Chacabuco – Chile, Punta Arenas – Chile and Ushuaia – Argentina

We arrived at Chacabuco, in the region of Terre del Fuego, early in the morning. The sun was out and is scenery was beautiful. Our ship anchored in the middle of a fjord. As the only ship in port, it was quiet. We had a very short tender onto land. Chacabuco is not a town but rather a port used as access for ferries and ships into the isolated area of Patagonia.

There were several tours offered that explored different parts of the area. We opted for the tour that offered a drive to the other side of the Andres Mountains, into the Rio Simpson Nature Reserve and to the city of Coyhaique.  On the tour, we passed over several rivers and saw much of the landscape. Our guide gave a lot of the information about the local people and the history of the area. One of the stops was at Cascada de La Virgen (Virgin Falls).

The city of Coyhaique is located on the east side of the Andes Mountains. It was started by a Belgian company that used the land to farm sheep. As their business grew, they brought people to the area to work on their farms. The city grew and is now comprised of approximately 55,000 people. It is the largest city in the entire Chilean Patagonia region.

On the drive back from Coyhaique, we stopped at a local restaurant for some traditional food and drinks, including a Pisco Sour. Did you know there is a “dispute” between Chile and Peru about who created the Pisco Sour first?

When it was time to leave the beautiful port of Chacabuco, we stood on deck and watched as we passed by some of the most beautiful fjords we have ever seen.

On the way to Punta Arenas we sailed through the Strait Messier, the Messier ship wreck and the Tempanos Glacier. The glacier was very active while were there and we saw chunks of ice breaking off and falling into the water. The sound of the ice breaking and falling sounds like thunder.

And the day has finally arrived (the first of several) for us to see PENGUINS! Our tour started at 6:00am at Punta Arenas. Our group was taken by bus to a private ferry boat and then took a 1.5-hour ferry ride to Magdalena Island which is inhabited by animals only, most of which are Megellanic penguins. They have recorded up to 56,000 couples per year that come to the island to breed in the summer. It was amazing to see so many penguins, many with their chicks. On the island the penguins make burrows in the dirt. The chicks will stay in the burrows for several months waiting for their parents to bring them each meal. When they become old enough to start finding their own food, they will malt their soft feathers for slick water tight ones. We were lucky to see many chicks in and near their burrows.

We made our way through the Strait of Magellan to our last stop before we went south to Antarctica. Ushuaia, Argentina is the “Southern Most City in the World” located in the Beagle Channel.  Ushuaia is an interesting city that was started as a remote location for a prison. The town was built by the prisoners and the workers who supported the prison. In the mid-1900s the government of Argentina decided to discontinue the use of the prison and use the area as a port city capable of supporting large industry and shipping companies. The Argentina government made it a tax-free zone and it remains that way today. In the 1990s the local government started a campaign to change the city’s identity to the “Southern Most City in the World.” Ushuaia is now the last stop for most ships headed to Antarctica and has grown as a destination for those people wanting to visit the “fin del mundo” (end of the world).

 

While in Ushuaia, we took a wildlife catamaran cruise on the Beagle Channel. The channel is beautiful with mountains surrounding the whole area. We were able to see a lot of wildlife and the lighthouse at the end of the world.

Our trip continues as we head to Cape Horn and through the Drake Passage.