A very early start this morning - we had to be up and in the sky lounge by 7am ready with our life jackets and gear for our excursion to Cape Horn. This was the highlight of the trip and we were all eagerly waiting for the chance to visit the “end of the world”. We knew there was a chance we would not be able to land - they quote statistics of 70% success in landing on Cape Horn - but some people say this is a bit optimistic - the weather is so changeable, and the previous week’s voyage had not been able to land due to a storm.

When we woke, we opened the curtains to see what it was like outside - and it was fairly calm … so we hoped it would go ahead. Indeed, we soon heard the sounds of the zodiacs being offloaded from the boat, so we quickly got dressed and prepared for our excursion.

The zodiacs took us to the base of a steep stairway which lead to the top of a cliff on the sheltered side of the island. From here, we followed boardwalks to the lookout and monument from where we could see the actual cape itself. We were on another part of the island - not the most southerly part - that is a steep bluff, which would be too difficult to access (and possibly too dangerous, being fully exposed to the weather).

Cape Horn Memorial, Cape Horn, Chile

Cape Horn Memorial, Cape Horn, Chile

Cape Horn, Chile

Cape Horn, Chile

Cape Horn, Chile

Cape Horn Memorial, Cape Horn, Chile

The weather was cool, but not uncomfortable, and we enjoyed the short walk, but on the way back towards the lighthouse, the wind picked up and it started raining a bit. We could see some large ocean liners cruising around the cape, and by the amount they were heaving up and down in the water - we could tell it was fairly rough … and this was actually good weather!

Cape Horn Memorial, Cape Horn, Chile

Southernmost Chapel in the World - Cape Horn, Chile

The wind continued to get stronger, and by the time they herded us off the island and back onto the zodiacs, the swell had risen substantially - and it was a bit of a hairy ride back to the boat. Of course Leanne and I just smiled at each other - it was nothing compared to our zodiac ride to Magdalena island.

A large passenger liner approaches our small boat

Cape Horn 15 minutes after we departed

We heard later from one of the expedition leaders that the wind speed peaked at around 70 knots (130kph) just as the last zodiac with the excursion staff was departing - it was apparently a bit exciting for the crew as they returned.

A large ocean liner pulled into the bay just after us and was about to disembark - but they were unable to due to the change in the weather - we had timed it perfectly.

Back on the boat, we changed and went down for breakfast - we were starving by this time and enjoyed a nice hot breakfast. The boat had started to move around quite a lot in the rising swell - we discussed over breakfast whether we would try and circumnavigate Horn Island, which we all wanted to do … we weren’t sure if the captain planned to do so. We found out from one of the staff that the captain intended to try, and we headed out to open water away from the rocks of the island - the ride becoming increasingly rough as we left the shelter of the island. Suddenly, the boat took on an alarming lean to the side as we executed a sharp turn … it continued for quite some time and it became obvious that we had turned around - the capital decided not to risk the open ocean around Cape Horn. Disappointing, but I’m sure it was the best decision given the changing conditions.

We decided to try going up to the top deck and watching from there - but they had closed that off as well … it was deemed too dangerous with the very strong wind. We sat in the forward lounge instead and watched the waves break over the bow of the ship and the birds struggle in the wind (except the albatrosses, who seemed to relish it!). It was a rough couple of hours - and many people ended up sleeping through it (it was quite hot in the lounge and the chairs were very comfortable).

At 10am they put on a documentary - Shackleton, which was fascinating and told the story of his failed attempt to cross Antarctica by foot and the daring trip he made to find help for his men stranded for months. It kind of put things in perspective given the weather we were experiencing and the comfort we were in.

Lunch was at 1pm, and we spent time up on deck in the afternoon as the wind dropped off slightly - it was still very windy, but we were able to get up and enjoy the scenery and the albatrosses and petrels flying around the boat.

We spent more time in the lounge in the afternoon before our final excursion at Wulaia Bay, where we took the zodiacs to the beach for a hike up the hill and a magnificent view out over the channels. There is a lot of history in this area - this is the place where Capital Fitz Roy on board the HMS Beagle had close encounters with the Yamana aborigines in the 19th century.

Wulaia Bay - Cruceros Australis

Wulaia Bay - Cruceros Australis

As we returned to the beach where the zodiacs were loading passengers for the return to the boat, we were delighted by a pod of dolphins playing in the water around the zodiacs - leaping fully out of the water and chasing the boats as they sped back to the boat.

