Leaving Punta Arenas

Most Antartica cruises I have seen leave from Ushuaia, Argentina.  I did not understand why Hurtigruten start their cruises from Punta Arenas.  It adds another day to the cruise.  However, when I looked at some of their other itineraries it makes a lot of sense.  They have other cruises that sail along the coast of Chile and Punta Arenas is closer to the Pacific Ocean.  There may be other reasons like Ushuaia being crowded with other cruise lines.

We arrived in Punta Arenas at about 10:30am after a 3-hour flight from Santiago.  We were early because the previous cruise has just ended and the crew was busily getting the ship ready for us.  So they drove us around town and gave us a tour.  Just before 1pm we pulled into the building to be tested.  One final rapid test to make sure no one is infected.  We learned that 1 person tested positive.  Later we learned that it was a false positive.  

Punta Areas looking out at the Roald Amundsen

We were checked into the ship and given our card key, masks, envelope with information about the ship, etc.  Our cabins were still not ready so we were asked to go the Explorer Lounge to have a light lunch.  30 minutes later it was ready.  We took time to explore the ship while they are still loading stuff on the ship.  Later at about 7pm the ship started to move.

The ship has to sail through the Beagle Channel to get to the Drake Passage.  The Drake Passage is open ocean between South America and Antartica.  It took the ship about a day and a half to get through the Beagle Channel.  This part of the journey is quite smooth because it's well sheltered on both sides.  On the way you see lots of glaciers and fjords.  It was a nice relaxing start for the cruise.

Glacier in the Beagle Channel

Fjords in the Beagle Channel

It took about a day to sail through the Beagle Chanel.  We saw Ushuaia from a distance.  It's a fairly big town, about 50,000 population I heard.

Ushuaia - population about 50,000

We planned to stop at Cape Horn, on the way out of the Beagle Channel, but the water was too rough and the captain decided to skip the town.  We continued sailing through the night towards the Drake Passage.  In the morning you could tell you are in open waters - the ship started rocking more.  Looking out of the window you can see the waves are much higher than before.  We are now on our way to Antartica!

The sea here is so rough that I got seasick.  This in spite of me wearing a motion sickness patch.  I've used the patch in the past, on fishing trips off San Diego.  I don't understand why this didn't work this time.  I spent most of the day lying down because I was feeling nauseous.  It's not fun at all.

A Motion Sickness Patch