Chile

The following morning the plane lands in Santiago de CHILE. With a local guide by bus to our Hyatt Regency Hotel. In the afternoon, there is a bus tour of the city. In the evening, we board a plane and after 5 hours flying we land on “Easter Island.” There are 18 tourists in our group.
In the morning on Mar 22 a trip in two minibuses. Before we see any of the real statue we notice statues built from chicken wire for Kevin Costner’s new movie. Then we pass the long runway built here by NASA in case a Space Shuttle needs landing in this part of the world. Easter Island looks like a right-angle triangle having the right angle to the north. It’s only town Hanga Roa is on the southwestern side. This morning we explore the southwestern corner of the island. After seeing a platform on the shore with all statues lying on the ground, we drive to deep Rano Kao crater and places where so called Bird Culture was celebrated. There is a movie village with the artificial moai (statues) here. After lunch, there is an individual sightseeing of Hanga Roa.
The second day we go around the island counter-clockwise visiting more platforms on the shore with the moai lying on the ground. On the beginning of 19th century no moa was standing and moai culture was dead. The island is of volcanic origin with some 70 volcanoes. The island is devoid of the original higher vegetation. At one point the movie people built a whole Polynesian village. The name of the movie will be “Rapa Nui,” which is the Polynesian name of the island. Later we climb Rano Raraku. From its basalt, the giant moai (statues) were carved. We see moai in various stages of carving. In midafternoon, we are in Anakena on the north coast. Thor Heyerdahl reconstructed the platform and the moai were erected here. Late in the afternoon, after returning to Hanga Roa we board small boats and despite large waves we climb on to the ship “Explorer.”
Next 3 days our ship sails to the west. Our time is interwoven by getting to know our ship, interesting lectures, talking to other passengers, and eating. There are 33 passengers. With our group of 18 there are 15 who boarded Explorer in Valparaiso, Chile. There is a lot of space, because our ship has space for 96 travelers. There are 64 crew members including the hotel personal. Explorer has displacement 2,500 tons. It is 72 m long and has 4.5 m draft.
On Mar 27, Explorer puts anchor at the small “Ducie Island,” part of the PITCAIRN GROUP. It is a typical atoll with a lagoon inside. Pieces of corals and bushes cover its dry land. Nobody lives here, but there are many nesting birds everywhere. After walk on the island we are snorkeling near its shore.
On Mar 28, a visit to “Henderson Island,” also part of the Pitcairn Group. This is a coral reef pushed above the waves. There is a jungle on its shore. Nobody lives here either. In the morning, a walk along the shore of the island looking for its endemic birds and snorkeling in the afternoon.
On Mar 29, Explorer drops its anchor at “Pitcairn Island.” Morning is spent on this 4.5 sq. km island where the descendants of Bounty mutineers live. We visit Adamstown with its post office, courthouse, school, church, Adams’ grave, and cemetery. I am surprised to see a computer in the school. There are 58 people living on the island this time. In the afternoon, people of the island come to have lunch on our ship, sell their souvenirs, tell us about their history and life and sing their songs.
After a sea day, our ship enters FRENCH POLYNESIA on Mar 31 and anchors at the “Mangareva Island” in the Gambier Group. On the shore, we are welcomed by local inhabitants with music and dancing. In the church, we get explanation about island history. There is snorkeling in the afternoon.
Two more days on the ocean, with more lectures. The second day PM we come to “Marotiri Islets” and do some riding on zodiacs around them. Marotiri are sheer rocks rising from the waves. On Apr 3, we reach the Austral Islands and anchor at “Rapa Island” (still in French Polynesia). There is a sightseeing walk around the village. Back on board I see a large shark near the ship. My first. At noon Explorer leaves the island.
At noon on Apr 4 we come to “Raivavae Island” (also Austral Islands). A school buses take us around the island with stops at various places. One of which is at a rock statue of a godlike figure, tiki. The local people put up a show for us. Before the sun is out we are back on our ship. The whole next day Explorer is sailing north to Society Islands.
In the morning on Apr 6, we are in TAHITI (part of the Society Islands). Soon we leave Explorer and a bus takes us to the airport. There we board an Air France plane for 7.5 hours flight to Los Angeles. In a rented car I drive home to Vista where an hour before midnight the same day.

Travel office: Abercrombie & Kent
Who took part: There were 33 passengers on the ship Explorer.

