HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing some sea lions
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Not seeing any penguins
WORD OF THE DAY: I thought I saw a penguin but it was a shag on a rock…….
What an eventful night. I had to get up 3 times for a toilet dash before a nasty accident was about to occur. I don’t think there is a worse feeling than whether you are going to make it to the toilet on time. Even taking out the factor that it was 0C, but I had to undo two tent zips, the fly’s zip, get shoes on my feet and grabbing the toilet paper at the base of the tent on the fly for a 70m dash to the toilets is a miracle in itself. After scaring one of the camp dogs the first time by the third time he saw a crazy woman making a sprint past him he was used to it and didn’t give a growl like he did the first time.
So needless to say I was still not right this morning, so I dug into my backpack that hasn’t been touched in 3 weeks, dusted it off (its filthy) and got out some Imodium’s to try and stop this puppy in its tracks. So I took 2 pills with breakfast and then the instructions are to have another pill after each ‘loose bowel’ motion with a max of 8 per day. I was hoping I wouldn’t need to take that many anyways as my body is pretty good at processing the drugs. It was also a little worrying that we were going to be on a boat all morning, but after asking Mark if there were toilets on board the boat and getting a yes, that made me feel a little calmer, as I know I would be needing the use of them.
So we left camp at 8am for the 10 minute drive into town where Gray dropped us off at the port for our 3 hour boat cruise of the Beagle Channel. The Beagle Channel is a strait separating islands of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, in extreme southern South America. It separates Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego from the islands Nueva, Picton, Navarino, Hoste, Londonderry, Stewart Islands and other smaller to the south. Its eastern portion is part of the border between Chile and Argentina, but the western part is completely within Chile.
The Beagle Channel, the Straits of Magellan to the north, and the open ocean Drake Passage to the south are the three navigable passages around South America between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. The Beagle Channel and the Straits of Magellan are both very narrow passages which severely limit the size and types of ships that can safely use them; hence, most commercial shipping is done through the Drake Passage.
The Beagle Channel is about 240 kilometers long and is about 5 kilometers wide at its narrowest point. The biggest settlement on the channel is Ushuaia in Argentina followed by Puerto Williams in Chile, two of the southernmost settlements of the world. Although it is navigable by large ships, there are safer waters to the south (Drake Passage) and to the north (Strait of Magellan). Under the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina, ships of other nations navigate with a Chilean pilot between the Strait of Magellan and Ushuaia through the Magdalena Channel and the Cockburn Channel to the Pacific Ocean, then by the Ballenero Channel, the O'Brien Channel and the northwest branch of the Beagle Channel.
The channel was named after the ship HMS Beagle during its first hydrographic survey of the coasts of the southern part of South America which lasted from 1826 to 1830. During that expedition, under the overall command of the Australian Commander Phillip Parker King, the Beagle's captain Pringle Stokes committed suicide and was replaced by Captain Robert FitzRoy. The ship continued the survey in the second voyage of the Beagle under the command of captain FitzRoy who took Charles Darwin along as a gentleman's companion, giving him opportunities as an amateur naturalist. Darwin had his first sight of glaciers when they reached the channel on 29 January 1833, and wrote in his field notebook "many glaciers beryl blue most beautiful contrasted with snow"
It was a cold, wet and windy morning, but the boat was a large closed in catamaran. So when we entered the boat we decided to sit near inside near the doors and when there was something to take a photo of, we could nip outdoors, snap and then come back into the warmth of the boat. The additional bonus for me was the toilets were close by as well. So we cruised the Beagle Channel for 3 hours getting to see a lot of seagulls, shags (on rocks) and a colony of sea lions where there was a MASSIVE alpha male, actually 2 of them and they were the biggest I have seen in all my trip to date. MASSIVE. I got some great snaps and at one stage we though we saw a large colony of penguins, but upon closer inspection they were cormorants and hundreds of them all on a massive rock in the Beagle as well. Our last photo opportunity was of the famous red and white striped light house called Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse. It is a slightly conically shaped lighthouse standing on the northeastern-most islet of the five or more Les Eclaireurs islets, which it takes its name from, 5 Nautical mile east of Ushuaia in the Beagle Channel. The brick-built tower is 10m high and 3m wide at the base, with its windowless wall painted red-white-red and topped by a black lantern housing and gallery. Only a door pointing to the west provides access to the building. The light is 22.5m above sea level emitting white flashes every ten seconds with a range of 7.5 nautical miles (13.9 km). The lighthouse, still in operation, is remote-controlled, automated, uninhabited, and not open to the public, guarding the sea entrance to Ushuaia. Electricity is supplied by solar-panels. On December 23, 1920 the lighthouse was put into service - today probably the most photographed lighthouse in South America.
It is a popular tourist attraction, reached on short boat tours from Ushuaia. It is known to the Argentines as the Lighthouse at the End of the World (Faro del fin del mundo), although that name is misleading. The lighthouse is often confused with the San Juan de Salvamento lighthouse on the east coast of the remote Isla de los Estados, made famous by Jules Verne in the novel The Lighthouse at the End of the World, which is actually much further east. It is a shame the day wasn’t better for photos but I didn’t get to see this on my last visit so it was good to get out here this time.
