Glacier alley beagle channel
The Espana Glacier was named after explorers from countries that were here. The trip now starts to become even more unreal. What we are listening to and hearing about takes on a new form, shape and image.
The glaciers fore themselves through the valley and crevices. At 8:00 we start through the channel.
Our new speakers now are guiding us through the journey in the PA system and our TVs. We have a
Hurtigruten ship ported beside us with the Fram. They hold a little over 300 passengers and will go for 23 days at a cost of $22,000 to $36,000 pp to see much of what we will see. People were from all over the globe. They will return to Punta Arenas to disembark. The average age is our age and older. The Darwin mountains feed the glaciers . It’s a beautiful sunny day and we see many mountains in the background.
Yesterday was blustery and a blow your hat off your head day with long puffy coats, scarves, gloves mittens, long pants and sweaters and boots ! The channel takes its names from the HMS Beagle a British ship who came back to survey the area. The connects the oceans along with the Straight of Magellan which are all natural. Then there is the Panama which of course is all man made and took so much trade and money away from these ports when it was completed.
Darwin spent six years here and came as a companion to Fitzroy. It’s here he made many discoveries about biodiversity and natural selection. Previous captain of MS Beagle committed suicide. Indigenous communities of Indians who were nomadic traveled often by canoe into Ushuaia which means the bay that opens to the east.
Tierra del Fuego and all her glaciers are on the port side of our side!!! That is where our window faces so yeah!!!! The Ice cap sits on Cordiera from hundreds of thousands of years and the bluer the ice the more compressed and condensed it is. It reflects the blue wave lengths more effectively. Our next is Remarsh Glacier and then fairly quickly come the next three.
The next glacier is 8000 ft high and named after Darwin for his 21 birthday in around 1814. Tje sayin goes that “The end of the world the beginning of everything”. In 1894 people arrived but 1884 was a foundational day. Anglican missionaries made their way to Ushuaia Bay. It is a small city of 82,000 inhabitants. Doesn’t seem to me to be that small.
We have a tour here. Edgardo is our driver and Gaston our guide. Our first stop is the old airport. We travel along Maipu Avenue and are in the
Center of city developed in 70’s. In 1972 there were no taxes. The only taxes then charged in 1978 were on electronics, plastics and engines.
Before 1980 less than 8000 people were living here. A new airport was built in the 1990’s and there is a famous ski resort here. Olympic teams come here to train. They even have their own university.
Our tour then heads to the national park.
Finistere means the end of the world. Hundreds of years ago natives needed fire to stay warm . They had little clothing . They needed shelter from the wind and elements.
Rugby is big here and Messe is famous. Our guide talked so much about him and everywhere they were billboards and kids playing soccer even in the rain. The road to the National park was mud. It had been closed for a few weeks due to the rain and the rutting of the road.
La Pumas is their national team for soccer. The winds here he says are very Unpredictable. They have five rugby clubs here.
The Railroad came in 1930-40. The prison here at that time could have been compared to Alcatraz jail. The only way out was by boat and many tried it but few succeeded.
Glacial moraines are evident. The last ice age was 20,000 years ago. Around us are mountains about
3000 feet high.
We see the Darwin Range and the Andes range which are much higher.
We get to Redondo Island and the Post office at end of the world. It’s such a popular and busy place. Everyone wants to get a stamp and send a postcard to someone! In 1994 it was a tradition among Chinese who want the stamps from different parts of the world to come here and do this. You can only imagine the crowds of people in a small confined hut!!
The Beagle Channel belongs to Argentina and Chile and sometimes it’s 1000 ft deep in places.
Gable island looks like a gabled roof hence the name of the island. At one time it was a ranch but
Not a ranch anymore. The island is only for penguins!
Beavers introduced in 1946 with 40 coming in cages here and now there are over 100,000 in 2006 . They are pests and have been terribly difficult to eradicate. Some trails in the National Forest are 7 miles long. If you want you can go to you tube and google beavers in Castores out of control to see the damage they have created.
The Discovery channel on beavers in Chile and Argentina also had a documentary on them. Our guide seemed to be obsessed with telling them about them and showing us dams. It would take 32 million dollars and five years to eradicate the beaver but no funds and no one is interested. They tried paying a bounty to trap them but you had to do it at night and it was cold and not worth the money so that ended.
Our guide told us that sailing around the cape in a sail boat is like climbing Mount Everest! The youngest to have achieved it was a 16 year old girl. When you are able to do this you join a club called the Horners.
Here is a brief overview of our tour…
- Civic Square, where the national flag was hoisted for the first time
- The old Government House.
- Nuestra Señora de la Merced old Church.
- Old airport, from where we will enjoy a panoramic view of the city the mountain range that surrounds it.
- "La Mision" neighborhood.
- Las Hayas Hotel viewpoint in the middle of the mountain, where we will enjoy an amazing panoramic view of Ushuaia Bay, the Beagle Channel, the harbor and the Industrial neighborhood.
National Park Itinerary
Calaco Vialos y Turismo
Safe, travels
- Scenic Bahia Ensenada, location of Unidad Postal del Fin Mundo wi you will have the chance to have your passport stamped with a "Fin c Mundo" ("End of the World") souvenir passport stamp ($3 USD each
- Stunning Lago Roca, where you will take a peaceful and charming walk-with magnificent photo opportunities-around part of the lake
- Centro de Visitantes, where you may purchase snacks and souvenir: while enjoying a panoramic view of the picturesque mountains, fores and rivers.
Coming in to Ushuaia
Passing some of the scientific stations
Stunning
Coming from Punta Arenas
Our welcome tower
You can see several other ships docked with us. Most are smaller exploration ships with about 200-300 passengers.
You can see kayaks and inflatable zodiaks on most of them
It’s a cloudy cool rainy day here
From the old airport. The symbol of their aeroclub
Cool shot with our ship in the background !!
The view of the harbor area with lots of sailboats.
These are the vans we traveled in. The roads were dirt
The Train that goes to nowhere station
Train At the End of the World.
One of the old engines and it’s raining!
The tracks and train complex. Very well taken care of
Train loading area
Station
Post Office at the end of the world!!!
We are a long ways from everywhere!!
Here’s what it looks like if you get your passport stamped at the post office!! I love the penguins
Tierra Del Fuego National Park. Rather disappointing. They let horses eat everything here. They say they are wild but didn’t seem like it
We stopped here to walk the boardwalks and look for birds. This is tidal water
We saw several pairs of these colorful birds the Gray Hooded Sierra Finch
This is the visitor center which closed just as we got there! But we did get to use the bathrooms
We saw lots of these the Upland Goose. They were very used to people
Then these birds were also very prevalent the Andean Goose and they are indigenous to the area
You can see how muddy and wet it was and why the park was closed for awhile.
This was a tourist attraction the Ushuaia Trolley
Many migrants couldn’t find property or places to live so they built these a frame homes on skids and when they got kicked off the land they moved it to a new piece of ground. This a frame is still here !
Near the port and symbolic of our location on the continent
Local art looking almost like a bird, penguin and glacier
Getting ready to pull off the dock. The other smaller ships have departed.
This bird looks surreal like we photoshopped it in but it wasn’t!!! It’s the Gray Headed Gull and several of them stayed with us for a few days as we headed further south. I think it’s one of the best photos !!
Our pilot boat!
And soon we will be in Cape Horn
This is how large Antartica is!!!!
1 comment:
Damn Beavers...I bet dad would have signed up for the night duty! Love all the info as usual. Seagull pic was epic...loved the new bird too! Looks like an awesome time...did you get your passport stamped?
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