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| SUMMER 2010 | ITINERARY PLANNING | SHORE PROGRAMMES | PASSENGER HANDLING |

South Americandiscoveries...

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The 70-day GrandInaugural Voyagewas the perfectopportunity toexperience

Silversea’s new 36,000gt,540 guest Silver Spirit andthe many South Americanports of call the itneraryoffers, in a leisurely fashion.

Departing Florida, first portof call is Tortola for a weekof Caribbean island-hoppingwith the chance to try riverrafting in Dominica, helmet diving in St. Kitts,sailing in Antigua; to sample rum punch on St. Lucia and taste a spicyShark sandwich on a

Trinidad beach. The ShoreConcierge team organise achoice of guided shore ex-cursions to suit all cultural,leisure, sporting interestsand can arrange privatetours. Destinationconsultant John Tarbutt-McCarthy, an historian andworld traveller, gives regularinformative and wellillustrated enrichment talkson forthcoming destinations.

Silver Spirit cruisessouth close to the Braziliancoastline in shallow watersas the temperature keepsrising to reach a steamy107.6F when we take a Schooner boat trip ex-ploring the paradise

Vivien Devlin sailed onthe 70-day inauguralcruise around South

America on boardSilversea’s Silver Spirit,

but did the disparateports of call stack up?

Photography by Ken Scott

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| SUMMER 2010 | ITINERARY PLANNING | SHORE PROGRAMMES | PASSENGER HANDLING |

islands and beaches aroundParati. One morning a huge flock of gannetsswoop, squawk and dive forfish right beside the ship.Wildlife is a majorattraction on this itineraryand it’s wise to havebinoculars (provided in-suite) ready to spotalbatross, frigate birds ordolphins.

Day 25

Dawn, 6.30 a.m. SilverSpirit glides gracefully intoRio de Janeiro as mimosasare served on deck by white-gloved waiters. Christ theRedeemer statue standshigh on CorcovadoMountain; the rising sunbathes Copacabana Beachin a golden glow as we passSugar Loaf Mountain. Atthe Rio Carnival we marvelat the crazy extravaganza of colour, glamour, floats,fireworks and pulsing samba beat. It is a magical,majestic city.

The beauty of this long

cruise is the continualanticipation of waking upin a different city, anothercountry, culture, language.We sail on to Buenos Aires,the “Paris of SouthAmerica” featuring wideboulevards, violetjacaranda blossom,memories of Eva Peronand exciting rhythms ofthe tango. Instead ofrushing to do and seeeverything within a weekor two on a typicalvacation, there’s time to sitstill, appreciate thechanging seascape, skyand climate, luxuriating inlife on board and lazy daysat sea. New horizons,literally, every day.

Over rough seas to theremote British FalklandIslands where about 30 ofus travel in convoy byLand Rover across rockymoonscape to Bluff CoveLagoon, where 2,000Gentoo and King Penguinshuddle on the wildwindswept sandy beach.This magnificent image

amid such bleak, beautifulcoastline is a photographichighlight.

The mercury has nowdropped to under 40 deg F.Due to stormy weather weare unable to sail rightaround Cape Horn butinstead take a calmer routeinland towards Tierra delFuego and the frontier portof Ushuaia, the mostsoutherly town at the end of the world. Here wewake up to the news of adevastating 8.8 magnitudeearthquake in NorthernChile where we are nowheading. Despite the threatof aftershocks and tsunamisalong the Pacific coast, weare assured of safe onwardtravel with no changes tothe scheduled itinerary.

Day 40

Cruising the PatagonianFjords provides a seeminglyendless labyrinth of narrowlagoons, inlets and tinyforested islands, dominatedby the towering snow-

capped peaks of the Andes.It’s freezing with 70 knotAntarctic wind gusts, Force8 gale and wild waves, but asizeable group brave theelements with hot chocolateto warm the blood. As wemeander slowly up theBeagle Channel, Captaingives a geologicalcommentary from theBridge on the spectacularavenue of dazzling white,turquoise-tinted glaciersand gushing cascades ofmelting ice. Travellingthrough this dramatic,

Spirit’s itinery

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surreal, isolated wilderness,only accessible by small ship,is an exhilarating experience.

All guests are taken on acomplimentary seafaring tripby catamaran to Laguna SanRafael dotted with ice floesand icebergs before reachingSan Valentin glacier. Thisgiant wall of ice cracks andgroans as splinters calve off,crashing into the sea. Marksalong the cliff show how far ithas receded in recent yearsdue to global warming; towitness this close up is asobering thought.

Day 55

Crossing the Equator inEcuador the temperature isseriously tropical again formore exciting shoreadventures - an eco jungleboat trip, Costa Rica; coffeeplantation, Guatemala;Mayan ruins and cactusdesert drive, Mexico.Wildlife sightings too – a podof diving dolphins and spout-blowing whales swimmingtowards North America…

where we are now headingto disembark in LosAngeles.

This voyage has been likea mini Gap Year for adults,an intrepid expedition withno backpacking but anopportunity to discoverexciting new ports of callwithin the comfort of anultra luxury ship.

Silver Spirit’sForthcoming cruises...

During the summer of 2010,Silver Spirit operates seven-daycruises in the Mediterraneanwith turnaround ports includingVenice, Civitavecchia, Lisbon,Monte Carlo and Barcelona,finally departing Lisbon on 23 October 2010 on a 14-daytransatlantic to Bridgetown,Barbados. The vessel remainsin Caribbean waters, withturnarounds in Bridgetown andFort Lauderdale, sailing cruiselengths of 7, 9, 10 and fourteen days.

In 2011 Silver Whisper willtravel in January to FrenchPolynesia, moving on to NewZealand and Australia, andonwards in March to HongKong and Singapore, then India,Egypt, and to Southampton viaAthens and the Mediterranean.

During the summer of 2011,Silver Spirit will be in theMediterranean again, operating mostly 7 day cruises,before returning to theCaribbean on 15 October for an autumn season.