March 11, 2023, just two days into our journey on the Viking Venus, we were treated to a breathtaking display of the Northern Lights as we sailed through the fjords towards Narvik. The shimmering green and purple hues of the aurora borealis left us speechless and in awe.
The next morning, we stepped off the ship into a winter wonderland, with snow-covered mountains and fjords stretching out before us. A panoramic bus tour of Narvik gave us a glimpse into the town’s history and culture, including a visit to the Narvik War Museum, where we learned about the town’s role in World War II and the Battle of Narvik. It was a sobering but fascinating experience, and we left with a newfound appreciation for the sacrifices made by those who fought for their country.
As we set sail once again, we couldn’t help but feel grateful for the chance to experience such natural beauty and learn more about Norway’s rich history and culture. Next stop Tromso Norway.
Our first sighting of the Northern Lights from the decks of the Viking Venus
Day 10 of our 2020 Viking Chilean Fjords & south America cruise on the “Viking Jupiter”. Another sea day in the South Atlantic as we sail north off the Patagonia coast.
Spent the afternoon on our veranda and the sundeck photographing the majestic sea birds as they glide effortlessly hundreds of miles from shore.
This day was Superbowl Sunday, so the ship put on a watch party on the pool deck. The Pool Grill and Pool Bar was serving “tailgate” specialties as we watched the Chiefs and 49’ers live on the big screen. Here we were in the South Atlantic, 5,000 miles from Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, watching the Superbowl live! Thank goodness for satellite communications!
Prior to the Pandemic we had booked two cruises with Viking for 2020, one river cruise of the eastern Danube and one ocean cruise of the Mediterranean. Both cruises were cancelled as everything shutdown and we took cruise credits in hopes to reschedule. Well finally, cruising is restarting and we have rebooked our Mediterranean cruise for mid-October.
While COVID protocols for the cruise restart are a bit intimidating, we are ready and are so looking forward to getting back to traveling and cruising. We will start our cruise in Barcelona where we will embark on the brand new “Viking Venus”, launched earlier this year. This 13 day cruise will take us to ports on the French Riviera, Italy, Greece, and Croatia, ending in Venice. We opted for a 3-day post cruise extension to Lake Como, Italy.
Looking Back
Looking back at our past Viking Ocean Cruise experiences provides us with so many wonderful memories. It’s these past experiences that are fueling our excitement and eagerness to get back to cruising again.
This short video montage shows what we have missed about Viking Ocean Cruises and illustrates why we are so ready to get back onboard cruising again.
Check back to follow our Viking Venus Mediterranean Cruise
After leaving Puerto Madryn Argentina, we had nearly two full days at sea before docking in Montevideo Uruguay. This would be our last several days of the cruise portion of our trip, where we will end and disembark in Buenos Aires.
One of the sea days on the way to Montevideo was pretty rough, with gale force winds that even peaked to hurricane force. The ride was a bit rough, but the ship’s stabilizing systems helped make it tolerable. The winds were so strong that all outside deck areas were closed.
Impressive Seas off Argentina
Montevideo Uruguay
We arrived in Montevideo on the morning of Feb 8, 2020. The dock is right in the old town section making it convenient for walking to town. We had a winery tour scheduled for the afternoon, so our morning was free which gave us a chance to walk around and explore.
For me this was a bit nostalgic since I spent quite a bit of time in Montevideo and Uruguay back in the 1980’s. At that time I was working for Raytheon and was the lead Project Engineer for a vessel traffic monitoring radar system we installed for the Uruguay Navy. I had spent many months in country and made many trips there back in the day.
Where we docked was adjacent to the main Navy headquarters building with its large glass dome cupola that still has a harbor surveillance radar spinning on top (not the one we installed years ago). I recall working on the very top of that cupola with its amazing view of the harbor and city.
Welcome to Monteveideo
Navy Headquarters with Glass Cupola
Alongside the dock near our ship was a beautiful tall ship that was visiting Montevideo. The Russian tall ship Sedov is a 4-masted barque operated by Murmansk University and is a training ship.
