Yesterday was a day at sea and we’ve found out now what adjustments have been made to our itinerary due to leaving a full day late. We will be skipping our stop in Castro, which included our visit to Chiloe National Park, so that’s a bit disappointing but they are likely adding a cruise through the narrow area near Puerto Eden. This is a picturesque area in the waters of Patagonia and depending on tides and currents, we could be spending a bit of time going through this area slowly before arriving at our first stop of Puerto Natales after 3 days at sea. We’ll get to see Torres del Paine National Park as scheduled in Puerto Natales and then we should be back on schedule for the rest of the trip. In the map below, we are not following the blue line completely as we will be offshore until we get into the channel north of Puerto Eden and on to Puerto Natales. After Puerto Natales we will be exploring the fjords south of there before we head for the tip of the continent and on to Antarctica.
It was a mix of sunshine and rain throughout the day with temperatures in the 60’s. It should be getting cooler as we trek south over the next few days, down into the 50’s. Not sure what we’ll see yet for temperatures in the Antarctic, but it will likely be well below that.
We’ve booked a snowshoe excursion on Antarctica when we arrive there, weather permitting, and we’re looking forward to the crossing of the Drake Passage to get there. We’ve been told you either get the “Drake shake” or the “Drake lake” when crossing – either rough or calm waters. The Drake Passage is known as one of the most dangerous and treacherous bodies of water in the world as it mixes the waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. It’s much less feared today by sailors, but nothing to dismiss even though ship safety has improved drastically over the years.
That second picture shows what it could be like in the ship hallways during the Drake Shake (according to some previous cruise ship passengers). It doesn’t look that realistic as none of our ship mates wear suits anywhere on the ship…
We met our captain and the ship’s officers last night – they seem capable and experienced so we have that going for us. The hotel director is the same guy we had on the Spitsbergen 4 years ago when we sailed the coast of Norway! He’s shared some of the same firsts with Hurtigruten that we have!
evertstouring 
Sounds like you two are having a great time!
We love Hurtigrutan! Have only done the northbound Norwegian coastal with them but waiting to hear back about their Alaska trip(s). We have a refundable deposit on a northbound HA trip for now for next May. We are planning that one with our son Scott and granddaughter Berit Wold.
We will follow along on your trip this time as both Scott and I have an interest. He and his son Nicholas were with us on the Norway coastal trip.
Have a safe journey!