Month: January 2019

Categories
Antarctica Falklands / Malvinas

Falklands/ Malvinas Islands

Two days of cruising through the Beagle Channel from Ushuaia, and further East brings you the Falkland Islands, which after the Argentine/ English war and occupation of 1982, are now English again. The Argentines refer to these islands as the Malvinas; and both sides strongly and openly believe that they belong to them!

Now, to be quiet honest, I wasn’t expecting too much from these Islands, for no real reasons except ignorance really. Our first landing was at Westpoint Island- a tiny island in the north west of the archipelago. Our small cruise ship of just over 100 passengers anchored and we set off in our groups on the zodiacs to shore. We had a 2.5km one way walk to the black browed albatross and rockhopper penguin colony. The little bit of rain stopped and we had pretty good weather while visiting- however the rain poured down much more on our return walk.

These albatrosses make their nests from mud and plant material and return to their nest year on year. Both males and females incubate the single egg that is laid. The chicks are grey and covered in fluffy down feathers.

Rockhopper penguins- belong to the crested penguins and lay two eggs, though only one chick usually survives. Both parents incubate the egg.  You will note from the photos that these little rockhopper penguins have a hefty climb from the sea up to their nests!

After the walk and colony experience we were all invited for cakes and biscuits by the couple who look after and farm on this island. The lady baked 26 different varieties of cakes and snacks by herself for 150 people!!! This is all by herself- and she does so for the 40 cruise ships that will be hosted by her during the season!

Our second landing for the day is at Saunder’s Neck. The weather starts off with some rain and even a bit of lightning- a rarity in the Falklands. However, it clears up to magnificent blue skies and beautiful warm weather! This island contains colonies of Magallenic (burrowing) penguins, northern Gentoo penguins and a small number of King Penguins, three of whom are moulting. Penguins are coming from both sides of the neck from the ocean after feeding- and it is great to just sit around and watch them as they waddle onto the beach. The chicks are already pretty large, though some penguins are still sitting on eggs. It’s most likely that these will not hatch.

We come back in the late afternoon, and head straight out towards Stanley- capital of the Falklands and situated on the eastern Island. We do this in order to sail away from a storm coming towards us. We dock in Stanley the next morning at 4am. A bus is organised to Gypsy Cove, which I skip as it is cold, windy and raining outside- which doesn’t go well with my cold I have had since day 1 ! I decided to go out on the shuttle bus at 10am- which is fantastic as the weather clears and we have yet more blue skies for the rest of the day!

I spend nearly a couple of hours at the museum, with interesting natural, maritime, historical and general displays. The museum is well presented and describes some funny stories too. Stanley was a very important stop for the ships of yester-year that came around Cape Horn needing repairs and stocking up. This was all prior to the opening of the Panama Canal. In the afternoon a group does a walking tour and even later there is an option to do a walking bird tour. I didn’t opt into this one as I wanted to spend some more time walking the streets and seeing the old houses and streets of the town.

I am happy to find out that there are regular flights to the Falklands from the UK and once per week from Santiago de Chile.

Categories
Chile South America

Balmaceda & Serrano Glaciers

A day trip from Puerto Natales, in a small boat, takes you through the Ultima Esperanza Fjord. We traveled past a seal colony, waterfalls and a cormorant colony. There are also cattle ranches in the area- farming first commenced here in 1880s. We stop for a very tasty barbecue lamb and chicken lunch at Estancia Perales.

The most captivating stops for the day, are however the two glaciers: Balmecada and Serrano. The Balmecada glacier is retreating through a valley, away from the fjord it once touched in the 1980s. The photos so how much this has retreated in the last 30 years. 

The Serrano glacier is a short 1 hour return walk. All the boats stop here for this walk, making it pretty crowded unfortunately . 

Both of these glaciers are in Bernardo O’Higgins National Park. 

Categories
Chile South America

Torres del Paine

The most famous of all national parks in Chile and Patagonia- Torres del Paine (Towers of the mountains named Paine). This park is located 2 hours by bus from Puerto Natales. It is known for the W-trek and O-treks. however you need to be pretty organised and book 6 months in advance to book camping or accommodation spots. I was not this organised, so stayed in town and commuted daily. Note this park is also the most expensive!

The first day (Christmas) was actually planned at Christmas Eve diner and involved a bunch of us from the ferry. We took the 7am bus, waited in a fairly long queue to purchase our entry tickets and took another bus to Pudeto. It is from here that we caught the catamaran across Lake Pehoe at 11am. The trip to Paine Grande camp site took 30min and we had some great views. We then headed towards Campo Italiano and planned to turn around once 2.5 hours were up, so that we can get the bus back. 