Russian Training Ship Sedov
As you leave the gated port facilities there is a monument with one of the anchors and a range-finder from the German pocket Battleship Graf Spee, which was scuttled off Montevideo in 1939. This was one of the first naval battles of World War 2 when Royal Navy warships damaged the Graf Spee in what would be called the Battle of the River Plate. The German Captain sought refuge in neutral Uruguay to do repairs and transfer his wounded for medical care. Under neutrality rules, the Graf Spee could only stay in Uruguay’s neutral waters for 72 hours. The Captain decided to scuttle the ship rather than steam out into the British ambush. Thousands lined the shores of Montevideo to watch the battleship blow up. Many artifacts were recovered over the years and many displayed at the Uruguay Naval museum.
Graf Spee anchor and range-finder
The old town section of Montevideo (Ciudad Vieja) is a maze of narrow streets and old buildings. There are several pedestrian streets with plenty of souvenir shops and restaurants and it takes about 20 minutes to walk up to the main plaza, Plaza Independencia. Along the way are several smaller plazas, the main Cathedral and plenty of people drinking Mate.
Mate the drink of Uruguay and Argentina
Not far from the port entrance is the famous Mercado del Puerto (Port Market), with many Parrilla grills serving up steaks, sausages and other meat delights.
We spent about 2-hours wandering around before returning to the ship for our afternoon winery tour.
Our Ship at the end of the street
Viking Jupiter
Interesting Store!
Salvo Palace builing
Walking around Montevideo
Juanico Vineyards & Winery
Our afternoon tour to the Juanico Winery was about a 40 minute coach ride outside Montevideo. We were with a group of about 30 other guests from our ship and a local tour guide (don’t remember his name). Our guide was great, he was very funny, but informative. Told us all about the current situation in Uruguay, the history and talked a lot about the local wines.
We learned that Uruguay is the most progressive country in South America with free education for all, a good healthcare system, very stable and safe society. Oh, and the only country in South America to legalize medicinal and recreational marijuana.
When we arrived at the vineyard a young woman from the vineyard took over the tour and we stopped first out in the vineyard to walk among the vines. Since it’s late summer in the Southern Hemisphere, harvest time is very soon, so the grapes were full and almost ready to pick. The predominant grape variety here is the Tannat grape. This is a very deep blue grape and the Tannat wines we would taste later were amazing.
After walking around the vineyard we were brought to the winery and cellars for a tour and then tasting. The grounds of this winery were very picturesque and the wines we tasted were top notch. We are now Tannat lovers! We still have our Mendoza Argentina cruise extension coming up in several days, so the Malbec is waiting!
Tannat grape
Juanico Vineyards & Winery with the luscious Tannat grape and their Don Pascual label
We left Montevideo early evening for the overnight trip across the Rio de la Plata to Buenos Aires where we would spend our last two days on Viking Jupiter. As we left Montevideo Harbor we passed many derelict boats, not sure what the story is there.
We will return to Montevideo in several days.
We head out of Montevideo towards the late afternoon sun.
Buenos Aires
We docked in Buenos Aires on Sunday morning, February 9th at a main commercial port facility. We would stay on the ship overnight before disembarking to end the cruise portion of our trip.
Good Morning Port of Buenos Aires
Where we docked was in the middle of a big container terminal, so we had to use shuttle buses to get from the ship to the cruise terminal building. We had a full day excursion tour booked for Sunday which was a boat tour of the Paraná River Delta. It was about a 1 hour coach ride to the suburb called Tigre where we would board the excursion boat.
The Paraná River is the second longest river in South America (of course the Amazon is the longest) at about 3,000 miles long with its source in southern Brazil. The delta is a vast wetland area with endless channels and waterways, looking similar to the Mississippi delta in Louisiana.
The boat tour, about 1.5 hours, took us through several canals where there were large numbers of weekend cabins, cottages and even some substantial mansions, all built up on stilts because of the annual floods. It seems that every home had their own dock and many of these places can only be accessed by water, so lots of small boats.