On Dec 9, we have a coach guided tour of the “National Park of Tierra del Fuego.” It is a beautiful landscape of forest, glacial lakes, rivers, and streams. Later in the afternoon we board our expedition ship “Akademik Boris Petrov.” The ship is manned by a Russian crew and the expedition by Canadians. In the evening, the ship leaves Ushuaia to sail through Beagle Channel to Drake Passage.
The following 2 days we are crossing the dangerous Drake Passage, but surprisingly the surface of the ocean is like a water of a pond, very calm. There are interesting lectures on the ship. Late in the afternoon the second day we anchor at the Deception Island. Part of Antarctica it is a volcanic island surrounding an inner bay. The zodiacs take us to its shore. There are remnants of old whaling station here. I see my first penguins.
In the morning on Dec 12, we visit the Cuverville Island. After sailing the Gerlache Strait in the afternoon we land at Neco Harbour. In the evening, we stop at Paradise Bay, where is an Argentinean station. With those last 2 places, most of us visited all seven continents of the world. Next day our ship cruises the Neumayer Channel and visits Port Lockroy on the Wiencke Island with a British polar station. Then while cruising the Gerlache Strait further we meet a group of Humpback Whales and land at Portal Point in Charlotte Bay at the Antarctic Continent again. On Dec 14, despite the strong winds we land on Half Moon Island. Then along the Bransfield Strait we reach the King George Island and visit the Russian and Chilean stations.
Next 2 days we are crossing the Drake Passage back to Ushuaia, but this time there is a storm with large waves. Originally, we were to get to Cape Horn, but because of those waves, we are behind schedule and we must skip it.
By morning Dec 17, we are in Ushuaia. Though we are in time on the airport, there is delay and after the flight from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas our plane to Santiago is already gone. We then fly in the evening and with the stop in Puerto Montt we land in Santiago quite late and reach our Kempinski Hotel close to midnight.
Next day in the morning I climb Cerro (a mountain) Santa Lucia where the original Santiago was founded. In the afternoon, a walk through the center of the city. The temperature is well above 32 deg. C. Late at night some of us board a plane for Miami.
After 8-hour flight the plane lands in Miami in the morning on Dec 19. Here I take a TWA plane to St. Louis. Because of snow the airport in St. Louis is closed and our plane is in holding position. After 15 min. we can land. My flight to Los Angeles is cancelled. Later there is another plane available which takes off at 1 PM. After 3-hour flight it lands in Los Angeles. I pick up a car at AVIS and drive home to Vista, where at 5:20 PM.

Travel office: Marine Expedition (Canadian firm) through Robinsons-May Travel
Who took part: 22 North Americans

Then Minerva II. follows the coast of Brazil on the Atlantic Ocean to anchor in the city of Fortaleza on Nov 17. After another day on the ocean we stop at Recife on Nov 19. Here we visit the city of Olinda in the morning and Recife in the afternoon. On Nov 21 we anchor in the city Salvador de Bahia which was 200 years the capital of Brazil. The city is divided in the lower and upper part connected by elevators. This is followed by another day on the ocean. On Nov 23 we reach Rio de Janeiro. From several trips I am choosing one to Petropolis outside Rio. There is an imperial palace built in the middle of 19 century in Petropolis. The following day I take a sightseeing of Rio to visit Sugar Loaf, Corcovado with the statue of Christ the Redeemer, Botanical Gardens founded 1809 and the famous beach Copacabana. After another day on the ocean we land in Paranagua on Nov 26. From there we do a day trip to city of Curitiba with most of its population from central, east and southern Europe.

Leaving Brazil Minerva II. takes two days to come to Montevideo URUGUAY. early in the morning on Nov 29. In the past Uruguay served as a buffer between Portuguese Brazil and Spanish Argentina. A day is devoted to sightseeing of Montevideo. It is a pleasant city.

Overnight to Buenos Aires in ARGENTINA.. During the morning sightseeing tour of the city we see Casa Rozada (office of the president) and the Cathedral on Plaza de Mayo, the bohemian Boca district and the well to do Recoleta with the cemetery with the tomb of Evita Peron. In the afternoon I go to Tigre Delta. It is a delta on the Parana River. We have a boat ride here. It is a beautiful place. Day after we have a trip west of Buenos Aires to an estansia in an Argentinean pampa. The estancia is a family ranch where they breed horses, cows and sheep. Local gauchos (cowboys) show us tricks on horses.

Overnight back to Montevideo in URUGUAY. where Dec 3. This time I take a bus tour 120 km west of the capital to Colonia del Sacramento (Unesco Heritage Site). This town still enclosed in walls was founded by Portuguese in 1680. Following two days Minerva II. braves the Atlantic Ocean. There are interesting lectures given on the ship.

Early in the morning on Dec 6 our ship lands back in ARGENTINA. at Patagonian town Puerto Madryn. While some people go to visit Welsh miners, I take a trip to the Valdez Peninsula a favorite place for National Geographic and BBC to film nature programs.

