A four-hour flight from Santiago and we arrived at Puerto Williams (after refueling at Punta Arenas). Puerto Williams has a population of less than 3000, many of whom are associated with the Chilean naval base that was built to ensure Chilean land and fishing rights vs Argentina. In fact, the Silver Wind was docked at the base, as the cruise terminal is still under construction.
The Silver Wind is not what I expected. My only previous Silversea Expedition cruise was in 2022 while visiting the Galapagos Islands. The Silver Origin was purpose-built for that puepose. Whereas the Silver Wind was once a general-purpose pleasure cruise ship, converted in 2021 to an expedition vessel by strengthen her hull to resist ice in polar regions. But due to that history the Wind has all the pleasure cruise amenities that you’d find on the Silver Moon (on which I sailed last year), just smaller. New to me is the “Photo Studio”, equipped with Macs and PCs that have photo editing software installed (Photoshop and Lightroom). They don’t have video editing software, so I’m still glad I brought my laptop. However, they do have fantastic photo printers (for an extra cost).
The Origin can carry 100 guests, while the Wind maxes out at 274. So the Wind has all the restaurants and bars you’d expect of a pleasure cruise . This cruise has 224 guests:
- Australia – 32
- Belgium – 3
- Brazil – 4
- Canada – 8
- China – 5
- Czech Republic – 2
- Ecuador – 2
- Finland – 2
- Germany – 6
- Greece – 2
- Ireland – 1
- Italy – 2
- Mexico – 2
- Netherlands – 2
- New Zealand – 2
- Philippines – 11
- Singapore – 2
- UK – 35
- USA – 99
- Vietnam – 2
To support this, the expedition team of guides and organizers number more than 25. That is in addition to all the hotel staff, butlers, cooks, crew, etc.
When I was explaining the cruise last week, a friend asked “what do you do when you aren’t exploring land?” Well, today was our first “sea day”, and the agenda is:
- 7:30, Breakfast
- 9:00, IAATO and Zodiac briefing (required)
- 10:15, boot and parka exchange (if needed)
- 11:30, Lecture – Birds of the Southern Ocean
- 12:30, Lunch
- 14:00, Lecture – Brief History of Cartography
- 15:15, Team Trivia contest
- 16:00, Lecture – Introduction of Glacial Landforms
- 17:00, Lecture – Ceteaceans
- 18:45, Cocktails with ship’s officers
- 19:30, Dinner with Staff Captain
If you are bored on these cruises, it’s your own fault.