Silk Floss Tree Flowers in bloom
Sights along the boat cruise route
On the return trip to the ship, we stopped at the city of San Isidro and visited the Cathedral there, a beautiful late 19th Century neogothic style building. Our tour guide walked us through the cathedral, but we stopped briefly inside because Mass was about to begin. The Plaza de San Isidro in front of the church hosts a long standing artisan market and there were many stalls with hand made apparel and jewelry.
Cruise Ends ☹
We had a nice dinner on our last night on board. Said good bye to our favorite service staff members, put the luggage out by 10pm, then went to bed for the last time in our comfy stateroom.
Overnight, another larger MSC cruise ship docked nearby and when it was our group’s turn to disembark in the morning, the cruise terminal was chaotic with a couple of thousand passengers trying to get their luggage through the security x-ray scanners.
Since we booked a cruise extension for three days in Mendoza, Viking arranged to fly us to Mendoza. Up until now, we didn’t know how many others would be on this excursion. We met up with the others who were going to Mendoza and there were two other couples for a total of six. Very small group! We were met outside the cruise terminal by our guide who took us to the local airport for our flight. Our guide Ailin (Eileen) would stay with us for the whole Mendoza trip and we would be joined by a second guide in Mendoza, Estefan. We will have a separate blog post about our Mendoza excursion which turned out to be one of the best post cruise excursions we have ever taken with several pleasant surprises.
After two days of sailing from the Falklands we docked at Puerto Madryn Argentina, in the heart of coastal Patagonia. Puerto Madryn is an area of Argentina that was settled by Welsh immigrants in the 19th Century. Many town names are Welsh and we were told a Welsh dialect is still spoken along with Spanish, of course.
Our excursion to the penguin colony at Punta Tombo Wildlife Reserve was eight hours long. The coach ride was two hours one-way, the last 30-minutes or so by gravel road.
Punto Tombo is a nesting site for the Magellanic Penguins, a smaller penguin species that is found in more moderate climates (not the Antarctic). It is reported that this rookery is the home for up to one million penguins during the summer when they lay their eggs, incubate and hatch chicks. By March/April the chicks are mature and the colony migrates north, returning once again the Punta Tombo in the Fall.
Magellanic Penguins mate for life and always return to the same nest. The nests here are either shallow burrows in the sand or under thick bushes. The mating pairs separate during the northerly migration and when they return in the Fall, find each other by their unique calls. The juveniles have “fluffy” feathers.
The Punta Tombo reserve has boardwalks and roped off trails that go through the nesting area. The tour guides will stop everyone if a penguin is crossing the “people path”, we don’t want to disturb or agitate these little guys, after all, we are on their turf. You do get up close to these critters and they are quite adorable (but smelly). There were thousands of them, so we finally got to see more than enough penguins.
Caution…. Penguins Crossing!
Walking with penguins…..
Magellanic Penguins of Punta Tombo
Cruise is winding down…
After the Puerto Madryn visit we sail for two days then dock in Montevideo Uruguay for a one day port visit. After Montevideo, we cross the Rio de La Platte to Buenos Aires and our cruise will end there on February 10th. However, we will continue our stay in South America for another nine days visiting Mendoza Argentina, back to Montevideo and Buenos Aires before heading home on February 19th. We will post more from this trip, so stay tuned.
We spent several days cruising the southern tip of South America with port stops in Punta Arenas Chile, Ushuaia Argentina, and then sailing around Cape Horn to enter the South Atlantic.
Punta Arenas
We spent a day in Punta Arenas and we opted for the included walking tour of the town. The ship was alongside the main dock which is in the center of town and our walking tour started right from the dock. We had an excellent local guide.
It was a bit disheartening to see the damage, graffiti and vandalism to buildings and monuments from the recent riots and unrest. The highlight of the tour was the walk up to a hilltop vista point (steep sidewalks and lots of steps) which offered a great view of the town with Magellan Strait in the background.
Our terrific guide
Magellan Monument with “big foot” Patagonian’s.
Scenes from our walking tour of Punta Arenas.
Some Rock Cormorants along Punta Arenas waterfront.
A View of Viking Jupiter from the hilltop park.
