January 30, 2025
Cruising the Chiliean Fjords
From January 18th to the 23rd we were cruising the
Chiliean Fjords. We had to skip tender port of
Puerto Chacabuco on the 20th due to rough seas, which would make the port tender operations unsafe. The scenery was amazing and in seemed like we were the only ones cruising these narrow straights getting to see the most beautiful landscapes. I thoroughly enjoyed the pace and comradery shared with fellow passengers every time the captain announced another wildlife or glacier sighting and we all would run outside. We love Captain Val - his announcements are so informative, and he always has a great big smile and heart felt laugh and he ends every day with a profound quote!
I have shared a couple post of my fellow residents who did a better job of catching everything in photos on Facebook. I was too busy enjoying the moments, to capture many of them. Below is a variety of glaciers and a pair of playful dolphins that were having some fun and giving us a show as we drifted along one of the glaciers.
On Saturday August 29, 2026 we achieved another historic milestone on this circumnavigation of the World , we cruised into Hong Kong Harbor. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. The land encompassed by Hong Kong is confusing. It includes part of the southern coast of mainland China, just below Shenzhen, Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories . Looking at a map helps, but the rules changed so many times! I asked my buddy Chat several times, to tell me if what I was looking at was the Hong Kong that the British had owned for years. The answer was never straight forward!
Ha Long Bay in Vietnam is one of those bucket list places I have had in my sights for years. It's the iconic picture in my mind's eye, whenever I think of Vietnam . We had made plans to go with 8 others on a brand new, swanky Red Dragon Junk boat for a harbor cruise and overnight stay, but sadly the weather did not cooperate the whole 4 days we were in port. No ships were permitted to sail, per the local government. Many of us were bummed! This is typhoon session and there was a lot of rain and high winds our first couple of days - we were hoping it would blow out the last day and we could at least do a day trip but no luck!
To get to the final stop on our Vietnam FUN Tour in Hue, we had our driver take us on the scenic route called the Hai Van Pass. This 3 hour drive took us back through Da Nang and then into mountains and along coast for what is generally a very scenic route. Unfortunately for us, it was mainly covered in clouds and fog.