Dolphin - Wulaia Bay - Cruceros Australis

Dolphins - Wulaia Bay - Cruceros Australis

We returned in time for dinner and afterwards we headed up to the pub for the captains farewell speech and the auction of the navigation chart we used when travelling to Cape Horn (it fetched US$500!) before heading back to our cabin to pack - disembarking would be early the next morning.

We actually arrived close to our destination well before midnight and moored while the Chilean immigration processed our departure from “Chile” and then we berthed at Ushuaia around 11pm - although we spent the night on board.

Woke a bit later this morning - just before breakfast at 8am, and were delighted to see a dolphin swimming alongside the boat just outside our cabin window - the water was so clear, we could even see him when underwater! The rain had stopped and it looked like we might be able to spend some time on deck today.

Black-browed Albatross - Cruceros Australis

Southern Giant Petrel - Cruceros Australis

We had no excursions scheduled for the morning, so breakfast was a leisurely affair, and then after stopping back in our cabin to get cleaned up, we headed up to the top deck - rugged up with our cold weather gear, and spent some time watching the amazing scenery of the Beagle Channel.

The excursion leaders did a lecture about the birds that are found in the Patagonian region. It was good that I had already seen many of them on our trip so far.

Lunch was at 12:30pm - another buffet, and we headed back upstairs after lunch to take in more of the scenery.

The boat turned and navigated down a narrow channel which brought us to the Pia glacier - where we once again disembarked on the zodiacs and were able to hike up a small hill to a viewpoint which gave us a great view of the glacier and the surrounding bay. We went back down and around to near the base of the glacier and sat watching icefalls and enjoying the scenery.

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Mountains near Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Back on the boat, we cruised down the “Avenue of the Glaciers”, past the Romanche, Germany, France, Italy and Holland glaciers. Quite small compared to the glaciers we have already seen on this trip - so a bit difficult to get excited by them.

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Pia Glacier - Cruceros Australis

Beagle Channel - Cruceros Australis

Beagle Channel - Cruceros Australis

We got cleaned up for dinner and afterwards Leanne went up to the pub to play Patagonian Bingo while I headed to bed - I was exhausted.

Day 2 of our cruise - up early for an 8am breakfast - full hot buffet complete with scrambled eggs and bacon - pity the bacon was very salty … we’ve noticed that a lot of the food here has a lot of salt.

The weather had turned wet and miserable so we couldn’t really see much of the views, which was a shame.

After breakfast we had a briefing about our excursions - including instructions on what to wear and how to put on the life jackets - needed for the Zodiac ride from the boat to shore.

Our first excursion was to Ainsworth Bay - we met in the lounge at the scheduled time, complete with our life jackets on and our wet weather gear, swealtering in the heated room. Fortunately they took us out to the rear deck fairly promptly so we could wait outside where it was cooler. The Spanish speaking group went first, followed by the German and English speaking groups - so we were near the end. We had specific instructions for boarding one of the four zodiacs off the end of the boat - two would load at once with up to 12 people seated on the rubber sides - and then would speed off to shore before returning to collect more.

The first zodiac had taken some of the excursion crew and their mobile landing ramp - as each zodiac reached the shore, they simply lifted the ramp up onto the nose of it and we stepped off one by one and walked down the ramp to the beach.

After our experiences previously with rain getting onto the camera lens and spoiling the photos during the ice trekking at Glacier Perito Moreno - I had packed the trekking umbrella. We hadn’t been using the umbrella while out in the rain - mostly have just relied on our rain jackets, which usually do the job. It proved to be a good idea though - I was able to hold the light umbrella in one hand while taking photos with the other hand - effectively shielding the camera from the rain and permitting me to continue taking photos. A number of people commented to me later about how it was a good idea (but none of them seemed to have umbrellas - and it would not have worked had it been windy!).

The first thing we were able to do was view an Elephant Seal which had come onto land the previous week and died - not a pretty sight, but the size of it was impressive. It hadn’t really started to decompose much yet - but it was still a bit smelly. We then heard the calls of other elephant seals, which were spotted on a small island not far away - we could see them rearing up and calling.

We then proceeded on a walk through the forest - with our guide explaining about the history of the area - pointing out various plants and natural features, and telling us about the original inhabitants of the region. It was still raining constantly, and the area was quite wet and boggy - very muddy too. I quickly regretted wearing my light coloured pants - they quickly became very dirty around the bottom of the legs, and got quite wet as we trudged through the mud - fortunately my shoes kept most of the water out, although I was a bit disappointed when I accidentally stepped in a couple of deeper puddles and felt the water seeping through from around the shoelace area (which is not actually waterproof). Leanne was quite impressed with her shoes - kept her feet very dry the whole time. Perhaps she also managed to avoid the deeper puddles that I seemed to find!

