Maldonado

New-to-us Port: #12.

Punta del Este — aka the Pearl of the Atlantic — was a tender port of call on our 2014/2015 cruise on Celebrity Infinity. In fact, we were supposed to stop there on New Year’s Day 2015. But the call was canceled due to rough seas … a not uncommon occurrence for this easternmost point of Uruguay … located where the Rio de la Plata merges with the Atlantic. Instead we ended up with an overnight in Montevideo.

But that was then. There was no problem tendering to Punta del Este today.

With the forecast calling for 98% rain in the afternoon and a high of 87F, we decided to head off the ship early. As luck would have it, we managed to get on the first tender because larger local boats were being used to ferry passengers ashore.

Azamara Pursuit was already at anchor and tendering to a pier at the Puerto Seaport in the heart of town. We were, therefore, taken to an alternate pier … Muelle La Pastora. It wasn’t too far from the attractions really and gave us the opportunity for a longer walk after being on the ship for so long (except for our day in the Falklands).

We had heard that La Mano [The Hand] — the most popular tourist site in this resort city — was best visited in the morning, before people started crawling all over the fingers reaching out from under the sand at Playa Brava. So, we crossed over to that side of the point first.

Once we got the requisite selfies at La Mano, we stayed on that side of the point — the Atlantic side — and walked over to Plazoleta Gran Bretaña. It was a stinky walk, I must say, because of all the seaweed and millions of oyster shells piled up along the shoreline.

En route, we stopped at the small seaside chapel dedicated to the image of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, installed on a spit in 1982.

The Plazoleta is located at Punta de las Salinas, which the sign indicated is the point that has been established as the boundary between the Atlantic Ocean and the Rio de la Plata. There wasn’t much to see here … just the anchor from the German Ship Graf Spee and one from the Ajax. The former was sunk by the Royal Navy in a battle that took place near Punta del Este in 1939. The latter was one of the British ships that participated in that battle.

By this time, instead of the overcast that had been portending rain, we had blue skies and character clouds. And suddenly it was very hot … and humid. Figuring that the residential streets might offer at least some shade, we walked inland from the Plazoleta. Not much shade, alas, but we did see some beautiful homes … no numbers on them, but each had a name.

Our route took us to El Faro … which dates back to 1860. It was built to provide navigation assistance for vessels traveling the Atlantic Ocean and the Rio de la Plata. I later read that it is 45m tall and the light was brought over from France.

On the other side of the lighthouse we found the parish church … Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria. Painted a pale blue with white trim, and sporting a red tile roof, it was quite photogenic. We took a quick peek inside, going up to the choir for a look down towards the altar. The bonus for going up the creaky stairs that announced our presence to everyone else in the church was a photo op of the lighthouse from an open window.

By the time we resumed our walk, it was past noon. Time to get a bite to eat. Following Calle El Trinquete, we returned to the waterfront. Here we found a couple of restaurants and settled on the seafood place … La Marea.

We probably would have ordered one of the fish dishes. But before we could do so, we saw the crispy calamari delivered to the table next to us. So, we ordered that instead and supplemented it with a salad … which was more or less a plateful of greens, carrots, tomatoes, onions, celery chunks, and hardboiled eggs … dressing extra. The food was good and we washed it down with a local beer called Zillertal.

After lunch, we stepped into the nearby gelateria to get a sweet treat. Then, we began the trek back to the tender pier. Along the way, we stopped to take a peek at the sea lions begging for fish remnants at the fish cleaning station. I must say that they were quite picky about which pieces they would accept from the selection in a box placed nearby for anyone who wanted to feed them.

We were back on the ship by 3:30p … completely drained from the heat and humidity. (I told you in a recent footprint that it wouldn’t take long for us to start complaining about the heat 🤪) Refreshing showers. Followed by a quiet afternoon in the cabin, reading on the veranda where there was a light wind, was the perfect antidote.Read more