for the wind to calm down. I did take a short video of me trying to get out my balcony door and the sound of the wind howling around the ship. I think the captain said 50 knots (58ish miles per hour) which is well above what the ship can handle when docking without tug assistance (of which there was none to be had.)Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Puerto Madryn - Punta Loma

    December 20, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ 🌬 66 °F

    With the delayed docking, this meant a lot of shore excursion cancellations as most of the wildlife to be found here was a 2.5-3 hour drive away. I had to make due with an off-the-cuff, off-the-pier, tour that took us around town and out to Punta Loma where there is a protected reserve for a sea lion colony (and lots of birds), which can be observed from two points. Puerto Madryn is not large, but it is the last city of any real size we will see for more than a week. The wind here is constant and just a matter of degree. I saw a lot of wind surfers and not a lot of folks braving the water on the beach. The drive was nice though and I am grateful that the wind died down enough that the captain was eventually able to dock and we got to get off the ship for another sunny (if windy) South American day.

    The sea lion colony was interesting. I was very glad to have my 100-500 lens as they were quite a distance from the viewing platform on the cliffs. The boys are significantly larger and have harems of females. Birds aren't really my thing, but the shags nesting on the cliffs were interesting and there was some scuffling between them and the cormorants the beach. The gulls mostly just minded their own business. The nearest penguins were too far to reach during the time we had left ashore, but I did spot a penguin sculpture, so that's something I suppose.

    Here's hoping we get to drop anchor in Port Stanley (another notoriously windy port.) But we've got a sea day next so another restful day of learning and napping, and looking out for whales.    Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Atlantic Ocean - Sea Day

    December 21, 2024, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 50 °F

    Things are rocking and rolling now! It's actually a relatively gentle rock, but it's certainly noticeable as one tries to navigate the ship. This morning I woke up to whales outside my balcony! They were pretty far out, but the spouts are unmistakable. I ran up the aft deck and enjoyed seeing quite a few "blows." No pictures as they were too far and happen way too fast.

    After the whales were out of sight, I did try to practice getting some photos of moving birds. I wasn't satisfied with my bird pictures from Puerto Madryn and there were a couple Northern Giant Petrels putting on quite an aerobatic show for us. It's good to practice on low stakes stuff, because I am rubbish at moving subjects yet. Fun fact about the petrels, they drink salt water and have a special gland in their head that cleans it out of their blood and the excrete it through holes on the top of their beak.

    Then it was off to learn about the Falkland Islands, also known as the Islas Malvinas. There is some bad blood about these islands between Argentina and Great Britain so we have been advised (strongly and often) not to wear Argentinian flags or colors or try to pay with pesos while on the island. (Same advise in reverse was given to us for Puerto Madryn, no union jacks, no GBP etc.) In the afternoon, we had the second of 4 Spanish lessons where I continue to find it impossible to roll my r's when preceded by a vowel. I do ok with 'gr' or 'br' but 'ar' is really tough. We had a presentation with the expedition team about the different whale species we might see closer to Antarctica.

    A little trivia with the officers closed out the evening and now I am off to sleep since we arrive in Stanley very early tomorrow and I plan to be on the bow to see the approach. The daylight hours are already appreciably longer!    Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Stanley, Falkland Islands - sailing in

    December 22, 2024 in Falkland Islands ⋅ ☁️ 43 °F

    We are sooooo lucky. Apparently ships can only anchor and tender here about 50% of the time due to the wind and sea conditions. We had a nearly perfect sail in and a very calm day. Got up extra early to make sure I could see the sailing in. Got on the tender first thing for a walkabout before my excursion to Bluff Cove for PENGUINS!Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Stanley - About town

    December 22, 2024 in Falkland Islands ⋅ ☁️ 43 °F

    Stanley is the capital of the Falkland Islands, a "city" (duly recognized by the late queen) of about 3000 people. Everyone was friendly, especially the kids. There are some interesting landmarks, like an arch made out of whale bones in the courtyard of the cathedral and the mizzen mast of the SS Great Britain (from 1886) , but mostly I just wandered around looking at the wildlife and flowers for a bit. It was too early for anything to be open, but that means I didn't have to deal with too many pesky humans getting in the way of my pictures. (Clearly I love lupine a little too much... so many colors!). I addition to being sensitive to the conflict with Argentina, we were also told not to say anything bad about Margaret Thatcher as they love her here (as evidenced by the prominent sculpture.)Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Stanley - Bluff Cove: PENGUINS!

