This page highlights a client’s trip to sail to South America and Antarctica aboard Holland America’s Zaandam from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago Chile. When my client sent me his photos and their detailed descriptions it served as an inspiration to create this travel blog. I wanted there to be a place to showcase trip photos and experiences for my clients, for them to share with their friends and family, as well as my other clients that may have interest in venturing to remote places such as Antarctica. I am incredibly grateful for my client’s painstaking detail with all of the photo descriptions. Hopefully this will serve as a platform for many future trips that others will share as well. The last 2 photos depict a Gentoo penguin colony. This group of about 200 swim from Antarctica in the spring (Oct) to breed in the Falklands and return in late summer (Feb/Mar), a round trip of nearly 2,000 miles.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Article about Buenos Aires highlights.
Montevideo, Uraguay
Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Port Stanley Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas
Antarctica
Cape Horn
Ushuaia, Argentina
Tierra del Fuego
Punta Arenas, Chile
Statue of Hernando de Magallanes or Ferdinand Magellan in Plaza Des Armas – first European to sail through the region in 1519 – 20 on his round the world circumnavigation (he was killed by natives in what are the now modern Philippines thus never returned home to Spain). He named the area Tierra del Fuego or Land of Fire after observing many fires burning on land, lit by the Yamane Indians who had inhabited the area for thousands of years. Magellan is often cited as the first known European to see the Pacific; in fact that honour belongs to Vasco Nunez de Balboa who forged across the Isthmus of modern day Panama in 1513 from Caribbean to Pacific.
Sailing the Inland Passageways
Castro Isla Chiloes, Chile
The island is known for its number of churches (15 in total). This one in the photo constructed entirely of wood is known as the Church of San Francisco. The original church was started in 1567 though has burned down several times over the centuries; the current church was built in 1910 – 12.
Puerto Montt/Puerto Varras, Chile
View of the Calbuco volcano that erupted with little warning in 2015 sending ash as high as 60,000 ft. into the atmosphere. Given that strong prevailing winds off the Pacific Ocean, all of the ash and debris was blown away in neighbouring Argentina. We were told that none of the nearby areas had to evacuate given the wind directions.
San Antonio/Santiago, Chile
Metropolitan Cathedral in down Santiago, one of the largest in the world. Construction began in 1753 and ended in 1799.
