Another Live from the Oosterdam? 1/29-2/20

[0106]

We are docked in Montevideo.  Another industrial port requiring a shuttle to the terminal.  Very warm and sunny day.  We will get off after the hoards to explore on our own.  

[0106]

Weather…it can change in a minute.Glad we waited to go ashore.

 

Love the movies on demand.  

[0106]

I’ve never been confident of the term “fresh” fish on HAL but I just watched actual fresh fish unloaded from a refrigerator truck at the dock.  It was removed from ice, set on the scale and weighed, all supervised by a chef who appeared to be checking quality.  Please excuse the raindrops on the window.

[0106]

I just spoke to a chef in the Lido.  He said it is mahi mahi and red snapper, expect to see it on the MDR menu tomorrow.  Yum!

[NorbertsNiece]

Here you are

 

 

And a satellite view with all local vessels!

 

[0106]

Montevideo is an easy town to self explore. The Mercato is directly across the street from the terminal. This smell of grilled meat was intoxicating, but I have eaten more meat in the past three days than I have eaten in the entire last year. We walked for about two hours, window shopping and people watching. Many of the streets are pedestrian walkways. 
 

 

I love the costumes of Carnival so we went to the museum.  $300 pesos for two people which was a $7.66 charge on my credit card.

 

 

 

 

 

The sun is shining, time for a dip in the pool.

[Sea42]

4 hours ago, 0106 said:

Montevideo is an easy town to self explore. The Mercato is directly across the street from the terminal. This smell of grilled meat was intoxicating, but I have eaten more meat in the past three days than I have eaten in the entire last year. We walked for about two hours, window shopping and people watching. Many of the streets are pedestrian walkways. 
 

 

I love the costumes of Carnival so we went to the museum.  $300 pesos for two people which was a $7.66 charge on my credit card.

 

 

 

 

 

The sun is shining, time for a dip in the pool.

The mannequins, to me, are kind of scary! I would be waiting for one to jump out at me. The costumes are great though.

[0106]

Leaving Montevideo.

[Btimmer]

Enjoy your cruise, we are now home safe and sound after disembarking the day you embarked.  We did the HAL transfer to the airport and a city tour but we still got to the airport at noon for a 10:30pm flight to Dallas and then a connecting Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle.  Enjoy your cruise.  Punta del Este is another walkable town (don't miss the Hand monument and the lighthouse).

[slewis7]

@Btimmer  unfortunately HAL canceled Punta del Este for this cruise.  We get Castro instead, later on.

 

Today, after a brief tour of Montevideo, we were taken to the Bouza Winery by our private guide.  It is an absolutely beautiful property.  We had a tour of the facilities and sampled 4 wines accompanied by delicious tapas.  All 4 wines were excellent.  We enjoyed it!

Edited February 1 by slewis7

[NorbertsNiece]

We also missed Punta del Este on the Christmas cruise. Weather related. No alternate offered.

 

Current location.

 

 

Edited February 1 by NorbertsNiece

[0106]

4 hours ago, Btimmer said:

we still got to the airport at noon for a 10:30pm flight

We have a private transfer to the Santiago airport with a tour of Valparaiso & Vino del Mar, a lunch break and a stop at a winery in the Casablanca valley before being dropped at the airport in the late afternoon.  I am dreading the time we will have to spend in the airport before our midnight flight.  I know your flight home was from Buenos Aires.  Do you have any insight to the airport in Santiago?  I am specifically interested in if you can check your bags when you arrived and the area where wait for your flight.  I always appreciate your well travelled advice.

Edited February 1 by 0106

[slewis7]

Looking ahead to Port Stanley, the weather forecast for Sunday currently shows windy conditions.  Hopefully we will have calmer weather. 
 

According to the following relevant web site:

https://www.falklands.gov.fk/maritimeauthority/coastal-state/local-notices-to-mariners/69-local-notice-to-mariners-01-2022#:~:text=Wind condition limitations for tendering,small passenger tenders and zodiacs.

 

“Wind condition limitations for tendering operations

When the wind conditions are sustained 30 and gusting above 30Kts, Stanley harbour will be closed for fishing vessels and all small passenger tenders and zodiacs. Additionally, the harbour may be closed at wind speeds below these limits on direction of the Harbour Master.”

