From Buenos Aires to Tierra del Fuego is over
2000 kilometres and this summer has been a cold one down south so
it took us a couple of days to get acclimatised (after the steamy
heat of the River Plate). The "land of fire" felt very much like
the "end of the world". We had packed as much warm weather gear
as we could carry and ended up buying more.
The 'far' side of the Andes - looking North to Ushuaia from
over the Beagle Channel
Ushuaia, the capital and the most southerly city in the world, is
small and very dependent on cruise-ship tourism, but we got to
like it over our 5-day stay. The setting, on the shore of the
Beagle Channel with snow-splattered mountains either side, is
gorgeous, but often windy and cold.
We went 70km east by bus to Estancia Harberton, one of the
earliest ranch settlements in Tierra del Fuego, named after the
village near Dartmouth in Devon where the owner's wife grew up.
An appropriately named flag tree shows the prevailing wind
direction at Estancia Harberton
From there we went to a nearby island where penguins breed. With
a guide we were able to walk around and take lots of photos. As
long as we moved slowly they didn't worry, and some were really
quite curious, being used to visitors.
If you've seen Eric and friends in the wild feel free to skip the
next picture section.
"Pass the word - there's another boatload coming!"
The colony - spot the pair of Kings among these Magellans .
. . . . . geese seem to be welcome visitors
"Follow me" . . .
. . . to the beach
back in the colony there are yodelling lessons . .
. . . . and it's a nice day for nest
building
but some of the chicks don't want to give up their fur coats
There's a Tango exhibition . .
. . . . and dancing on the beach
"They're going - we can relax now."
To get back to Ushuaia we took a catamaran ferry up the Beagle
Channel. The scenery is lovely on both sides and spotting the
seabirds - albatrosses, giant petrels, skuas, terns, gannets and
others - is very entertaining.
Albatross
Gannets and seals on one of the Chilean islands
Chile's naval base town, Puerto Williams, on the south side
of the Beagle Channel
On other days we went trekking in the nearby national park,
building up our stamina with walks through the wooded countryside,
though not seeing a lot of wildlife. We did see some black-necked
swans - the ones that we'd failed to see when in La Paloma!
Paul's hiking boots fell apart - must have been assembled with
water-soluble glue - so we had to buy him some more and break them
in too.
At last - black necks visible. Here the river is the
national boundary
Much of the Tierra del Fuego National Park is beech forest
We spent Sunday afternoon with the crowds walking up the Martial
glacier, taking the chair lift for the easy bit, which looked
rather boring. The glacier is nothing special but the hike was
good for our fitness and the views are great. After these arduous
hikes we'd return to town and treat ourselves to hot chocolate in
one of the many cafes. The atmosphere in the late afternoon is
reminiscent of apres ski - and this is summer!
Originally a prison camp, Ushuaia is now a duty free zone
and port serving yachts and cruise ships
The classic U shaped glacial valley, previously below 1,200m
of ice!
Glacier walk!
It's the end of a small world - one evening we walked into a
restaurant and were hailed by Richard, who Paul shared rooms with
in Cambridge and had not seen for over 40 years. He had spent a
month sailing to Antartica and back with a group of friends aboard
a chartered British yacht called Elinca (one of the British Steel
Challenge boats). They brought her here from the UK in stages and
were preparing to return via the Falklands. It was great for us
to meet them and hear about their experiences. Although quite a
few yachts visits Antartica now, most are commercial. (Anyone
interested can check out www.adventure2013.co.uk
and don't blame us if you lose a day reading through their blog).
Should we have sailed Lynn Rival down? Definitely not. We don't
like cold weather sailing. However, we did feel a tinge of regret
when leaving Ushuaia. Would we ever come this far south again?
Should we have taken the opportunity to go on a cruise to
Antartica or, indeed, the Chilean fjords?
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