    December 22, 2024 in Falkland Islands ⋅ ☁️ 45 °F

    OMG PENGUINS! I finally got to see some up close. This was a ship offered shore excursion and I picked it because as I said before, we might not have been able to make port, so I wanted a guarantee of my money back if we couldn't. It turned out to be a GREAT tour with lots of time with the penguins and a lovely homemade snack to boot.

    Bluff Cove is actually a privately owned farm. They have sheep and cows, but they are also right on the water and have a small colony of king penguins and several larger colonies of gentoo penguins. The kings were just kinda sitting around (as I imagine kings often do), but if you look carefully you could see that many of them were holding their eggs on their feet. The penguins were well protected by rangers who made sure all us tourists stayed inside the lines, but the penguins were not fussed by us at all and walked among us with no fear. This footprint is for the kings, I'll put up another with the gentoos, who were much more active and had chicks of all shapes and sizes.    Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Stanley - Bluff Cove: MORE PENGUINS!

    December 22, 2024 in Falkland Islands ⋅ ☁️ 46 °F

    And then there were the significantly less dignified gentoos. These guys were so funny. They were clearly caring for their chicks by waddling out to sea to feed then returning. They are surprisingly quick for as awkward as they look. I couldn't get enough of these guys. Overall I took over 1700 pictures in Stanley. Wonderful port and experience.Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Antarctica - Elephant Island

    December 24, 2024 in Antarctica ⋅ 🌬 34 °F

    And so it begins! We were able to cross the passage due south to Elephant Island. This is where Shackleton and crew spent 4 months after the Endurance was crushed by ice and sank. Interesting story and the captain was able to get us within sight of their campsite. There was an expedition ship already there and folks out in Zodiacs touring around the area. Lots of penguins here too. Visibility not super great but not the worst either. We’ve been wandering about spotting glaciers and whales all day.Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Antarctica - Antarctic Sound

    December 25, 2024, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 32 °F

    Today we attempted to get into the Antarctic Sound and go to Hope Bay. However, the sea ice was prolific, icebergs everywhere! The captain decided to abandon Hope Bay and instead pointed us at Deception Island. We had fairly low visibility all day but in patches we saw the sun and some really spectacular icebergs.Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Antarctica - Deception Island

    December 25, 2024, Bransfield Strait ⋅ ☁️ 34 °F

    We arrived at Deception Island late in the afternoon and I went to the bow to see the arrival. Deception Island being an old volcano, we got to peek into the caldera. The captain also navigated us around the side where there is a very large colony of chinstrap penguins. It is no joke that you can smell them before you see them! They were too far for pictures, but I did grab my binos and spent some quality time on my balcony just watching them porpoising in and out of water on their way to and from the colony. The chicks were also visible a fuzzy brownish blobs nearly a big as their parents now. I’m really impressed with the captain and team’s ability to make the best of some not ideal conditions and bring us to see some extremely interesting places when the original plan was foiled. I have a printout of the original plan and it will be fun to compare it to what actually happened when I get the cruise map from thecruisemaps.com later.Read more

  • Jamie Van NattaSouth America and AntarcticaTraveler

    Antarctica - Charlotte Bay

    December 26, 2024, Bransfield Strait ⋅ ☁️ 30 °F

    Another partially thwarted plan. We did dip the nose of the ship into Charlotte Bay, but again ice conditions kept us from going as far in as we were planning. There are moments of clear patches in the sky, but they do not last long.

    Apparently we had to do a bit of running from the weather last night, winds kicked up considerably, so when I woke this morning at 3am we were “parked” in the lee of Brabant Island. In our exit toward Charlotte Bay, I saw some more whales doing some slapping of the water with their tails but nothing particularly close to the ship. The crew was out on the back deck this morning playing in the snow. For many of our Philippine crew members, this is their first experience of snow. They were having an excellent time holding snowballs for pictures and building a tiny snowman!

    Despite not getting to go very far into the Bay, I enjoyed looking at all the differently shaped icebergs and bergy bits. We learned in one of the presentations that in order to be a true iceberg, it has to have over 5m of height sticking out of the water and a width of over 15m. Ice that falls shy of that is officially called a bergy bit. There are also smaller sizes called growlers for the noise they would make against a wooden hull, and finally the ice that might fit on your dinner plate (or your whiskey tumbler) is called brash ice. We didn't see a lot of this latter, but the icebergs and bergy bits and growlers were all over.    Read more