Day 19/41: Friday, February 14, 2020: At Sea, Last Day of Segment 2

Our final day at sea on Segment 2. It is therefore going to be leisurely day. I attended a couple of final lectures by the members of the Expedition Team that will be disembarking in Valparaiso. Seven members will be leaving and, at least some, will be replaced with other experts of the region we will be going next. I believe all the Expedition Team members will be leaving the cruise in Sydney.

Sarah arrived in Santiago very early today (around midnight) and checked in to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Santiago. She will spend the day in Santiago and Saturday, she will be escorted to the ship. I expect to see her in the afternoon.

Day 18/40: Thursday, February 13, 2020: Puerto Montt

Today we anchor in Puerto Montt. We stopped here last December on our Viking cruise and it is where SIL Stephen and I went on a hike and I fell off the mountain. Still recovering from that one. This visit there is no hike, but we do have an excursion to visit the City of Puerto Varas and Lake

Day 17/39: Wednesday, February 12, 2020: Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

We did not stop in Puerto Chacabuco when we did our cruise around South America last December. It is not a large city, only about 1,600 inhabitants. Puerto Chacabuco is a town located in the Aysen region, in northern Patagonia, Chile. It is the most important seaport in the region because it allows the conection to Puerto Montt. Furthermore, it is the starting point of many navegations towards the Laguna San Rafael and the Northern Ice Fields. (https://www.gochile.cl/en/puerto-chacabuco).

Another cruise ship, the Norwegian Star, came in right after we arrived.