Intrepid explorer Edward Stephens sets sail on the cruise of a lifetime.
Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and the Falklands on one cruise was too tempting a combination to turn down.
What I didn’t do before booking, however, was take a close look at the map of South America. If I had I might have noticed the potential fly in the ointment.
To sail from Chile on the west coast to Uruguay on the east – a distance of 5,366 miles – you first have to sail around the infamous Cape Horn, the graveyard of many a mariner.
But by the time the penny dropped the die had been cast, and I decided to put the thought of ship high waves and gale force winds to the back of my mind – and pack a box of sea sickness tablets just in case.
In the event the gods looked favourably on me. The much feared waters barely raised a ripple – and I breathed a hefty sigh of relief.
But first things first. To join our ship, the majestic Star Princess, we flew from Heathrow to Santiago, Chile, via Madrid with the Spanish national airline Iberia.
It was February, and while the temperature in Birmingham was just nudging zero the thermometer on the narrow coastal strip of land on the west coast of South America which encompasses Chile was in the low 20s. In that part of the world our winter is their summer.
A seamless but informative cross-country transfer through a region dominated by vineyards found us on the harbour front at Valperaiso starring up at the all-white majesty of the 18 deck, 1,000-foot-long Star Princess. People take cruises for various reasons. For many it’s the destinations, for some it’s life on board ship and the activities on offer.
The Chile to Rio via Cape Horn trip is a cruise which ticks the boxes of both camps because the destinations are so appealing but at the same time there are a number of sea days between them so passengers can relax and enjoy the superb facilities of the vessel.
Our first three days at sea saw us heading south, down the west coast towards Antarctica, and the weather got progressively colder. On board there was more than enough to do. On a typical day we flitted from trivia quiz to guest lecture – bizarrely on one day it was on the Titanic – to a session in the glass-roofed indoor pool or the gym. After all when you have food available 24-hours a day you have to do some something to keep the pounds off.
Early on day four Star Princess finally left the Pacific Ocean and turned into the Chilean fjords to escape predicted bad weather and we enjoyed a day of scenic, calm cruising with spectacular rock formations almost within touching distance on either side.
By evening the waters had become choppy and I realised we had popped back out into the Pacific again, but it was only for a short time before turning into the legendary Magellan Straits, reviving schoolboy memories of Ferdinand Magellan, the explorer who discovered the route which allowed ships to pass safely from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean some 400 years before the Panama Canal was opened with the same objective.
From the straits the huge ship anchored off the fiercely remote city of Punta Arenas.
The name means Sandy Point, and the waters were too shallow for Star Princess to get into harbour, so we had to be taken ashore by tender, using the ship’s launches.
Some 200,000 people live in this isolated outpost which, before the opening of the Panama Canal, enjoyed a boom time as it sat astride one of the world’s great trade routes.
It’s still prosperous town even today, thanks to its rich natural resources and adventure awaits in almost every direction as it’s the stepping off point for Chilean Patagonia to the north and the frozen mass of Antarctica to the south.
Our course took us ever south towards Tierra del Fuego, “the land of fire“.
To reach it we turned into the Beagle Channel, named after HMS Beagle, the little ship later made famous because of the voyages of Charles Darwin.
Passage through the channel started early, around 6.00am, and by 6.45am most people were up on deck as the first of the glaciers slid into view. And if I ever had any doubts about global warning it was here that they were dispelled.
While the Italia glacier was magnificent with its vast blue hued ice field refusing to yield to the Antarctic sunshine others, like France and Holland, are now just a shadow of their former selves.
On some the ice has retreated so much that only vast waterfalls are left on the huge rocky outcrops as the thawed ice pours back into the sea.
Having captured the rapidly changing scene on numerous photographs we went for a hearty late breakfast in the Portofino dining room.
Most of the other passengers opted for the more casual self-service breakfast on deck 14 but sometimes on holiday it’s nice to be pampered, and the white coated waiters hovered around like we were the only charges they had that day.
But then they were always that attentive and the five-course dinner each evening before hitting one of the shows or the nightclub was always a fitting end to the day.
Our last port of call before the dreaded Cape was Ushuaia, a former mission town and convict settlement that is now the southernmost city in the world.
It also has the distinction as being at the end of the iconic Pan-American Highway, a feature which draws in a particular breed of tourist.
In this city at the foot of the Andes the average temperature is 10C and you are a long way from other centres of civilisation. Little wonder then that the Argentine government had to come up with tax free incentives for companies starting up there and set wages at three times the national average.
Keeping warm is cheap, however, thanks to natural gas – each resident pays just $10 (£15) every two months.
An excursion from the ship took us out of the town, past the wooden houses with their gingerbread decorations to the fabled island archipelago of Tierra del Fuego, which is owned by Chile.
Here we visited the 240 sq m Tierra del Fuego National Park, the southernmost national park in the world and a favourite with trekkers.
Having spent a day at Ushuaia it was on to Cape Horn, and the sudden realisation that it is not the tip of South America but an island off the tip lying in Chilean territorial waters. Such was the fascination of this tiny treeless land mass with passengers that Captain William Kent who, as well as being master of Star Princess is also a Commander in the Royal Navy Reserve – took the ship around it three times before sailing for the Falklands.
So I can now say that I have actually been “around the horn”.
* Travel Info
* The 16-day Santiago to Rio cruise cost from £2,449 per person, based on two adults sharing an inside stateroom.
* A similar trip next year aboard Star Princess departs on February 4, for 16 nights.
* Itinerary: Sailing from Santiago, ports of call include Punta Arenas, Ushuaia, Cape Horn, Port Stanley, Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Rio de Janerio.
* Prices from £2,799 per person, based on two adults sharing an inside stateroom. Price includes accommodation, return flights from the UK, all main meals and onboard entertainment.
* For more information or to booked call 0845 3 555 800 or visit www.princess.com
