Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Holland America's Zaandam

We have just returned from the trip of a lifetime onboard ms Zaandam, one of the Holland America fleet. It surpassed all expectations......the scenery, glaciers, birds, whales, places. It was without doubt, the best trip we have ever done and we would seriously recommend it. We were away for 3 weeks, the longest we have ever been away from home and the farthest we have ever been. The trip was just fantastic and we hope you enjoy looking at all our photos.

Karen hasn't yet completed her bird list but we saw well over 200 species with about 160 new ones. The highlight of the trip being a pod of killer whales !

We had excellent weather the whole time with just one half day of rough sea. Our Captain said in his whole sailing career he had never known such calm sea as we sailed around Cape Horn, it was flat calm. We made a day's sailing time up with the calm seas so we were treated to a detour to see a glacier that is probably the best thing we have ever seen, breath-taking !


Our home for a few weeks 



Posh dining ! 

The back top deck where we did all our watching.
Here just watching the sun go down after a hard day ! 

 Didn't really understand the meaning of the cows but they looked nice !

The outdoor, unheated pool which was absolutely freezing cold. One man used to do a few lengths each day then quickly run back into the heated pool at the front of the ship. We had one rough day (force 9) as we approached the Falklands, but luckily we sailed through it so we could dock and tender into Post Stanley.  The pool had just about emptied itself as it swilled over the sides ! 

 We met a good crowd of whale and bird watchers and there was always raucous laughter (especially when Mr Blobby was about!)

A world traveller !

'Team Whale' enjoying a relaxing afternoon with calm seas and blue sky somewhere off the coast of Chile.

Sailing through Glacier Alley. The scenery was just breathtaking. We have plenty of pics for you to see of the Chilean Fjords and Glaciers.  It was a tight squeeze. A day we will never forget ! 



 Good night x


 Chris and Ian with Simon on 'whale watch'. We saw 100's !!


 Sailing through the Chilean Fjords, calm seas but as you can see, very cold indeed !

 Flat calm, perfect !


A day at Puerto Montt. No new birds here for us so just had a day walking around the town. Managed to see 3 Father Christmas's. Quite a surreal day really in a town that smelt like a guinea pig's cage!

Our home (we were tendered ashore, they don't expect you to swim !)

 Happy !


 Definitely the trip of a lifetime. How will we beat this one ?

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