The next day, the weather remained clear and warm- and very rare find this far south! So I decided to head off and do the most well known of the one day treks- to the viewpoint of the towers- Torres Mirador. The walk was shown as 4.5 hours one way- which was a close call t make it back to the bus on time. The walk was tough and pretty much all uphill. Then I got to the last- steepest section which is due to take 1 hour 1 way. I was already pretty drained, but thought that I would give this last bit a crack, as the whole walk culminated in the view of the towers, which you pretty much cannot see as you walk through the forest and valley. The last section is all uphill- clambering up the remaining large rocks and glacial moraine of the glacier that used to exist here. I got about half way up and looked at the time,and with a heavy heart I decided to turn around. I slowly made my way down the rocks, absolutely disappointed and devastated with myself that I didn’t make it to the viewpoint. Mostly due to my lack of fitness. I have included a photo from a friend- Marcel to show what I missed out on. It was taken on the same day. 

Categories
Chile South America

Navimag Ferry

As I have mentioned I needed to get to Puerto Montt for the ferry to Puerto Natales. It leaves once per week (on Fridays). It is a 4 day, 3 night trip through the channels and fjords of Patagonia as well as Pacific Ocean –as the glacier area is impassable to ships. I have included the route in the pictures.

Day 1 of our trip was check in and sail. We left approximately 17h30. The weather in Puerto Montt was sunny with blue skies. This is of course great as you could see all the volcano peaks in the area.

In the afternoon of day 2 we hit the Pacific Ocean. The paramedic came around to offer us all sea sickness tablets. Most people took them, and those that didn’t immediately before hitting the ocean took them later. The tablets have a side effect of drowsiness- so much of the ship’ travellers also passed out. The sea was relatively calm- but the swells were obviously larger than in the channels. I felt fine, but sleep alluded me this night.

Day 3 was a rainy day- a pity as the fjords would have been a sight to behold. However the constant drizzle and low cloud cover did not allow for this. The weather cleared a bit in the afternoon, so we were fortunate to view fjords after rain- which means that there are many waterfalls. We dropped off a few passengers, and picked up some new ones in the tiny village of Puerto Eden. This is the most remote of Chile’s community- the 120 odd people are only serviced by the Navimag ferry. There are no cars or roads here. The wind howls through this channel and though beautiful, I cannot imagine the cold of a winter here! There is also a naval base here.

Day 4 was Christmas Eve, and the day we disembarked at Puerto Natales. It was also on this last day that we crossed the narrowest of the fjords- made tricky by the dotting of little islands throughout the channel- this is called “White Pass”. This is one of the critical points of the cruise, where slack water must be available and high tide is a must. It can also only be passed during daylight hours. 

There is a faster way to get to Puerto Natales- by bus. This slower, and more unique way was my preferred option- and I am glad I took it. At the end I spoke to most of the passengers on board, made some new friends, got to experience some bone chilling winds and had good company for Christmas Eve dinner- a first for me -Pizza ! About 12 of us from the ferry met up and had an orphan Christmas at a great pizza place- Base Camp.

Categories
Chile South America

Chiloe Island

A large island, accessible by regular ferries, is a lovely quaint, predominantly farming area with 3 larger towns: Ancud in the north, Castro in the centre and Quellon in the south. I didn’t have adequate time to head all the way south as I was time bound by the ferry I was catching to Puerto Natales from Puerto Montt.

I liked the country feel of the island. It is most well-known for penguins and it’s church circuit of 16 Unesco churches. They are made predominantly of wood. Some of them lie on the islands off of Chiloe.

First stop was Ancud, where I stayed just across from the San Antonio Fort. This home had a great view of the bay! I also got to know the notary publics and printing places in Ancud as I was selling my house in New Zealand during this time. Note to self: selling a house in a time zone that is 16 hours ahead, certifying paperwork in a country where you do not speak the language is a character building experience!

There is a public bus from Ancud to the penguin colony in Islotes De Punihuil. Humboldt and Magellenes penguins come here to mate for several months of the year, starting in September. The difference between the adult penguins is their stripes. The Humboldt has one stripe around the neck, while the other has two. The juveniles are difficult to tell apart. There are also several species of birds endemic to the area.

There is only one bus out of the penguin beach- 17h15. However, 17h15 came and went, 18h00 came and went and 18h30 came and still no bus. You could see it half way down the beach- but I hadn’t moved for the last 1.5 hours. I turned out to have a flat tyre. A pick up ute came past the three of us waiting for the bus. We asked when the bus is coming- and were told it wasn’t. We were offered a ride though at the back of the pickup.  So we all gladly hopped in as 30km is a long way to walk back to town! We were dropped of 10km down the road- where one of the guys offered us a lift into town in his pickup. This was really kind as he had no other business there.

Castro is known for its palafitos (homes on stilts) and is the point from which my Czech friend (from Pucon) and I did a day trip out of, using public transport. We visited three churches: Achao, lunch in Curaco, another church in Dalcahue and then further to Tenaun. Tenaun is the smallest of these towns, I would hardly call it a settlement, but the church is very beautiful. We were lucky to get in 2 minutes before they started fumigating. This would have been painful after a 45-minute wait for the bus and another hour or so of a bus trip from Dalcahue. Back in Castro we visited the Unesco church in Plaza de Armas (main square). The exterior is corrugated iron, painted yellow and the interior is exquisite wooden panelling. I must add the Chiloe is well known for pretty rough weather- and yet luck was on our side and rain mainly came when we were on the bus 🙂 .