Travel Day 3 and Embarkation
Greetings, everyone!
This post picks up on Jan 4th, 2023, at the Santiago Airport, WITH our luggage! Yay!
We find the Silversea representative and he escorts us to the area they are collecting folks. It’s 9:30 AM local. They contact someone at Silversea to find out how to handle us since we were supposed to arrive yesterday and we aren’t on today’s manifest. We are soon told that another couple, last name Mohan, is flying in today and are also going to the Silver Cloud. We will wait for them and then a driver will take us to the charter airport. The hotel where the others have been waiting is too far away to take us there and then return. The chart airport is only 10 minutes away.
The Mohans arrive a little early, and the driver leads us to the shuttle. Sure enough, 10 minutes later we pull into the small airport. Our bags are taken inside and we are led to another building set up as an airport terminal with Silversea signage everywhere!
We are given flight tickets, but we were never given luggage tags. I made tags from scrap boarding passes and used the tag holders we thought to bring for each bag! Then we realize we are given tickets for a 3:00 PM flight while the Mohans are given a 1:30 flight. Sandra Espinoza, the lead of the operations there, explained to us that aircraft alternate taking off from here and from another nearby airport. The 3:00 flight leaves from the other airport. Joy asks why can’t we be on the 1:30 flight so we can get to the ship and clean up and get something to eat since they didn’t let us go the hotel to clean up and get lunch? They immediately began providing us peanuts and cookies – snacks help, but that’s only part of the problem. We missed seeing the hotel. We missed meeting our travel companions. We missed lunch. Sandra put in the request to change us to the first flight, but she went one step further – she looked into which of the four aircraft coming from Puerto Williams would land and turn around first – that’s the one she wanted to put all four of us on! This became the 1:30 flight, and about an hour later we had tickets for that flight.
When the plane arrived we watched a lot of the people pass by on the way to the bus to their day room hotel. Most wouldn’t talk to us. It wasn’t until the line backed up and people were trapped that they began answering questions. They were on the 18-day cruise that also went to South Georgia and the Falkland Islands. They confirmed they used all of the layers, and every landing was wet. They missed Elephant Island so the Captain used the extra day to give them a tour of the Chilean Fjords on their return. They told us we’d love the excursion team, but Lee, the team lead, left with them so we won’t have her.
Soon it was time for us to board!
Our plane is an AVRO RJ85 (Regional Jet – 85 passengers) operated by Antarctica Airways! It is nicely set up in a 2-3 seat configuration – two seats on the left, three seats on the right. We have the two seats on the left. And the seat pitch, that is, the distance front to back, is excellent! I could step out without making Joy get up and step into the aisle!
Our flight was planned to be 3 hrs 50 min. (It’s a long way from the middle of Chile to the southern end!) We had fabulous views during the flight – there were apparent volcanoes, probably dormant, but??? And the weather kicked our collective butts again. severe headwinds prevented all four flights from reaching Puerto Williams with one tank of gas – all four had to make an emergency stop for more fuel in Punta Arenas, about 35 minutes out from Puerto Williams.
We passed by Ushuaia before touching down in Puerto Williams. We were supposed to fly into Ushuaia in our original itinerary. I’m still not sure why that was changed. There is no transparency here.
I get my first glimpse of the Silver Cloud as we are on final approach, flaps at full!
Soon we are off the aircraft, and with carry-on bags in hand we take a short walk to a series of buses. We pass a very interesting marina with a scuttled ship serving as the main pier! Very unique!
Ten minutes later we arrive at the ship! Our plane was the first in and our bus is the second to arrive. Nice!
We check in to the ship and are escorted to our cabin. We are surprised to learn our escort is also our cabin attendant, Karen!
Inside the cabin we see that our gear is already here – parkas, backpacks, live preservers, trekking poles, and waterproof boots! When our bags arrive on the ship we’ll be ready!
