Thur 29 Oct. Chilean Fjords. It has been a rock and rolling night in the Pacific Ocean but when we enter the fjords there is a stillness and spectacular scenery - harsh rocky cliffs covered in small trees and lichens. Behind the cliffs the view of the snow capped mountains depends on the clouds which roll in from Antarctica. Almost the only sound is the throb of the engine as we wind our way through these very narrow passages and there is little sign of life beyond one or two sea birds. There are multiple branches of fjords and we are grateful for the GPS. It would be possible to never find your way out of this freezing lonely maze. We travel down one fjord to view the remains of a "ghost ship" Leonides that deliberately founded on rock in 1968. Neil reads and I am immersed in a mega jigsaw puzzle - so addictive.

We are promised a rough ride between 8 - 11pm as we re enter the Pacific on our way south. We all look drunk moving about the ship. The comedian is awful and we propose that Neil and Carol offer to do a show in his stead.

Fri 30 Oct. Chilean Fjords. Today we wake to calm as we once again travel through the fjords; more cliffs, more snowy mountains, occasional showers, occasional sun on brown lichens and ice drifts! About 8 am the chunks of ice are more frequent and larger and we are closing in on the El Buca glacier. The captain halts the ship for 45 minutes about 400 metres from this magnificent sight. El Buca is a tidal glacier 45 kilometres long and still growing. It was first discovered in 1913 but it took until 1998 before a party of Chileans crossed it. Luck is with us and it is dry and cold as we all take our pictures and marvel at the view. A few birds here and one baby seal asleep on an ice flow.

Tomorrow we arrive at Punta Arenas but there are hurricane winds forecast so not sure we will make our excursion which includes a 2 hour ferry ride! A trip to the Falkland Islands in a few days is also weather dependent so we must wait. We have been so lucky with our weather conditions to date but in this part of the world anything could happen.