DAY 17 Jan 29 - Puerto San Martin( Pisco), Peru

We were in sight of the rather desolate port of General San Martin as soon as the sun came up at 6 o’clock. It was quickly apparent we were now firmly in desert country and this terrain would continue to dominate over the next few days as we cruise down well into Chilean territory.

It was good to see the sun rising once again after two gloomy sunless days while in Callao and Lima. It had been the first time in two weeks that the skies had been so overcast and threatening.

This was turning out to be a lovely morning with temperatures expected to be in the mid-80s in the afternoon. Just the kind of day for side trip on a boat

As we left Callao last evening it was interesting to see that the small British registered cruise liner, the Saga Ruby, had arrived in port as part of her world cruise. We have friends that have cruised extensively on her and they speak very highly of the ship, it’s British officers and Filipino crew.

Further out of port we passed a small craggy island where the clouds presented an interesting formation and was worth of a photograph. Perched on top of the Island was a lighthouse to warn ships to stay clear.

When we eventually retired last night, after again missing the nightly perfor-mance in the show lounge, we were met with a Deden special, this time a monkey on a hanger.

Once the pilot was on board this morning, shortly before 6.00 am, Captain Albert and Chief Officer Ane Smit could be seen on the extended bridge accompanied by the pilot measuring up their bearing to our final destination of the day and ensuring the ship was carefully brought along side the dock.

Puerto San Martin is named after the great South American liberator General Jose de San Martin. This area is significant in Peruvian history as the birthplace of Peru's struggle for independence. In the month of July, 1821, San Martin triumphantly entered the city of Lima, proclaims independence.

It was after the liberation of Argentina from the Spanish that San Martin next turned his attention to the Spanish stronghold of Peru.

Then after months of slow advances he won a decisive victory against the Spanish at the Battle of Pisco on 6 December, 1820. It was after this that he and his army sailed north from this area to prepare for the liberation of Peru. Thus the naming of this port - Puerto General San Martin.

Together with Simón Bolívar in the north, San Martín is regarded as one of the Liberators of Spanish South America. He is a national hero in Argentina, Chile and Peru.

The port itself is pretty sparse and is surrounded by baron desert terrain as this region is part of the south Peru coastal desert plain. There is no actual town here with Pisco being the nearest areas of population about 10 miles away. The coastal town of Pisco originally prospered because of its nearby vineyards and is the namesake of the Peruvian grape brandy, pisco. However, the original port at Pisco has now been replaced, other than for some fishing boats use, by the General San Martin deep water port where we docked.

Our table mates Mary Ellen and Bruce have booked us for a 9.30 trip including boat ride to the highlight of the area, the Ballestas Islands found in the Pacific just north of the port and close by Pisco. They are sometimes known as the 'poor man's Gallapagos'.

We boarded our boat at the small seaside resort town near Playa El Chaco in the bay of Paracas, just 10 miles south along the shore from where we docked. There were about 40 of us on board made up of several nationalities including a group from China.

We soon headed to the Ballestas Islas. The Islands form part of the Reserva Nacional de Isles Ballestas, which is now also a UNESCO heritage site for wildlife.

On the way we passed several shoals of dolphins, which we were informed, had come up from the Antarctic.

They were an amazing site to watch as they skimmed along past us at high speed.

The whole experience was quite exhilarating as we moved swiftly to the first of the Islands.

Here we saw an incredible amount of wild life including Cormorants, Boobies and Humboldt penguins on the rocks. There were just thousand upon thousands of these wonderful creatures all coexisting together on the rugged rocks of the Islands.

Other birds were also well represented here. The local penguins are of a breed that's very scarce in world terms and there was plenty of them on display.

The masses of birds mean a deluge of droppings or guano as it's called in Peru, surround the islands, which are readily collected-up for use as fertilizer and the points of exportation are prominent in the landscape.

A wonderful surprise for us was seeing seals and sea lions scattered among the rocks round the islands. We even saw and heard a colony of sea lions controlled by a huge bull lion.

In the main they were resting and sunning themselves on the warm rock face with the exception of one seal who dived into the water as we approached him.

On the way to and from the islands we passed and had wonderful views of 'The Candelabra' a huge prehistoric carving etched into a sloping hill at Pisco Bay.

This strange figure looks vaguely like a candlestick; thus, its name "The Candelabra of the Andes." The Candelabra is 595 feet long and can be seen from as far as 12 miles out to sea. It is one of the most amazing giant ground drawings (or "geoglyphs") in South America. Scholars are puzzled why such a figure would be placed where it could be seen best by sailors.

Some say the gigantic carvings look like a Jimson weed! It is also known that there is a miniature version of the Candelabra drawn on a rock in California's Cleveland National Forest. An association therefore of the two 'Candelabras' has been made.

The ancient inhabitants of Peru voyaged to California to collect Jimson weed and other hallucinatory drugs. When they sailed back to Peru with their cargo, it is thought, they used the Pisco geoglyph as a navigational aid!

We were soon passing the Prinsendam as we headed to our disem-barkation point after this quite unique and exciting trip to the Ballestas Islands.

This had been a ‘not to be missed’ excursion and again it had been a National Geographic type experience. It had been a truly wonderful morning and all for the price of just $45 each including private car to and from the ship. Thank you Mary Ellen for organizing it.

By 1.30 we were back on board the Prinsendam and ready for our lunch and a look through the hundreds of photos we had taken during this unforgettable nature trip.