Montevideo—Bahia Blanca
During the night we crossed the wide mouth of the “Rio de la Plata” (River Plate) estuary. Breakfast time found us in sight of the Argentine Coast, and by mid-morning we had a clear and impressive view of the dense cluster of high rises in the City of Mar del Plata. With a population 570,000, this is Argentina’s biggest and best summer beach resort, crowded from December to March, especially with holidaymakers from Buenos Aires sunning themselves on the 8km of beaches.
A talk was given on the history of Argentina which explained how the country developed during Colonial times with creation of The Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata in 1776, and after independence with the incorporation of Patagonia.
Magellanic penguins were seen swimming in the sea during the morning. The day’s best bird sightings were great petrels, white chinned petrels and black browed albatross. Also seen were little shearwaters and Wilsons stormy petrel.
In the late afternoon we were educated on the surprising history of the Welsh immigrants whosettled in the Chubut valley in 1863. Their descendents are still there and we look forward to visiting them at journey’s end.
Before dinner we had an excellent preview of the trip video shown in the lounge. We were delighted to relive earlier stops at Ilheus, Rio de Janeiro and Paraty.
After dinner a wonderful evening concerto was presented by the ship’s pianist Zbigniew Stemplowski (Ziggy) at the grand piano in the lounge. A selection of 15 pieces were played including, Gershwin, Chopin, Mozart, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Beethoven, Strauss & others followed by sincerely appreciative applause.
By evening the sea was very calm, the sky bright and clear with the Southern Cross visible low in the sky on the port side. This has been a very relaxing day with the promise of entering the port of Bahia Blanca awaits us tomorrow morning.
During the night we crossed the wide mouth of the “Rio de la Plata” (River Plate) estuary. Breakfast time found us in sight of the Argentine Coast, and by mid-morning we had a clear and impressive view of the dense cluster of high rises in the City of Mar del Plata. With a population 570,000, this is Argentina’s biggest and best summer beach resort, crowded from December to March, especially with holidaymakers from Buenos Aires sunning themselves on the 8km of beaches.
A talk was given on the history of Argentina which explained how the country developed during Colonial times with creation of The Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata in 1776, and after independence with the incorporation of Patagonia.
Magellanic penguins were seen swimming in the sea during the morning. The day’s best bird sightings were great petrels, white chinned petrels and black browed albatross. Also seen were little shearwaters and Wilsons stormy petrel.
In the late afternoon we were educated on the surprising history of the Welsh immigrants whosettled in the Chubut valley in 1863. Their descendents are still there and we look forward to visiting them at journey’s end.
Before dinner we had an excellent preview of the trip video shown in the lounge. We were delighted to relive earlier stops at Ilheus, Rio de Janeiro and Paraty.
After dinner a wonderful evening concerto was presented by the ship’s pianist Zbigniew Stemplowski (Ziggy) at the grand piano in the lounge. A selection of 15 pieces were played including, Gershwin, Chopin, Mozart, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Beethoven, Strauss & others followed by sincerely appreciative applause.
By evening the sea was very calm, the sky bright and clear with the Southern Cross visible low in the sky on the port side. This has been a very relaxing day with the promise of entering the port of Bahia Blanca awaits us tomorrow morning.
