Day 07 - 13/Jan/24 - Punta Arenas, Chile
What a chilly and windy day in Punta Arenas it was today. Because of our size we had to tender and boarding the tender was some of the most challenging we've experienced in a long time. While tendering started at 7am, we didn't tender off until nearly 9am, and no tender tickets were required. For today I had 3 goals on this repeat visit: visit the wreck of the frigate Lord Lonsdale, visit the Sara Braun house, and visit the beautiful city cemetery where Sara Braun is buried. Would we make it?
After passing through the scanner in the little cruise terminal where they are really looking for food brought ashore, we turned left and headed south into a stiff wind from the south along the nice walkway for 1.4 miles and found the wreck behind the naval base. We could approach it from the beach. What's the big deal about this wreck besides it's being beached in Punta Arenas? In 1909, this 10 year old ship was sailing from Germany and had to sail around the Horn because the Panama Canal hadn't yet been built. At Stanley, Falkland Islands, it caught fire and was sunk. After the fire, the steel hull was refloated and sold to a firm who wanted to repurpose it as a warehouse in South America.. So it was towed some 560 miles to Punta Arenas, where under mysterious circumstances it was abandoned and beached where it remains today as a monument to seafarers.
After taking a few pictures, we retraced our steps back to the port area and encountered a couple from the ship who were looking for directions. It turned out they were from Whidbey Island, but grew up near where we currently live when not cruising. They were looking for a grocery store so we walked with them to the nearby grocery store. They then accompanied us to the Sara Braun house where we toured the house. So what is the big deal about Sara Braun? Before the opening of the Panama Canal, Punta Arenas was an important stopping point and shelter for ships coming around the Horn. With opening of the Canal, the local economy was facing collapse. Sara, a wealthy widow, came up with a plan to raise sheep. This saved the town and she was revered for her foresight. Her house is located right next to the main square. Part of the house is a museum and it was $4US per person to tour the two stories. The other part of the house is a restaurant.
We got separated from our new friends and continued walking north along the main street about 1.5 miles to the large city cemetery. The huge main gate was donated by Sara And she is buried in the SE corner in a pretty ornate crypt. By the way, cemeteries of this type were used as places for families to come and party. The entrance fee was $5US per person. The center of the Cemetery is filled with elaborate crypts (wealthy families) and on the outer walls have tall stacks of small vaults for cremated remains.
I met my goal but there would be more. We retraced our way back to the Main Square and found the small Maritime Museum and spent about an hour in it. The entrance fee was by donation.
We finished up our day with some fish soup at La Luna Cafe which we ate at on our previous visit. It was once again wonderful. Afterwards we made our way back to the port and boarded the bobbing tender which took us back to the Oosterdam. It had been a wonderful day in Punta Arenas and we even had discussions about what we would visit on a return visit.
Onboard we dropped our coats and backpacks in the stateroom and went to the Lido for some hot tea. We sat there for a few hours watching the scenery when at 6 pm the Captain came on the PA system and announced that we were leaving 2.5 hours late at 8:30pm because of a delayed HAL excursion. Today proved the value of booking a HAL excursion and I am guessing that the delayed excursion was the flights to/from the National Park. He further announced that tendering had to be stopped during the day due to high winds (40 knots) and rain. Because of the delay, the run to Ushuaia would be a high speed run and we would arrive a couple hours early.
Following a South American themed dinner, we enjoyed the Step One Dance Company in their performance of Humanity. It was refreshing to see them again after many days without them on the ships we've been traveling on. They do get boring for me when we sail back to back HAL ships and they are the principal entertainment.
Afterwards we listened to Adam perform two sets of top 100 R&B hits in the Billboard onboard and he was once again very good. I composed much of this blog while listening to him.
Tomorrow will be our last port for a number of sea days and we're planning on walking the town as we've never been able to do that on our previous visits.
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