Celebrity Eclipse. 14 Night Argentina Cruise. 11th & 12th March 2020. Cruise through the Magellan Straights. 13th March 2020, Puerto Montt.

The 11th & 12th of March were spent at sea, passing through the Straight of Magellan and the Chilean Fjords. Sadly, the weather was not fantastic and a lot of the scenic parts were passed during the night, but I spent time in the day sitting in the sky lounge and this  was an enjoyable and relaxing journey. 

Covid 19. 

The WHO declared Covid 19 to be a global pandemic on the 11th March 2020 and on the 12th March 2020 the UK Prime Minister held a press conference and confirmed this news. 

Chile had reported 6 cases, but no deaths. 

We did hear people around the ship discussing and debating whether they should get off the ship at the next port - Puerto Montt. There was a fear of getting stuck on the ship. We also discussed this, and decided to go ashore in Puerto Montt and hire a car , have a drive around the lake and up to the Germanic town of Puerto Varas, then see what we thought / how practical it was to consider driving to Santiago. 

13th March 2020, Puerto Montt or the Chiles Lake District.

Puerto Montt is billed as Chiles Lake District and I had booked a ships tour to a folk day and BBQ, but I cancelled this and received a full refund. On the morning we arrived, the 13th March 2020 the destination looked very much like the English Lake District as it was grey, cloudy and pouring with rain. 

It was a tender to go ashore, but due to the rain there was no rush for the boat today! But the passengers on the tender were passengers were getting off the ship with their cases. 

We walked through the town to the location of the car hire companies. The town was very scruffy and there was evidence of the demonstrations that had taken place recently. 

It was also so wet, the rain was incessant, there were many broken drain pipes and we were sloshing though the waters that was spilling out onto the pavements from the broken pipes. 

I don't know if it was due to the weather or just the town but all the car hire shops were closed. So we returned to the ship- soaked to the bone- to a welcome hot shower, hot chocolate and a warm cabin. 

I would like to visit this area again, in better weather as in the afternoon the rain stopped and though still cloudy you could see the scenery was spectacular.