Viking Jupiter
Punta Arenas scenic vista and harbor views.
Ushuaia, Argentina
An overnight sail from Punta Arenas brought us back out through the Magellan Strait, then into the Beagle Channel for an early morning arrival in Ushuaia Argentina on January 31st.
Ushuaia Argentina is the worlds southern most city and it is a main departure point for Antarctic expeditions. The city is located on Tierra el Fuego and is known as the “End of the World”. It has colorful buildings and is surrounded by snow covered mountains which provide a very scenic backdrop.
We had a brief bus tour around the city and we spent the afternoon walking around the small downtown and along the waterfront. We found the Hard Rock Cafe, I suppose it would be the southern most Hard Rock Cafe in the world. At the recommendation of our tour director David, we visited the Laguna Negra chocolate shop. According to David it is one of the best chocolate shops in South America. We ended up buying a kilo of assorted chocolates and definitely agree with our tour director.
The port is very busy and the dock where we tied up was full of the smaller Antarctic Expedition cruise ships. We left late in the afternoon for the overnight sail to Cape Horn.
A scene out of the 19th Century
Scenic Ushuaia Argentina
Laguna Negra Chocolate Shop
Who knew they ha a Hard Rock Cafe.
Film crew interviewing Antarctic cruise tourists
Gulls basking in the sun.
This guy posed for me.
Afternoon walk around Ushuaia.
Our ship Viking Jupiter
Antarctic Expedition ships lined up along the pier.
Ushuaia is a busy cruise port.
Rounding Cape Horn
We arrive at Cape Horn at around 8am on February 1st. Cape Horn is actually an island so after viewing the actual southern most point with the famous Cape Horn lighthouse, we sailed around the island and then headed northeast for our next destination, Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. As we sailed around Cape Horn, there were other smaller cruise ships sailing around the area. As we entered the Atlantic Ocean the winds and the seas picked up a bit so it was a bit rough for much of the day and overnight sail towards the Falklands.
Cape Horn Lighthouse
Cape Horn, the southern most tip of of the Americas.
Falkland Islands
We were looking forward to the visit to the Falklands. There were quite a few interesting shore excursions available and we chose two excursions that involved scenic drives and visits to penguin areas.
During the port briefing the night before our arrival we were told there was a possibility that high winds would prevent tender boat operations, thus cancelling the Falkland shore visits. The final decision would be made in the morning when we anchored, when the Captain could assess the conditions and forecasts.
In the morning, it appeared that the winds were favorable, so we were all at our departure assembly points waiting for our turn to board the tenders. The early tour groups actually got ashore but then the winds started picking up an the forecast was not good. The Captain decided to cancel all shore tours and recalled all who already made it ashore. Needless to say, there was a lot of disappointed passengers, but we totally respect the Captains decision. If several hundred passengers were ashore and could not be returned to the ship the whole remain cruise itinerary could have been jeopardized. In addition Port Stanley does not have hotel accommodations to handle that many people and they would have been housed in local school gyms or auditoriums.
So we left the Falklands for the two day sail to Puerto Madryn Argentina where we hope to see penguins.
Sea birds following us to the Falklands. I believe these are Petrels or maybe Albatross
Our only view of Port Stanley.
Last tender returning to the ship.
Falkland Islands, never made it ashore.
Image with my 140mm lens.
Enlarged version of photo on the left. Oh look! Penguins.
Our only view of Falkland Penguins as we sailed out of Stanley Harbor.
It is the half way point of our South American Cruise. Nine more days to go as the sunsets on the first half of our voyage.
As we cruised south along the Clilean coast, our first port of call was Puerto Montt in what’s called Chile’s lakes region. Since there was no large dock facilities, we anchored in the harbor and used the ship’s tender boats to get ashore.
The lakes region is a popular hiking and adventure area of Chile and most of our cruise’s optional excursions were focused on high activity. There were demanding hiking tours, white water rafting and horseback riding. We decided to do the included excursion, a coach tour of the town and a visit to the small town of Puerto Varas on the shore of Lake Llanquihue, one of Chile’s largest lakes.