After a day on the ocean we spend Dec 8 and 9 on FALKLANDS ISLANDS.. It is my second visit here. There is the usual sightseeing tour of the main island and I also take a trip visiting places of battles in the Argentinean-British war in 1982. The British governor of the islands joined us for dinner on our ship and had an interesting lecture about the politics and economy of the islands.

Then another day on Atlantic. In the evening that day we sail past the Argentinean Staten Island where Julius Verne put plot of his novel “The Light at the Edge of the World.” In the morning of Dec 11 Minerva II. dropped its anchor in the Beagle Channel at the southernmost city of the world, Ushuaia. We are again in ARGENTINA.. Here we do a trip through “Tierra del Fuego National Park.”

Next day, Dec 12, Minerva II. sails to Cape Horn which belongs to CHILE.. We circumnavigate the little island with the Cape. From Dec 14 to Dec 16 we spend in Chilean city Punta Arenas, which is the southernmost city on the American Continent (Ushuaia is on the island Tierra del Fuego). During 3 days in this city I take a trip to Otway Bay to see the Magellan Penguins, rheas and other animals, I take the sightseeing trip of the city and I go 100 km north of Punta Arenas to an estancia in Patagonia, where a Chilean cowboy is called “huaso.” We also see some 25 Andean condors nesting on a rocky outcropping. Last day I visit a nature reserve on the Island of Magdalena in the Strait of Magellan.

On Dec 17 and 18 Minerva II. sails through the Chilean Fjordland with number of glaciers. On Dec 19 we anchor at Chacabuco harbor at the northern side of this Fjordland. From here I am taking a trip to the capital of Chilean Patagonia, Coyhaique. To get to it we have to overcome the Andes, which are lower here. Next day Minerva II. stops in the town Castro in the Chiloe Archipelago. The following day there is a stop at Puerto Montt. From here there is a tour to the Osorno Volcano. We also see quite a number or waterfalls. In the morning on Dec 23 our ship lands in the city of Valparaiso for 2 days stay. The first day I take a daytrip under the La Campana Mountain which Charles Darwin climbed in 1834. Our trip is led by a botanist from the Kew Gardens in London. The following day there is sightseeing of Valparaiso and of the resort town Vina del Mar. After several days on the Pacific Ocean Minerva II. reaches city of Iquique in the north of Chile on Dec 27. I join a trip to the used to be nitrate mines. It is in the region of Atacama Desert, which is the driest desert in the world. Back in Iquique there is a sightseeing of the city. The following day our ship anchors in the northernmost city of Chile, Arica. In the morning there is a trip to a valley with geoglyphs of old civilizations in Atacama Desert and in the afternoon a sightseeing of Arica.

On Dec 29 is our first landing in PERU.. It is in Matarani harbor from where we have a daytrip to the second largest city of Peru, Arequipa. It is inland some 2400 meters above the sea level and it has about a million inhabitants. Our visit of Arequipa is a holiday for local people. Who can, he shows in the main square, Plaza de Armas. For the city it is economically important day. There are many historical monuments both pre-Columbian and post-Columbian here. The following day we are on the Pacific and on Dec 31 we land in place called General San Martin. Here we board small planes for 12 people and fly above the Nazca Plain to take pictures of the large geoglyphs and lines on the ground. They are thought to have been made between 900 BC and 600 AD.

At noon Jan 1 our ship comes to Callao. It is a harbor for the Peru capital, Lima. While Minerva II. will continue its cruising, I am leaving the ship on Jan 2. The first day there is a sightseeing tour of the city, which was founded by Pizarro in 1535, the same year he with about 150 solders destroyed the Inca Empire. The most important in Lima is the Plaza Mayor with the important buildings including the Presidential Palace, the Cathedral, City Hall and others. Then we drive to two well to do districts with beautiful villas and two pyramids from pre-Columbian times. Later I take a taxi to Plaza Mayor to visit places which were not visited during the sightseeing tour from the ship. The last day we have a trip to Pachacamac near the coast which was used by the pre-Columbian cultures.

In the evening some of us are taken a flight to Toronto, Canada. Then I fly to Los Angeles and from there in a rented car home to Vista where in the evening 4.1.

Travel office: Swan Hellenic – a British Travel Company which rents Minerva II.

Who took part: I took 3 section of this cruise. Between Manaus and Buenos Aires there were almost 700 passengers (the ship was practically full), between Buenos Aires and Punta Arenas there were around 550 passengers and between Punta Arenas and Lima there were about 600 passengers. The ship Minerva II. had 32 thousand tons.