We came across a beaver dam - quite interesting to see how large it was and how it had affected the flow of the creeks - and developed its own small eco-system upstream. The guide explained the story about how two Argentinian men had imported Canadian Beavers in the hope to breed them for their pelts - but it never really took off and the beavers became established in the wild. The meat isn’t that good either - so no trade in trapping them developed - and with no natural predators (apparently the local carnivores didn’t like beaver meat either!), they thrived and have become quite a pest.

We made it back to the beach, and just as we were heading back to the zodiac boarding area, we came across a large female Elephant Seal on the beach, and were able to get good photos of her while she “galumphed” her way slowly into the water.

Elephant Seal - Ainsworth Bay, Cruceros Australis

Elephant Seal - Ainsworth Bay, Cruceros Australis

We eventually boarded the zodiacs and got back to the boat, totally soaked and dirty. Given the nice clean ship with plush carpets everywhere, we wondered how they were going to deal with all the mud we were bringing back. When we got off the zodiacs we quickly discovered their plan - they had a high pressure water jet which we were all forced to endure as they squirted our boots down - which ensured that our feet and legs got wet (although Leanne once again managed to keep her feet dry - her boots are very good!).

We made it back to our cabin, stripped down and laid our gear all out to dry … we had another excursion booked for the afternoon, so we had to manage our wet clothes as best we could. We worked out a system of “onboard” gear and “excursion” gear - which meant that for the rest of the trip we were changing constantly between the two sets. I managed to wash my pants and they dry very quickly, so I swapped them to being my onboard pants, and put my dark brown pants out as excursion wear. We had both worn long underwear - which works well for keeping the legs warm and dry even when our pants are wet from rain - that worked well.

We had a bit of a snooze and then headed downstairs for lunch - a buffet with several types of pasta and a variety of salads and other dishes we could choose from. Once again we found the food to be very salty - although it did improve a little by the end of the trip.

Our afternoon excursion was a zodiac boat ride around Tucker Island - first we saw a Magellanic Penguin rookery - although many of the penguins had already migrated, since there weren’t all that many there. Given how many we had seen at Magdalena Island earlier in the week, it wasn’t that exciting for us. As we continued around the island, we got a very good look at a Flightless Steamer Duck which had climbed out of the water, and then further around we came across a Cormorant rookery. There is nothing too unusual about seeing a lot of sea birds nest on a rocky cliff face - and I’d already seen a lot of Cormorants - especially Imperial Cormorants. Indeed, up until we saw tens of thousands of penguins at Magdalena Island, I think the Imperial Cormorant was the bird we had see by far the most of. However, I was very surprised when we began seeing other types of Cormorants nesting here too - there were Magellanic Cormorants as well and I think there were other types too - although I didn’t get any good photos to help identify them. We had some great views of them, and I took a lot of photos - although I was disappointed in the end with how few turned out - the combination of the rocking boat, the low light and the zoom lens proved to conspire against me being able to take many good shots.

Cormorant - Tucker Island, Cruceros Australis

Cormorants - Tucker Island, Cruceros Australis

Cormorants - Tucker Island, Cruceros Australis

Cormorants - Tucker Island, Cruceros Australis

We eventually made it back to the boat, and got out of our wet gear again - fortunately no mud this time!

Spent some time in the lounge before dinner - Leanne read her book while I spent some time organising our photos and such - mostly deleting duplicates! I had some fellow passengers come up and ask me about whether I had photos of some of the birds we had seen - they wanted help identifying them … more birders! They were able to help me identify some of birds I had seen too, so it was a useful exercise.

Dinner was another four course meal, and we headed to bed soon afterwards.

We got up, had breakfast and packed our bags in no great hurry this morning. We had to check out by 10am but our boat didn’t board until late in the afternoon, so we sat around in the hostel dining room working on photos from the Navimag trip and uploading them to the blog. We went out for lunch, posted some postcards and then came back to work some more.

At around 4:30pm we put on our packs and walked up to the Cruceros Australis offices where we checked in for our cruise aboard the M/V Via Australis.

Rubbish Bin - Punta Arenas, Chile

Punta Arenas, Chile

We had to wait until 6pm for boarding, so wandered around a bit before sitting in Plaza de Armas people watching. There was a large cruise-liner anchored in the harbour, so there were a lot of tourists wandering around. It seemed like a lot of local kids met up at the plaza after school or work, so there were a lot of people around - made it interesting

At 6pm, we walked down to the docks and waited to board our boat. They wouldn’t let us walk down the pier - even though we could clearly see our boat moored about 200m away, they made us board a bus which then drove us to the boat - about 30 seconds it took. A bit silly really.

