Day 4 - Blogabond

Carole and I both woke early this morning and like most people believed we were under way. Alas, this was not the case. So, after breakfast, we were herded onto a catamaran for a morning of sightseeing on the Beagle Channel, the narrow straight between South American and Tierra Del Fuego. The highlight was certainly the Isle de los Lobos, a small, ricky outcropping covered by comerants on one side, seals and sea lions on the other. We also saw our first penguins, three Magellanic swimming alongside the boat. Clearly, if we had to waste a day in Ushuaia, this was the way to do it.

Also on the boat were two girls, one a French Canadian who was climbing all seven peaks (she had just completed the South American peak) and the other from Massachusetts spending four months in South America. Also interesting was a naturalist who had been studying the seals and seal lions for two years.

Upon our return to Ushuaia, there was spontaneous cheering as we rounded the harbor and saw the petrol truck alongside our boat. However, as the boat was not fully gassed, we were all bussed to a lodge in the interior of the island, where we were treated to a "traditional" meal of roasted lamb. I fell in love with the salsa, and David, our adorable tour manager, got me a jar of it. The scenery both up and back was beautiful, and Natalie Goodall gave an interesting little nature walk/talk. I must say, the organizers have made the most of our "last" day, turning it into something I would not have wanted to miss.

We returned to the boat around 3:30 p.m. and by 4:00 we were under way -- only a day late. We watched our progress from the deck before cocktails and dinner. Tonight I ate again with the Boggs, Carole, Cal. Dale and Ernest (Earthwatch veterans), and Mary, former museum curator with a speciality in oriental rugs. Also, I learned that the girl we met on the cat from Mass. has come aboard, inspired by all of us on the cat.

After dinner Natalie (who apparently had helped get the gas) gave an interesting talk on life in Tierra del Fuego and then it was bed.

Notes: ice sheet until 10,000 years ago in the Beagle Channel. Melting ice creates jagged peaks and U-shaped valleys. Whitish water is "flour" due to melting sedimentary hills along the Channel. (Drumlan?) All shows ice exiting - groun is rebounding and rising afater melting. Birds: rock shag, commerants (2 types), black albatros (high aspect wing ratio -- long skinny wings for gliding/no maneuvering), petrals.

written by

shoshtrvls on March 3, 1992 from Ushuaia, Argentina

from the travel blog: Antarctica and South America (1992)

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