[0106]

I really hope we make the Falkland Islands so we can see the penguins.🐧🐧🐧

 

I have been using this website to monitor the winds. https://www.windy.com/-51.700/-57.850?-51.838,-57.850,9

[kazu]

1 hour ago, 0106 said:

We have a private transfer to the Santiago airport with a tour of Valparaiso & Vino del Mar, a lunch break and a stop at a winery in the Casablanca valley before being dropped at the airport in the late afternoon.  I am dreading the time we will have to spend in the airport before our midnight flight.  I know your flight home was from Buenos Aires.  Do you have any insight to the airport in Santiago?  I am specifically interested in if you can check your bags when you arrived and the area where wait for your flight.  I always appreciate your well travelled advice.

 

I’m not Btimmer but I believe Santiago airport has luggage storage in case that is of any help.

[Btimmer]

4 hours ago, 0106 said:

We have a private transfer to the Santiago airport with a tour of Valparaiso & Vino del Mar, a lunch break and a stop at a winery in the Casablanca valley before being dropped at the airport in the late afternoon.  I am dreading the time we will have to spend in the airport before our midnight flight.  I know your flight home was from Buenos Aires.  Do you have any insight to the airport in Santiago?  I am specifically interested in if you can check your bags when you arrived and the area where wait for your flight.  I always appreciate your well travelled advice.

I didn't note the outbound facilities at Santiago, so I have no recommendations.  On our first voyage 8 years ago, we did a similar wine tour transfer to the ship from Santiago. Chile has nice wines.

 

Castro is a nice port stop and we did a wonderful private excursion there on the GSA. My blog has the details.

[0106]

Thanks to everyone who attended the Meet & Greet.  I thought it was wonderful we got to “mingle” while we waited for additional chairs and a working microphone.  I hope everyone was able to find people to participate in onboard activities and the people you were privately touring with in port.  

[slewis7]

Me and my lovely wife tried the Dive-In for lunch today.  We were both quite pleased with the food.  I would rate it above Oceania, Viking and Celebrity for this fare.  The burger, fries and shake were all outstanding as were the sauces.

Edited February 1 by slewis7

[0106]

I just left the first lecture on the earliest explorers of the Antarctic.He recommended a book called The Worst Journey in the World as best book describing the actual experiences of the early explorers.

[0106]

So happy to have “cooking”demonstrations on sea days.  Chef Thomas Schumann is personable, funny and a great presenter.  He is German and made a Black Forest Cake.  The recipe was provided and the cake will be on the menu this evening.

Ed displaying the final product.

Edited February 1 by 0106

[slewis7]

37 minutes ago, 0106 said:

He recommended a book called The Worst Journey in the World as best book describing the actual experiences of the early explorers.

When the lecturer mentioned that book, I jumped on Amazon and was able to purchase an illustrated Kindle version of it for just $0.99!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MK5GMDG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edited February 1 by slewis7

[Btimmer]

30 minutes ago, slewis7 said:

When the lecturer mentioned that book, I jumped on Amazon and was able to purchase an illustrated Kindle version of it for just $0.99!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MK5GMDG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I read Shackleton's "South" while on our journey.  It's chilling to say the least and he's the actual explorer.

[0106]

My book recommendation is Madhouse at the End of the Earth.  The story of the Belgica which visited Antartica in 1897, 20 years before Shakleton.  The first mate was the legendary explorer Roald Amundsen.  The book is based on the crews diaries & journals and the ship’s log book. 

[Sea42]

1 hour ago, slewis7 said:

When the lecturer mentioned that book, I jumped on Amazon and was able to purchase an illustrated Kindle version of it for just $0.99!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MK5GMDG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The author sounds like he had an incredible experience on the Terra Nova expedition. I can't wait to read a different account of exploring Antarctica.

[SilvertoGold]

0106:

Wonderful posts and tantalising photos. Also appreciate seeing your menus. Would you know the name of the Hotel General Manager?  Great that you have Chef Schumann, a long term HAL Chef who turns our some real German desserts that are as stasty aas they look good!