Princess’ Andes and Cape Horn Grand Adventure is made up of three cruise segments: Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires to San Antonio (Santiago), and San Antonio to Los Angeles. The entire adventure is 49 days! We’re only on the second and third segment which is 30 days. And tonight Tony & I both agreed that we’ve probably reached our maximum days of cruising. We’re still having fun, but we’re looking forward to the last half of this cruise and disembarking in Los Angeles on the 23rd.
With all that being said, none of the disembarking, embarking activities affected our day. We were heading out for a wine tour that I had booked through Cruise Critic. Like Wednesday, we were up, fed and ready to leave by 8:30. After meeting our tour group of 8 more couples we head off ship to meet our tour guide. Walking out of the port we’re met by our bus driver and quickly on our way to our first winery, just 20 minutes from San Antonio.
Casa Marin is the first Chilean winery owned and operated by a female, Maria Luz Marin. Because the vineyard is close to the coast and therefore cooler, they produced primarily white wines up until a few years ago when they had their first harvest pinot noir. After a tour of the grounds, we are ready for our first of two tastings of the day. And it’s only 11am! Our tasting consists of 2 whites and a red. Surprisingly, both Tony & I enjoyed one of the white wines more than the red and decided to purchase a few bottles.
 |
| Casa Marin |
 |
| Mosaic statute on porch |
 |
Gewürztraminer grapes - performs best in cooler climate.
|
 |
| Tourists |
 |
| The Harvest has begun |
Back on the road, we head for the second winery. Both of us comment on how the area reminds us of our Mediterranean climate in San Diego. We’re dropped off at a beautiful vine covered pergola where cheese, fruit juices and more white wine is waiting for us. After unwinding, ‘cause it’s been such a hectic morning, we tour the production are. It’s the end of summer down here and this winery did it’s first harvest yesterday. Boxes of grapes, and bees, were abundant!
 |
| Table grapes hanging from the pergola |
After the tour we head further into the vineyards where we enjoy a typical Chilean BBQ with beef, pork and chick accompanied by salad and other vegetables. The alfresco setting was wonderful, made even better by the perfect weather, 80 degrees, a slight breeze, blue skies and no humidity. Oh, and quite a few bottles of wine set on the table.
 |
| Fresco Dining Table |
 |
| Awesome lunch - and everything was so fresh! |
 |
| Real grapes for sales counter decoration. |
Tummies full, we board the bus and head back to port. We have a ship to catch and it’s scheduled to leave at 5. Key word, scheduled. As we head toward the port we see the big fog bank hanging in the sky and we know the weather will not be the same as we descend back to sea level on the other side of the hill.
Back on the ship with our six bottles of newly acquired wine, we head up to our cabin as Captain Nick Nash announces that the port has been closed due to heavy fog. He’s hoping the fog will lift shortly and we’ll be able to sail away by 8pm. There’s another port waiting for us up the coast.
About ninety minutes later, I’m awaken by the Captain’s announcement that the fog has lifted and we will be sailing shortly. Tony’s still resting, so I step out onto the balcony and watch the shoreline disappear as we leave San Antonio.
Another wonderful day on our Grand Adventure.
 |
| The harbor of San Antonio, Chile |
 |
| The fog has lifted and we're sailing away. |
No comments:
Post a Comment