A Delayed Departure From Puerto Williams Aboard the Silver Wind

We woke to light rain and our first proper view of Puerto Williams. Our first impression? It is definitely not Ushuaia.

After breakfast we walked into “town,” though in hindsight that may have been slightly optimistic wording. None of the stores were open, which honestly made sense because technically we were not even supposed to be there. The voyage should have departed the previous evening.

The road leading uphill into the village was full of muddy potholes and standing water. It actually made the roads near our place in Flinders look remarkably well maintained.

Meanwhile the passengers whose charter flight had diverted to Punta Arenas the previous night finally arrived around 10 a.m. Naturally everyone assumed we would leave shortly afterward. Instead another announcement arrived around 11 a.m. informing us that departure would be delayed again due to weather conditions.

At that point the expedition already sat roughly 24 hours behind schedule, which felt slightly concerning considering we still needed to cross a large section of the South Atlantic and we were heading into rough weather.

Exploring the Silver Wind Expedition Ship

Since we unexpectedly had another full day alongside the dock, we spent most of the time familiarizing ourselves with the Silver Wind.

The ship definitely felt more like a traditional cruise ship than the newer expedition vessels we had sailed on with Quark and Aurora. Lots of dark wood. More formal spaces. More attention paid to the bars than the mudroom.

Food quickly became one of the more important discoveries.

For early mornings, the Panorama Lounge on Deck 8 became our regular coffee stop. It opened at 6 a.m. with pastries and light breakfast options, and produced much better coffee than the pod machine in the cabin.

La Terrazza on Deck 7 handled the main buffet breakfast starting at 7 a.m., though it felt surprisingly crowded. The Restaurant on Deck 4 offered a quieter à la carte option beginning at 8 a.m. This was our preferred option for breakfast, and there were usually only a handful of other guests.

Lunch options included a buffet in La Terazza, The Grill outside, and The Restaurant. If the weather was nice, we preferred The Grill. Otherwise, the Restaurant. Never the buffet.

Afternoon tea appeared daily in the Panorama Lounge, which also included a cigar room because apparently this was still a very different demographic from the expedition ships we normally sail on.

Dinner options included La Terrazza for Italian, The Grill, and The Restaurant, while La Dame offered a seven-course fine dining experience with an additional surcharge. I think it was USD $65 per person.

We actually ended up eating at La Dame once after the staff repeatedly managed to feed me onions despite my dietary requirements. To their credit, they comped the meal as an apology.

I’m generally not a seven-course tasting menu kind of person. Supposedly jackets are required there as well, though the staff admitted they relaxed the rules a bit for expedition itineraries.

I have to admit though, it was an exceptionally good meal with excellent wine pairings. About halfway through we actually had to leave and walk around the ship for a while because the amount of food was becoming slightly overwhelming.

Life Onboard the Silver Wind

Once we started wandering around the ship properly, we found a surprising number of useful spaces hidden throughout the decks.

The self-service laundry on Deck 4 quickly became one of the most important discoveries of the voyage. Not only was it free, but they provided detergent.

Deck 3 housed the mudroom and medical center. Thankfully, we never needed the latter. The mudroom seemed like an after thought, with only enough room to store boots. That said, it worked fine for getting on and off the ship without too much waiting.

For leaving the ship, there was a Virkon rinse to step through on your way to the Zodiacs.

And when you came back, there was an automatic boot scrubber, as well as an expedition team member with a pressure-washer.

The lecture theatre, which Silversea called the Show Lounge, spread across Decks 5 and 6. If you entered from Deck 6 you arrived at the top seating area, while Deck 5 connected through the back of the bar. If you didn’t want to go to the Show Lounge, you could also watch via TV in the cabin.

Deck 5 also contained the Dolce Vita bar, where a guitarist performed in the evenings around 6 p.m. and again later at night. Most alcohol was included in the fare, unless you wanted a particularly special wine or premium spirits.

The boutique on Deck 5 felt enormous compared to expedition shops we were used to, though much of it focused on watches, jewelry, and cufflinks rather than expedition gear. Cufflinks?

There was also a surprisingly serious photo editing area with rows of Macs and PCs available for guests.

Deck 8 held the gym, spa at the bow of the ship, a pool and two jacuzzis mid-ship, and the Panorama Lounge in the aft. There was also a nice area outside of the Panorama Lounge which was protected by the wind so a great place for photography.

Deck 9 contained the observation library at the bow of the ship. It stayed quieter than Panorama while still offering excellent views.

There was even a running track on Deck 9. If I remember correctly, eight laps equaled a mile.

Boot Exchanges and Muster Drills

Around midday the expedition team announced a gear exchange.

Unlike some expedition operators, Silversea does not include expedition boots automatically. Instead guests rent them through Ship to Shore, which costs roughly the same as buying your own boots but saves you from carrying them around for weeks.

The boots themselves were lighter and less heavy-duty than the thick insulated expedition boots we had used elsewhere, though for late-season conditions they looked perfectly adequate.

Andy exchanged both his boots and parka. His original boots were slightly too small and he decided to size up his jacket to a 3XL. My own parka was slightly oversized but perfectly fine, while my boots sat somewhere in the awkward zone between “a little snug” and “probably acceptable with thinner socks.”

Later in the afternoon we also completed the muster drill. Compared with previous expedition cruises, this one felt remarkably relaxed. They called passengers deck by deck to their muster stations. Ours was the Panorama Lounge on Deck 8. We brought our life jackets with us but never actually practiced putting them on or walking to the lifeboats. A crew member essentially told us: “If you hear the signal, bring your life jacket and come here.” That was pretty much the entire drill.

The Expedition Briefing

That evening everyone gathered in the Show Lounge for the main expedition overview. We met the expedition leader and learned more about the voyage itself. The expedition team included 28 staff members supporting 202 guests representing 14 different nationalities. Interestingly, 32 passengers were continuing directly from the previous Antarctica voyage. Not surprisingly, the largest group onboard came from the United States with 91 guests. More surprising was that Australians were the second-largest group with 46 passengers. Meanwhile the crew outnumbered passengers with 239 people representing 48 nationalities.

Finally, around 7 p.m., the Silver Wind pulled away from the dock in Puerto Williams. At that point we were already roughly 24 hours behind schedule. Honestly, it was starting to feel like this expedition might become very interesting for reasons unrelated to penguins.

Next up- –> A Day in Stanley and a Visit to Gypsy Cove