We were back in Ushuaia at midday and the rest of the afternoon was free. Kate and I had some printing to do. I had to print our e-tickets for tomorrows flight, our transfer voucher, our accommodation voucher, Zeme’s e-ticket and passport, a back statement for my Brazil visa and I also completed by Brazil visa application on line and printed out the 1 A4 sheet that was required with all my other documents to submit at my interview with them tomorrow. I will be so happy when I have that damn Brazil visa in my passport and in my hot little hand, I tell you it has been the main concern from my whole trip from day one and now the extra pressure is on that if I didn’t or can’t get it, poor Zeme will have to shack up with Kate or do the tour on his own, yeah like that’s going to happen over my dead body. I am getting that damn visa no if, buts or maybe’s. Zeme has his appointment with the Ethiopian Brazil consulate on Friday, so this is probably more worrying then my own at this stage.
It really was a poor day to be out, so we had a slow lunch in one of the cafes along the main drag, with 2 toilet stops for me and a few more pills popped followed by some window and souvenir shopping before jumping in a taxi at 3.30pm and getting a ride home. I had to repack all my stuff on what I was taking with me and what was getting left on the truck and then make all that airline ready for check-in tomorrow. So I got off all my gear, except my camping stuff, my chess board that I bought in Bolivia and my schnack bag I had 6 bags to go through and sort out. I have been called the bag lady on various tours and I have no idea what they are talking about! Really……
It was funny I had just started when a German group arrived fresh off the plane and they were staying in the ‘coffin truck’. There would have been around 40 of them and they just commandeered the common room with all of them on a mission of taking out and sorting, I’m really not sure and I got some comments in German on all of my stuff which by this time I had spread around me in an organized mess and one lady even took a photo of me on the floor with all my gear around me. Too funny and the funniest thing of that is they were all done and dusted within 30 minutes while I continued to slog through all my stuff, but I got there and after condensing a few bags I had my big backpack which I haven’t touched in 4 weeks all packed and a small backpack that I had bought that day for my hand luggage. Yes I can hear you ask didn’t I have a day backpack already, and the answer is yes, but it was bigger and was still being used holding all the stuff that I wouldn’t be taking with me to Buenos Aires. It was hard when packing the clothes to leave all the winter stuff behind. BA had a heat wave last week of days at 42C and for the 10 days we are there it will be mid 30’s, so leaving Ushuaia at 5C and arriving into BA at 32C will be a shock to the system. I believe we are now leaving the cold weather behind us now the further north we head and I can’t say I am too unhappy about that. I can say with conviction that I won’t be leaving South America with one bag, I will be entitled to 2 bags on my international ticket and I think I am going to use the allowance. As I will then be visiting friends for the next 2 months after SA and getting collected from airports etc…. I won’t be trying to maneuver my bags on my own, so heck, 2 bags it will be!
People started to drift back late in the afternoon. My cooking team the Banditos were on dinner duties tonight with Gray having a night off, Mark and us decided to try our hand at Mexican for dinner. It is pretty easy to prep and everyone loves Mexican. Well I do need to acknowledge that the guacamole was a miracle and a high five to Mike and Julia who actually got the rock hard avocados into something that resembled the dip. It ended up being a 3 step process with Julia cutting into small bits, Mike trying to mash them further with a fork and then I added it to the growing gwok dip mixing it all in and the final mush with a fork. After adding in the tomato and the onion it actually looked worthy of eating and tasted not to bad either. That was the biggest mission of the evening and the Banditos pulled it off once again. High five to my team!
It was Monday evening here and back in Australia it was Tuesday morning and my God-daughters were off to start their school year. Zoe heads into grade one and my little Tess heads to school for her very first day in Prep. I had 17GBP credit on my mobile and I got 7 precious minutes talking firstly to Tess, which I had to wind her up as time was ticking and my credit was running low, I didn’t want Zoe to miss out, so I got to talk to her and then a very few precious minutes talking and laughing with my best friend Michelle. It was absolutely fabulous talking to them today and hearing their very grown up voices. I cannot wait to see you guys in July and I am happy with my decision to head home for 5 weeks and spend some time with my ‘family’. Love you guys and I still miss you all every day.
Good-luck to my god-daughters first day of school and also to their mum Shelly Belly who now has her 2 precious angels at school – it is just as a big adjustment for the parents as well as the kiddies. What are you going to do with all that free time during the day now Shelly?
So with our last night with the group for a week Kate and I were happy to get away and have some time without some of the dramas that comes with group travel and I will just be happy when I finally have my Brazil visa which was the whole purpose of flying up to BA and now has all sorts of other reasons attached to it now as well. Which are all positive and we just can’t wait to also get to some warmer weather and hopefully shake this damn tummy bug at the same time.
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