Puerto Varas is a resort town that has summer activities such as boating, hiking, and water sports. There is also a winter influx because of skiing in nearby mountains.
We had an hour of free time to wander the town. The lakefront park and walkway offered some stunning views with two volcanoes in the background. The cone shaped Mt. Osorno looks very much like Japan’s Mt. Fuji.
There was a small artisan center where local handcrafted goods could be purchased. In this part of Chile many German immigrants settled in the mid 19th Century, so many of the buildings, homes and gardens maintain a German look. The local food still retains quite a bit of German influence as well.
Local artisan Alpaca shawls.
Volcano Osorno.
Puerto Varas lakefront.
After a few hours ashore we returned to the ship and our ship departed late afternoon to cruise south through the inner passage and Fjords, next stop, Amalia Glacier.
Amalia Glacier and beyond
Sailing south from Puerto Montt, we left the protection of the inland channel and headed out into the open Pacific. A gale force westerly wind greeted us with its accompanying 15-20ft waves which gave us a bit of a rough ride for the rest of the afternoon and overnight, but we were treated to another beautiful Pacific sunset.
Impressive Pacific taken from our veranda with a GoPro
Treated to another beautiful Pacific sunset.
The next morning we entered the shelter of another inland passage as we headed to the Amalia Glacier. This area reminds us so much of Alaska waters. The waterway is surrounded by big snow covered mountains with deep U- shaped glacial valleys and the occasional mountain Glacier. As we cruised deeper into the bay, the Amalia Glacier came into view. The Captain was able to maneuver the ship within a mile of the glacier and we hovered there for about an hour giving everyone a great view.
Sailing the fjords heading to the Amalia Glacier.
Amalia Glacier originates at the great Southern Patagonia Ice Field.
Leaving the glacier behind, we headed for our next destinations; Magellan Strait, Punta Arenas, Ushuaia Argentina and then around Cape Horn into the Atlantic Ocean.
Our long-anticipated Viking Ocean Cruise, “South America & the Chilean Fjords”, has begun. We left home on January 22nd departing Boston to Houston where we connected with an overnight flight to Santiago Chile.
Our airline of choice is United since we have elite status and we were able to upgrade to “Polaris” Business class. The amenities with Polaris are great, they have a special Polaris Lounge at Houston which had hot food, free drinks and very comfortable surroundings. The lay-flat seats onboard the Boeing 767 allowed us to get some sleep on the 9 hour overnight flight, arriving about 10AM local time on Jan 23rd.
Our cruise scheduled arrival date was Jan 24th, but we chose to arrive one day early, so we stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel right outside the baggage claim section of Santiago Int’l Airport.
Relaxing at the Holiday inn Express Lounge, enjoying Malbec and Empanadas
We chose to arrive one day early as a contingency. Since we live in New England we must expect that winter storms could screw up travel itineraries, so adding a “safety day” gives us some piece of mind. As it turned out, the same United flight the following day, with about 70 Viking passengers onboard, had to return to Houston after several hours because of mechanical problems. Those folks had to sleep in the airport and the flight finally departed after more than 14 hours delay. Those folks didn’t get to Chile and onboard the ship until after midnight, missing the first days activities.
The morning of the 24th we checked out of the Holiday Inn after a good night’s sleep, walked across the street to the baggage claim and met the Viking greeters who got us on our bus for the ride to the ship in Valparaiso. We got to our ship, the Viking Jupiter, at about Noon, our room wouldn’t be ready until 2pm.
Lunch with a Chilean Friend
This free time was an opportunity for me to meet up with an old friend and work colleague Luis Torres. I have known Luis since my days at Raytheon in the early 1980’s when his company did service work on our radar and navigation systems. Several trips to Chile in those old days where I got to know Luis. In recent years we reconnected on Facebook.
Luis invited me for lunch at the Club Naval (Chilean Navy Officers Club). In addition to his past service business, he is a retired Naval Officer. We had a great time reminiscing.
