Greetings from the bottom of the world, or at least the inhabited part of it. Yesterday we rounded Cape Horn, crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, then turned around and made our way back to the Beagle Channel, the gateway to the world’s southernmost city, Ushuaia, Argentina. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s back up to where we last left off, leaving Antarctica and Elephant Island of Ernest Shackleton fame on January 15 and turning northwest into the Drake Passage for our third encounter with that trepidation-inducing channel.
Cape Horn lies northwest of Elephant Island, and there’s no way to get there without crossing the Drake yet again, but this time we were lucky and got what some refer to as the Drake Lake, that infrequent occurrence where the seas are actually pretty calm. We had a pleasant and uneventful transit and arrived at Cape Horn early on the 16th. I won’t go into detail, because most of what I would say was already covered in my Facebook post. I’ll just reiterate that there’s not much to see at Cape Horn other than a lighthouse and memorial to the estimated 10,000 sailors who have lost their lives trying to round the Cape, and that our captain said the waters were the calmest he’d ever seen them while we were there. After our rough first run-in with the Drake, we were delighted with our good fortune.
We didn’t press our luck, though, and after a suitable amount of time for taking photos we retreated northward up the Atlantic coast in Chilean waters to the entrance of the Beagle Channel. The Channel cuts all the way across the southernmost portion of South America and provides a natural way to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific without rounding the Drake Passage. The eastern half of the Channel serves as the border between Chile and Argentina, while the western half lies solely within Chile.
Our destination was Ushuaia, which sits on the Argentinian side of the Channel, and is billed, as mentioned above, as the world’s southernmost city. We arrived early this morning, the 17th, and docked along the city’s very long pier with two smaller cruise ships docked across from us. Ushuaia reminds me a little of what you might see at some of the towns and cities along Alaska’s inside passage. The city (population 80,000+) is backed by jagged, snow capped mountains, and the views in all directions are impressive. The city is also a popular tourist destination, to the point where it actually has a Hard Rock Cafe.
While we did get a chance to walk around the city late in the afternoon, our focus was on seeing the local wildlife, and to that end we boarded a tour boat at 9:00 am for a six hour round trip excursion on the Beagle Channel and what turned out to be a very successful outing. Long story short, we got up close and personal with imperial cormorants, sea lions, sei whales and dolphins, but the highlight was a penguin rookery, where we saw Magellanic, gentoo and one king penguin. No chance to get a decent photo of the whales or dolphins, but the others cooperated honorably for my iPhone camera.
As mentioned above, we did walk around the town afterwards for a little souvenir shopping and to pick up some energy bars to carry along on future excursions. I bought a ball cap to add to my already embarrassingly large collection, but hey, I liked it. It says “Ushuaia” and “Fin del Mundo” on it, and where else can I get a hat like that? Michele will understand (I hope). I’m going to try to restrain myself from buying more than two or three dozen hats over the next eight months. After all, I have to figure out how to get them home after the cruise.
We’re here in port overnight, and have another excursion planned for the morning, and I’ll report back afterwards. In the meantime, enjoy my photos from today’s tour boat ride in the Beagle Channel.
One of the mountains that sit behind Ushuaia. The views from the city are spectacular.
Another view of the mountains ringing Ushuaia.
Sea lions, tour boats and the lighthouse on a small island outside Ishuaia.
Imperial cormorants and sea lions. At first I thought the cormorants were penguins, but I quickly learned otherwise. They do look like penguins from a distance, don’t they?
Another shot of sea lions and imperial cormorants. The background scenery isn’t bad either.
Cormorants. Lots and lots of cormorants.
These, on the other hand, are definitely penguins. Magellanic penguins,to be specific.
Another shot of the penguin rookery.
Magellanic penguins. My best closeup.
That is a gentoo penguin on the left. There weren’t as many of them at the rookery. There are very few king penguins there, and I didn’t get a photo of one with my iPhone.Michele did get one at a distance with her camera. Looking forward to seeing it later.
As a service to my readers I always try to sample the local beverages, and today was no different. Cape Horn oatmeal stout is brewed with glacial water and I can recommend it highly.
Michele liked it too.
Tour bus in downtown Ushuaia.
Downtown Ushuaia. You can see the Hard Rock Cafe down the street.
Malvinas is what Argentina calls the Falklands. There were references to the 1982 war and Las Malvinas all over the city.
Downtown Ushuaia at 10:00 pm from the deck of our cruise ship. Still plenty of light.
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