Tom and Noel's South America Cruise: February 1 Chilean Fjords

The captain warned us last evening that we would encounter 12 to 15 foot seas when we exited the fjords into the open sea at about 3 am. It was very evident when the drawers in the closet started opening and closing on their own! We had taken some precautions with stowing glassware, wine and booze bottles and stuff on the bathroom shelves so we had no casualties. The rough condition continued this morning and we were 2 of only a few at breakfast in La Veranda at 8 am. By 10 am the sea had calmed down as we got closer to the shore prior to going back into the fjords. The waters of Golfo De Penas and south to Cape Horn are notoriously violent.
By noon we were back in the fjords in calm waters. This is an extremely remote area, the vegetation is stunted with little soil, mostly rock and little wildlife other than birds. We passed an old shipwreck of a Greek freighter from 1968. We then went up Iceberg Sound to visit Tempano Glacier. The Silver Spirit was just coming out of the area and we passed closely with both ships sounding their horns several times. The glacier was not as large as the one we saw yesterday but still impressive. The ship sent out a small boat to the base of the glacier to retrieve a piece of ice for our Seven Seas Society party this evening with the theme of "Fire and Ice".

The Silver Spirit passing on starboard side