Lunch with old friend Luis Torres at Club Naval Valparaiso
Checking into our Stateroom
We checked into our stateroom on the Viking Jupiter by late afternoon on the 24th. This day was Rick’s birthday, and waiting in our stateroom was a chocolate cake smothered in fresh strawberries and blueberries along with a bottle of champagne and happy birthday card. Nice touch Viking Cruises!
Rick’s birthday cake and champagne compliments of Viking
The staterooms on these new Viking Ocean Cruise ships are spacious and very comfortable. All rooms have verandas, no inside cabins. The bathrooms are roomy with a large shower. Also plenty of storage. There are several AC outlets, both US and Europe style along with quite a few USB charging ports on each bedstand and the desk. A mini- frig is stocked with soft drinks, Toberlone chocolate bars and assorted nut mixes, all free and restocked everyday. There is free WiFi throughout the ship, albiet, not super high speed, but adequate for email, web and social media. I hope to do a separate blog about the ship and life onboard.
Our stateroom
Tour of Valparaiso and Casas del Bosque Winery
We had one additional day in Valparaiso before the ship left and on that day we had a Valparaiso city tour and a visit to a local winery for a tour and wine tasting.
If you have been following recent events in Chile you will know that public protests against economic and political issues turned into full blown riots and violence. We saw the results first hand during the city tour. Most downtown shops were still boarded up, some burnt out and destroyed. Lots of political graffiti covers once beautiful architecture and public monuments. It’s a shame to see this damage.
We then drove about 45 minutes outside Valparaiso to the Casablanca Valley wine district. There we toured the Casas del Busque vineyards, a local boutique winery.
Our tour guide, a very knowledgeable young woman, walked us around one of the Pinot Noir vineyards, then into the production area and finally an aging cellar where we tasted several wines.
We tasted 3 wines; a white (Chardonnay) which was very good and 2 reds. One red, I believe was a Merlot and the second a Carménère. The Carménère was excellent and our guide explained that this grape was an old variety originally introduced into France’s Bordeaux region by the Romans in ancient times. Spanish missionaries brought the plants to Chile in the 16th Century where they have flourished since. The Carménère was all but wiped out in France by phylloxera plague in the mid-19th Century, but Chile’s climate and soil are resistant to phylloxera, so this dark red grape and wine is still produced. We enjoyed this variety so much, we bought a bottle to enjoy later.
Casas del Busque’s Pinot Noir vineyard and grapes. Will be ripe by March
Oak aging barrels and fermentation tanks.
Carménère
Some of the finished product.
Sailing out of Valparaiso
We left Valparaiso late on the 25th for the start of our long and exciting cruise. As we left Valparaiso, we watched the busy activity around the port, and watched the Harbor Pilot wave goodbye from the Pilot Boat. As we sailed south on the Pacific a beautiful sunset ended our first cruise day.
Chilean Navy training ship Esmeralda
Harbor Pilot waves goodbye
First day at sea ends with a beautiful Pacific sunset.
In a couple of days we are off on our next travel adventure. This next trip will be the longest trip we have done so far, we will be away 29 days.
Where are we going? We are heading to South America, specifically, we will join Viking’s “South America & the Chilean Fjords” ocean cruise. This cruise starts in Valparaiso Chile on Jan 24th and sails south along Chile’s Pacific coast, then around Cape Horn to the South Atlantic, on to the Falkland Islands, Patagonia and finishing in Buenos Aires. After Buenos Aires we fly to Mendoza Argentina to visit wine country for several days, then on the Montevideo Uruguay for a few days, back to Buenos Aires, then home.
Viking’s South America & Chilean Fjords Cruise Map
Our ship, the Viking Jupiter is a brand new cruise ship, launched in 2019. These Viking cruise ships are very comfortable and intimate, having 930 passengers so no huge crowds.
Our previous blog post, “Cruising the Douro River”, had quite a bit of detail, photo’s and video clips of our Viking River Cruise along Portugal’s beautiful Douro River Valley. At the end of that long blog post was a slideshow that captured the panoramic beauty we encountered on the journey. For those who enjoy viewing the photo’s, here is that slide show………
Rick and Kathie's Travel Adventures 