We had booked an exciting tour and we were so glad that we
were able to dock. Yesterday the port
was closed because of high winds. The
winds were high this morning, but not high enough to cause the ship a docking
problem. If you Google Ushuaia you will see that we are not on the ocean but in
an area of islands at the bottom of South America and will be in the islands for
a couple of days as we start back up the west coast of South America
Docked next to us were a couple of tour boats that were
headed to Antarctica – this is cold and that would be much too cold.
We dressed very warm in multiple layers for the trip and it
was a good thing because it was cold, but not too cold to enjoy the journey. The day started out at 30 degrees and maybe made it up to 35 degrees.
The tour started with an 1 ½ hour bus ride through the
countryside until we reached a private farm consisting of 20,000 acres and also
an island called Ile de Lobos. It is a 4th
generation farm and they do not rely on farming anymore but just on tourists
visiting their island which houses a huge penguin colony.
At the farm, we first visited a museum and research laboratory
with lots and lots of skeletons, including those of whales that had beached themselves
on their property. Then we boarded a
zodiac boat with twin 200 horsepower motors for the 15 minute to the island and
the penguins. The boat went about 35
miles an hour and the waves and wind made the trip out very rough. Barb sat in the back to minimize the bouncing
on her back. Ed made the mistake of
staying up front!! Coming back, we both
sat in the back.
There are numerous tours to the island by catamarans from
the city docks; however, the company we were using is the only company that is
allowed to land on the island and walk among the penguins.
It was more amazing than we expected and the highlight of
the trip. We walked among about 1,000
pairs of nesting penguins and saw baby chicks that had been born in late
November and early December. They were
all gray and furry and just starting to come out of their nests, which are
burrows in the soil. You had to be very careful to not step on one if you were
not looking where you were going. We had
no expected to see this and be able to walk with them.
We had rain, sun, sleet and snow all in one day and this is their summer. They have only 2 - 4 days a year when it gets up to 78. They get over 300 inches of snow a year.
We have some amazing videos and we will put them at the end
of the blog once we reach Santiago and can download them.
Then we took the bus back to the city and had an hour to
shop and the wind was terrible and then it started snowing so we walked back to
the ship.
Once on the ship, we took our “stuff” to the room and went
on deck to have a very late lunch.
Then it was back to the room to take a nap. We are tired and windblown but have wonderful
memories of this trip today.
We overslept and missed the entertainment in the main lounge
so we watched the ship sail away up the channel and watched us go by some
amazing glaciers. Again I have video of
them and a great waterfall that I will put on the blog when we get to Santiago.
Dinner was of course good and then we went to the casino
where Barb broke even and Ed had his worst night so we were back in the room
before midnight – not what we would like, but that’s what happens sometimes. The high today was 30 but tomorrow it is
supposed to be up to 52 – summer time in South America!!!
Tomorrow is Punta Arenas, Chile – night.
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| Arriving on the penguin island |
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| 1 month old chicks |
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| Mother and chicks |
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| One of 5 major glaciers we passed in the early evening |
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| Yes it was cold and windy but what an experience!!! |