We boarded, handed over our passports (which they kept locked up for the duration - and within easy reach of a designated crew member if we had to abandon ship for any reason - they would make sure they brought our passports with into the life boats!!), and were handed the keycards which accessed our cabin.

We settled into our cabin - very nicely appointed … quite different to the Navimag. Twin single beds (we couldn’t get a double - they were booked out … but from what we saw of double cabins, there was not as much room as with two singles anyway).

One interesting thing we found in our closet was a pair of life jackets - at least we know where they are and that they fit! We realised later that we would be needing them for the excursions as well.

There was a large window in the cabin, which made for nice views outside - and no walkway around the side of the ship meant we could leave the curtains open and watch the world go by without having other passengers look in from the outside.

We went down to the dining room to make our table reservations - apparently we would be at the same table for the entire trip, and given we didn’t know anyone, they just put us on an English speaking table (the majority of the passengers on board turned out to be Spanish speakers - with a large contingent of local staff from the international finance company Axa). There was also a large number of German speaking passengers (most of whom had decent English as well), and the English-only speaking passengers turned out to be in the minority!

We later met in the lounge for introductions to the crew and a welcome from the captain and a performance of traditional songs and dancing from a local dance group.

Welcome performance, MV Via Australis - Punta Arenas, Chile

Welcome performance, MV Via Australis - Punta Arenas, Chile

Afterwards, we stopped in at the ships library and borrowed some books - Leanne got the highly recommended “In Patagonia” by Bruce Chatwin (recommended by other people - not particularly by Leanne … she wasn’t that impressed). I picked up the book “Birds of Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego & Antarctic Peninsula, The Falkland Islands & South Georgia”, which I hoped would help me identify some of the birds we had seen and would be seeing on the voyage.

We went up on deck to watch the departure and then dinner was served at 8pm - a four course meal (all meals and drinks were included in the cost of the trip). Our fellow table-members were an American couple from New York, a Canadian woman and her American husband living in California, and a German couple. The meal was nice - salmon for starters (Leanne tells me it was nice - I don’t like salmon), a soup and then a choice of conger eel or beef for mains, followed by a dessert.

Cormorant Colony - Punta Arenas, Chile

Leaving Punta Arenas aboard MV Via Australis

Leaving Punta Arenas aboard MV Via Australis

Leaving Punta Arenas aboard MV Via Australis

After dinner, we headed back to our room to get our gear more organised and then headed to bed - it had been a long day.

We’re about to go offline again for a few days while on our second long cruise for the trip - Punta Arenas to Ushuaia via the Beagle Channel and Cape Horn.

Should be back online on Monday or Tuesday next week.

In the meantime, I’ve uploaded photos for our Navimag trip:

• Day 17 - Puerto Montt and Navimag
• Day 18 - Navimag
• Day 19 - Navimag
• Day 20 - Navimag and Puerto Natales

Had a lazy day today - didn’t feel like doing much and decided not to do any other tours. It was a horrible cold and windy day - Punta Arenas is known for its strong winds (the symbol of the town seems to be a windblown tree!).

We did go for a walk around the town a bit. We spent some time catching up on blogging, watched some movies on TV and arranged to have some washing done - quite expensive here!

Up early this morning so we could get to the office of the tourism operator by 6:50am ready for our tour to Magdalena island.

They put us all into two minibuses and drove us to 30 minutes out of town to a small port where two large Zodiacs were waiting for us.

We put on our life jackets and boarded the larger of the two boats - ours had seating for about 20 - with captain standing at the wheel at the rear (and getting very wet) and a first mate hanging on at the side and getting equally wet. The boat had a canvas roof to keep spray off us - which was good, since it was quite windy.

Once we got out to more open water, the swell rose, eventually reaching over 2m … made it very interesting in the boat - quite a thrill ride … much more exciting than rides at the show or a theme park. We followed a zig-zag path (to avoid travelling side-on to the waves) out to Magdalena island and arrived after about 45 minutes.

Zodiac ride to Magdalena Island, near Punta Arenas, Chile

Zodiac ride to Magdalena Island, near Punta Arenas, Chile

We disembarked on the island amongst literally thousands of Magellanic Penguins, and followed a roped off trail up to a lighthouse at the top - past many nests and young Penguins who didn’t seem overly fussed by our presence.

