Winter/Spring 2015 South America and Antarctica Cruise 1

Hola from South America!

02/11/2015 Arrival day in Buenos Aires

With our trip to Iguazu Falls we did not have time (or energy) for a city tour of Buenos Aires, but we will be back here for two days, March 1st and 2nd. We arrive very early on March 1 and we have a full day city tour scheduled, and we leave the evening of March 2, so we have a half day tour also.

We board the ship, Celebrity Infinity on 2/15/2015

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Good afternoon from somewhere out to sea.

After a very busy few days we boarded Celebrity Infinity on 02/15/15 about 1:30 PM.

Our days have been spent learning a new ship layout, reading, relaxing, attending the nightly theatrical performance, and then the ocean rocks us to sleep at night.

We hope everyone is well.

Here are a couple of pictures Jim wanted me to take and post on the blog. This is the first time we have seen rectangle toilets & bidets. These pictures were taken at our hotel Hilton Buenos Aires, however the Sheraton Iguazu had the same.

Here are a couple of pictures of our state room, and even more important, our balcony. To the right of the patio door is a sofa that does not show in this picture. That is what the little glass table is sitting in front of.

Here is why I only book rear facing aft cabins.

At some point I plan to take some photos of different areas of the ship. Here are a few.

Theater

Casino

Grand Foyer

Martini Bar

Looking towards Ushuaia, which is the southern most city in the world.

02/19/2015

We arrived in Ushuaia Argentina early this morning. We had a tour booked for the Tierra del Fuego National Park and Beagle Channel. Following are some pictures from today.

Sun trying to break through.

We have often joked that if an area needs cloudy skies and rain, they should pay us to come for a visit.

Mirror lake effect

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People were standing in line to get their cards stamped for the southern most city in the world.

Next was the catamaran on Beagle Channel. Beagle Channel was named for the HMS Beagle during the first hydrographic survey between 1826 and 1830.

These are King Cormorants

Sea Lions & Fur Seals

02/20/2015

Cruising Cape Horn Chile

02/21 and 02/22/2015

Yesterday and today have seen very rough seas and that will continue and increase for the next few days. It is kind of like when we were going through the Tasman Sea and the Transpacific, taking a shower is an adventure, but a great adventure as long as you know to hold on.

Today it is snowing as we make our way to Drake Passage between the Pacific and Atlantic in Schollaert Channel. We have been going through Paradise Bay during lunch. Very large icebergs, some have been calving. There were reports of penguins and whales, Jim has gone off to investigate but reports he didn’t see any.

The employees on the pool and hot tub deck have been kept busy pushing the snow and slush off the deck all day. Definitely no pool parties the past couple of days.

02/22/2015

Today we arrived at Elephant Island Antarctica. Elephant Island was named by George Powell in 1821 because he thought the strange shape looked like an elephant.

While the temperature was the same as yesterday, around 30F, it was much less “balmy”. Today it was overcast, with winds at 30 knots, gusting to 60 at times.

Jim was glad he had his heavy parka, the hat and scarf Tiffany made for him, and especially his electric gloves. Jim stayed out on decks 11 and 12 for about an hour, and took about a dozen photographs. By the time he tried to take a photo of the glacier, his camera had apparently gotten too cold to operate. After the camera problem Jim rejoined me on deck four, inside.

Here are some of the photos Jim took of Paradise Bay and Elephant Island.

We joined a group of four people from Australia in a trivia game, and our team was one of the winners. They asked where all we had gone while there, and it turns out we have been to places in Australia they haven’t. The Australians were happy to have help on questions that were way before they were born. Their ages were probably late 20’s to early 30’s.

Tonight the ship is very active. Earlier the swells were running 14 to 18 feet high, but they must be significantly higher now due to the rocking and rolling of the ship.

Before we came back to our cabin we walked through the shop area and noticed they had closed the liquor store for safety reasons.

Tomorrow is a sea day, we are headed due North at 16 knots. In better seas we would be running faster then that, about 22 knots I believe.

02/23/2015

Hi everyone, today was a great day to sit in a lounge by a window reading and alternately watching the mighty sea. Wow, the power is amazing.

Tonight’s show in the theater was absolutely fantastic! Celebrity brought on a group from Buenos Aires, The Pampas Devils. They are tango dancers and gaucho performers, and they were so good!

We are headed North at 16 knots, destination The Falkland Islands. This will be a tender port, with a pretty long distance with travel time 25 to 30 minutes from ship to shore.

Jim went to a presentation this morning on “how ships move”. After that he went to the shopping area and actually bought a watch! We had looked at watches yesterday and he kept saying he didn’t need a watch, but decided this morning he would get one. It is really sharp looking too.

One of the lounges.

02/24/2015

This morning we anchored off of Port Stanley, the Falkland Islands. Jim and I went ashore about 11AM and came back to the the ship about 3PM. Here are some photos taken in Stanley, The Falklands.

Port Stanley is a very small town with about 1500 residents and a few shops. Total population for the Falkland Islands is about 2200.

We went to Gypsy Cove to see the Magellanic Penguins.

Our tender boat pilot

Another tender

02/25/2015

Today is a sea day, we are on our way to Puerto Madryn Argentina.

The show in the theater tonight was great. There was a couple who did all kinds of acrobatic and aerial performances.

02/26/2015 Today Patagonia, Peninsula Valdes, and the sun was shining!

Penguins, elephant seals, sea lions, and one furry armadillo.

Sunrise about 5AM

This baby was so cute

And we continue with more critters from Peninsula Valdes, this time from Jim’s camera.

Guanaco

Large hairy armadillos are native to the southern area of South America.

The following pictures are some of the areas around the ship.

Tomorrow, 02/27/2015 is a sea day.

We are due to arrive in Montevideo Uruguay at 8:30AM on 02/28/2015.

I had booked a tour guide for Montevideo and he was really a pleasure. We covered a lot of area, and got a look at a beautiful church, government buildings, various sculptures, the opera house. It was a nice day. This tour was just Jim & I. When we come back to Montevideo March 3 we are doing a tour with some other passengers.