December 15, 2017

     Yesterday we returned by bus, from five days in Valparaíso, to San Antonio and the Hotel Puerto Mayor.  Today we started the Antarctica cruise on Holland America Zaandam, which was our first cruise ship, when we took an Alaska cruise in July 2001.  Zaandam has a guest capacity of 1,432; which is smaller than the Infinity, which had a capacity of 2,170 passengers.

     This journey we will be travelling south to the Antarctic peninsula closest to Chile, through the Chilean fjords and Patagonian channels to Cape Horn, stopping at ports like Puerto Chacabuco and Puenta Arenas, which is the most southern Chilean town. We will be cruising in the Strait of Magellan, which has a reputation for rough seas.  Then, after a visit to Ushuaia, Argentina, we will be crossing the Drake Passage to the Antarctic peninsula and travelling near the coast line for several days before heading north with stops at the Falkland Islands, depending on weather; Montevideo, Uruguay, and ending in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

  Today is sunny at 9 a.m., a comfortable 18 C, a gentle breeze with the marine layer cloud over the water not on land.  By the time we dropped off our luggage, there was a marine layer cloud several kilometers off shore, but sunny on shore, then after lunch on the ship, the cloud had come ashore and the sky was overcast, but by three hours later at the lifeboat drill, the sun was out again.

   After breakfast, we spoke with other guests from South Africa, who flown from Johannesburg to Sao Paulo, Brazil, stayed a couple of days and then flew to Santiago, Chile and took a taxi to San Antonio.  They were Janey and John, Dominique and Howard and Melinda and her husband.

   About 11 a.m. we walked down the hill on the sidewalk of 21 de Mayo and over to the port which took about 20 minutes. We dropped off the luggage and waited a few minutes for the terminal to open.  We were given the usual health form to complete and then found the Holland America Zaandam check-in lineup. We were checked in and received our keycard and map of the ship within five minutes.  Our passports were checked to see if we had a Chilean travel authority, which Celebrity on the previous trip had obtained, and the Argentine reciprocity form.  All the documents, including passports, are kept on this ship for presentation to the immigration authorities at the different ports.  Next, we waited for the security lines to open. For the fifth time, since last evening, we tried to send an email with an attachment.  We failed to send it to about 50 people who were blind copied.  We managed to send one email directly to one person and the attachment was sent with no problem. The ship’s photographers were ready to snap photos of people as they prepared to enter the security line. The photographers like most of the staff were wearing Santa hats. Once the security lineup was down to a few people we stepped through the scanner and had our hand luggage scanned then boarded the shuttle bus for the 75 second ride to the ship’s gangway.  Puerto Central in San Antonio is a working port and passengers are not allowed to just wander through the port.

   Once onboard we went to our cabin on Deck 2, it is a little larger than the stateroom on the Infinity.  There is lots of drawer space and closet space. We even had hangars left over!

The bathroom has a larger counter. It was just after noon and we explored some of the ship before discovering the Explorer’s Lounge Library and choosing some books.  We went for lunch up to Deck 8 to the Lido buffet.  Steps 5,687. Back to exploring the ship after lunch, in the Decks 3, 4 and 5 Atrium is a Baroque-style Dutch pipe organ. Around the Atrium were Christmas garlands, wreaths and trees.  In one corner of the Atrium is a large Gingerbread house village.

Deck 3 is called the Promenade deck.  It is partly sheltered from the weather and encompasses most of Deck 4 with four laps equaling one mile.  We walked around for about an hour, stopping for photos, including a telescopic view of the Hotel Puerto Mayor; a telescopic view of the waves crashing on the rocks at the entrance to the harbor; the refueling ship, Don Pancho; the conveyor belt feeding luggage into the ship and watching tugboats guide two container ships leave the port. It would not have been pleasant if we had walked once we left port as we were heading into a 45 km/hr wind doing 18 knots – net effect of walking into a 65 km/hr wind on the one side.

   The ship has a musical theme, there are instruments in display cases including a saxophone played by Bill Clinton and signed guitars from celebrities such as Queen and Eric Clapton.  There are also prints of past Holland America ships and famous ships.

   Our luggage was delivered to the cabin in time for us to unpack before the 5:15 mandatory lifeboat drill. Jan and Doug, who were one of the couples with whom we dined on the Infinity, are just five cabins down the hall.  We saw them at the drill and found out that they are assigned to the same table as us for dinner.  We are all amazed by the coincidences of the two cruises as well as staying at the same hotel in San Antonio and bumping into them in Valparaíso. We did purposely take the same bus to Valparaíso, last Saturday. Then it was time for dinner, our table for eight had Shin and Joyce join us. We hope that tomorrow there will be a fourth couple.

   The ship left port just after 6 pm and was out in the Pacific Ocean in 20 minutes.  The waves were rolling to heights of two to three meters. Sitting at the back of the ship in the dining room you could feel some of the rolling. Later in our midship interior cabin, some of the rolling was still detectable.  We were rocked to sleep tonight.

   Our steward (waiter) is Nyoman and the assistant steward is Doli.  It was a hard choice this evening.  We chose: Seared Scallops, Seafood Ceviche (shrimp, tuna, avocado, papaya and lettuce) and tomato zucchini bisque.  Entrées: Shrimp Diablo (rice, chilies, chitople and shrimp) and Peanut Cilantro Salad.  Desserts were Dulce de Leche Walnut Torte and a pineapple sundae.

   We looked through the shops on the way to the Casino which has slot machines, blackjack table, a roulette table and some other card games.

   Just one show this evening, a showcase by the ship’s singers and dancers at 9:30 p.m.

   We started reading our new books before calling it a day.

Posting will be intermittent. We hope to find Internet cafés when we are in ports, or buy Internet for a day on the ship.

Daily steps total: 13,953