What you lookin’ at pal ? Magellanic Penguin - Magdalena Island, Chile

Does this make my backside look big ? Magellanic Penguin - Magdalena Island

Magellanic Penguins - Magdalena Island, Chile

Magellanic Penguins - Magdalena Island, Chile

There were a lot of Kelp Gulls and Skuas too hanging around and making lots of noise. Some of them had nests too - although I only saw juveniles, not chicks.

Magellanic Penguins - Magdalena Island, Chile

Magellanic Penguins - Magdalena Island, Chile

Doing the Snoopy dance - Magellanic Penguins - Magdalena Island, Chile

Magellanic Penguins - Magdalena Island, Chile

Apparently the penguin population is at least 50,000 birds, although some estimates we’ve heard put it at over three times that many.

Penguin verion of a Beatles Album cover - Magdalena Island, Chile

Aaaawoooooo, Beware the were-penguin !!

Skua chicks - Magdalena Island, Chile

Woooaah, I’m a working class pengiun - Magdalena Island, Chile

After an hour of wandering amongst the penguins, we boarded our Zodiacs again and headed further out to Marta Island, where a colony of sea lions lived. We watched them for a while - quite a few young sea lions visible, plus a couple of cranky males.

Marta Island, near Punta Arenas, Chile

Sea Lions - Marta Island, near Punta Arenas, Chile

Sea Lions - Marta Island, near Punta Arenas, Chile

Sea Lions - Marta Island, near Punta Arenas, Chile

Zodiac off Marta Island, near Punta Arenas, Chile

I’m too sexy for this island - Sea Lion - Marta Island, near Punta Arenas,

We then headed back to shore, re-boarded the minibuses and were driven back to town, arriving around 11:30am.

We stopped for some lunch, and then walked up to a lookout with views over the town and Straits of Magellan.

Punta Arenas, Chile

Punta Arenas, Chile

Punta Arenas, Chile

Punta Arenas, Chile

Punta Arenas, Chile

Punta Arenas, Chile

Took it easy for the rest of the day - watching TV and catching up with the blogs and emails.

Up in time to get breakfast this morning - not too early. Breakfast was cereal and toast - nothing special, but does the job.

After breakfast we headed out for a walk along waterfront to the port area to see if we could work out where our cruise would be leaving from on Wednesday.

We stopped at a supermarket to buy some water and fruit - and then headed into town to the tourist information office  to get some information about tours and attractions in the local area.

Next we went to the Cruceros Australis offices to confirm where and when we had to check-in.

Finally we visited the offices of one of the tour operators and booked a tour for tomorrow.

After lunch, we walked to the cemetry which gets listed in the guide books as a historical feature - with ornate memorials and a long history of settlement from people of many nationalities. It felt a bit weird to be visiting a cemetry as a tourist - there were both people tending the flowers on graves of loved ones and people taking photos of the tombs and memorials.

Punta Arenas Cemetry

Punta Arenas Cemetry

While walking around the city we found we kept getting “adopted” by the local dogs - many of whom roamed the streets. A couple of times we had dogs start trotting along with us as we walked - one followed us around the block in the downtown area before we managed to lose him by going into a building. Another dog followed us all the way to the cemetry - several kilometres away. We found that if we avoided making eye contact and tried not to smile at the dogs they tended to ignore us. Leanne likes dogs, so it was hard for her to stop looking at them and smiling at them !!

Dinner was at La Luna - a seafood restaurant catering to mostly international customers - I had a chicken schnitzel which was very very nice and Leanne had Salmon (*yawn*)

Up rather late this morning - our bus wasn’t until 1pm, so we were able to take our time getting ready. Very nice to sleep in a bit! We eventually got up at 9am and headed for breakfast and then showered and started packing. Leanne went to collect the clothes (1500 pesos per kg - 4260 pesos in total … about AU$10). We finished packing, checked out of the hostel and arranged for them to look after our bags while we went for a bit of a walk.

We walked along the waterfront for a while with the camera - looking at all the birdlife there. At one point there is an old pier (just the poles in the water remain), which we had seen on previous mornings had a colony of cormorants living on it … we thought the one-bird-perch-per-pole was quite amusing. We had also hoped to get some good photos of the black-necked swans, but they weren’t around, instead we had Coscoroba Swans! Ironically as we headed past the same area a couple of hours later, the black necked swans were back as well.

Dog and bin - Puerto Natales, Chile

Cormorant Colony - Puerto Natales, Chile

Cormorant Colony - Puerto Natales, Chile