Monday: After a typically challenging airplane trip of 8.5 hours, it was splendid to start with a sea day. I went Ahead to the Past as I learned and relearned lessons from my college freshman geology class with lots of oceanography thrown in. (More on this in a future post.)

Tuesday: the first Chilean excursion of the cruise takes us to the port city of Puerto Montt, where we are mesmerized by the sound of a nearby small waterfall and rapids underneath our feet with a clear view of a show-capped volcano across a large lake. See photos and videos.

Wednesday: On the island of Chiloe, we take in more novel (to us at least) landscapes. Our guide Gui(llermo) photographs us; explains ship building in the tiny town of San Juan and brings us to a large restaurant made of iron, where two native fish dishes are prepared right in front of us. See photos (Bonnie got quite thirsty but was able to enjoy a refreshing drink of water) and videos.

Thursday: We see parts of the enchanting Chilean Patagonia landscape. We walk over ancient wooden bridge and see numerous waterfalls. Lunch at a local sheep farm leads to an interesting view of Chilean lamb bbq. See photos and videos.

Friday and Saturday: A slow, careful cruise through the narrow channels of fjords. Our first glaciers. Lots of pictures. I fell in love with taking panoramic photos at this point and many are posted.

Sunday: Penguin day. Animal lover Bonnie is more than thrilled to be within a foot of many penguins and learns amazing facts about these creatures from several sources. See the photos and videos and we'll have a post about amazing penguin facts.

Monday: Straight from the Straits of Magellan to the Beagle Channel heading for Ushuaia, the first stop in Argentina and the last before heading to Antarctica. The captain goes off course deliberately several times to take us to glaciers. A ship employee tells us that a colleague of hers worked this cruise 10 years ago and the entire route was covered in glaciers and dolphins and whales were easily spotted from the ship's deck. Neither is true today. Global warming is takings its toll. See pictures and videos. While streaming an Inter game, I notice a low rainbow out the window and I rush to the deck to take a video and photo. Please find them.

Tuesday: Excursion cancelled by high winds and bad and incorrect forecast so we missing another highlighted stop to see penguins and sea lions. But we have two more marine animal stops on tap. Ushuaia is both the southern-most city in the world and a popular port for the exploding cruise and expedition voyages to Antarctica. Docked beside us were ships from Regent, Crystal, National Geographic and World Traveler. Late at night we start a two-day cruise to Antarctica.