Moreno Glacier

Ushuaia is primarily a transfer point filled with tourist shops. It is in Tierra del Fuego. We got off the ship to look around and the wind nearly whipped us into the sea. We spent about 1/2 hour, long enough to buy a tee shirt, and went back to the  ship. The next morning we flew o El Calafante which is a city in Santa Clara. 

The Argentinian Lake is just beautiful. It is this turquoise  blue due to being glacier water with minerals. We had steak for dinner. Each portion was big enough for 20 people.

We added a number of birds to our life list. We saw condors and lots of eagles.

Fossils were everywhere

And what’s a rock without some lichen?

At one point we found five eagles lined up on fence posts. Apparently, this was a good spot to wait for roadkill  
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Patagonias history is fairly recent. Nomads roamed Patagonia for a long time but no one settled there. In the 1800s Francisco Moreno found the lake. He and a Chilean decided the border in Patagonia between Argentina and Chile. In an effort to grow population and development in the early 1900’s  ranchers were given large plots but it was sparsely populated. The area was sparsely settled until the 1950 s when the government encouraged people to settle by selling plots for $2000. It’s still pretty sparsely settled. Much like our western states.  

The next day (1/11) we went to Perditio  Moreno Glacier. On the bus ride to the glacier, we saw a full-grown puma. It was bigger than we expected. We took about ride on the lake and David got to see calving. Then we hiked for 3 miles and we all saw calving. The scenery is truly breathtaking.

So these are all taken up at the glacier. The ice buffs you see are all then floating in The lake. 

Patagonia Day 1

 Well, we’re still kicking and having a Great time. We continue to be stunned about how much of the world we know nothing about and what we do know reflects such a narrow window of it. Today  we stayed at a lovely hotel in El Cafatelle overlooking Argentinian Lake and were whisked off onto a huge Argentinian ranch for the sites.   When we saw the bus we knew we were into something different.   

Yes, a four-wheel-drive bus.  Who knew.   Complete with seat belts for the 44 degree downhills. 

This view I believe was 500 m above the lake. In these sandstone mountains are quite the historical remnants, including fossils of plants and animals, and some of the largest dinosaur remains ever found. 

We ended up 2600 feet above the lake which is at 600 feet above sea level  I believe the bird is a crested caracatta  

The history of the ranch and the history of Patagonia wa fascinating and will have to wait for a visit or we’ll never get any sleep. Sorry folks! But the first surprise  is that Argentinian  settlement of the area didn’t start till the early 1900’s. 

Ushuaia by nightfall

This morning we had a polar plunge. David and I went upstairs to plunge in the outdoor pool that was filled with ice ( in case the water they had pulled from the ocean wasn’t cold enough 

We all shed out bathrobes and marched out onto the deck where the winds where about 20 miles an hour. One of us chickened out, and I won’t say who. You jumped in. Climbed into the neighboring tempered pool and swam back into the ship. Only one of us made it back in wet. 

And that person got a towel, a shot, and a certificate. 

We’re in the Beagle Channel now. Lots of birds and hundreds of penguins sitting on random little islands.   Looking out our window is Chile. Argentina on the other side of the ship 

We dock in Ushuaia tonight at 8 PM and then have the run of the town until the next morning. The question is what is in Ushuaia? The answer: a hard rock café. Oy vay.

They that there are 4 seasons in Ushuaia - and they are often all on one day.  As soon as we stepped off the boat we went from summer to fall. And by the time we left the docking was winter.  While we walked around to buy our obligatory magnet from the southernmost city in the world,

we walked past the Hard Rock Cafe in time for Spring and by the time we walked back to the shop we hit the summer showers. All in less that 2 hours. 

Tomorrow we head to Patagonia! 

Back though the Drake

 For the trip back to Ushuaia there were a number of ship tours and lectures to distract us from the waves 

We did a galley tour. The lettuce and salad stuff has been so fresh we thought they must have a hydroponic growth. But know they bought all the food in Ushuaia  but they have it. temperature controlled well. They also had a special refrigerator to thaw any frozen foods, so they don’t just leave it out. I think that’s why everything tastes so good.

We also got to visit the hangar and the lab where they can do all sorts of testing include dna sequencing . 

Then off to the bridge of which I can tell you details in person. Gives the USS Enterprise a run for being a cool place. Check out the giant windshield wiper and the Red button.  We were warned that whatever we did “don’t touch the red button”

it turns out on our ship. There are staff from 42 countries. A staff total of 268 people. That’s just about one to one. No wonder it’s such a great cruise. People from over 42 countries working well together.  What a concept. 

Last day of landings

 Last day of landings 

We started the day with an early run to Half

Moon bay where we got to see both gentoo and chinstrap penguins. 

One could just stare at these guys for hours. 

This was an area heavily used by whalers.  This is the remains of a water ship which was used to haul fresh water out to the main vessel. 

After this, David got to go kayaking for a second time when we saw a number of seals and their pups. 

Once aboard after kayaking it was time to party!

Yesterdays lunch was surf and turf and Antarctica iced tea. Apparently that’s like Long Island iced tea with blue Curaçao in it so it’s the color of the sea. I also had lobster tail for dinner and perhaps that was enough lobster for a while.

 I think they did this as a distraction from the reality that the adventure was coming to a close and that we would once again have to cross the drake passage. 

We had a lecture about the life of a researcher in Antarctica. Very interesting but not the life for me. . The big research center is called Mcmurdo . It has three airports and no runways. The airplane has to be able to land on ice. They are approximately 200 scientists at a time and 1300 support staff. When they first come to Antarctica they are taken to survival camp.  They get a short lecture and then get left for 2 days to do it on their own.  They sleep in tents and snow caves  and learn how to cut ice blocks and other stuff to survive. 

It’s called happy camper school. 

In order not to contaminate Antarctica, whatever you bring in, you must take out. There is an outhouse, and they go in buckets. The waste freezes in the bucket and then they just take the frozen waste back on the plane with them when they leave The problem is the waste defrosts in about 45 minutes and the flight is an hour and a half!

So someone developed a propane fired outhouse - fondly called the “Rocket Toilet”. 

 . It turns the waste into an ash which is much easier to fly out on the plane.  You don’t want to camp downwind. But then the wind doesn’t cooperate.  They did have a propane fire in the outhouse while someone was using it. Apparently it was an Astronaut and the story made the cover of time magazine. “How I survived the Rocket Toilet”

This scientist we were listening was once in Antarctica on a project. Woke up to a gorgeous sky. The wind picked up a hour later blowing snow. By the third hour there were 40 mile a hour winds.  The storm didn’t let up and they were stuck in their tents for 17 days. He said, thank goodness he had two thick books to read.

Some of the best talks were called expedition diaries. That’s when one of the Explorer/scientists gave a talk of their personal experience. One man discussed when he was up in the Arctic in a boat. He and the crew were downstairs eating and there was a knock on the hatch.  He opened  up and there was a polar bear!  The bear stuck his head down but could t fit down the hatch. The polar bear, then took his head out and put his big paw in. They waited and then heard nothing and someone looked through a rear hatch.  There was a polar bear sitting in the captains seat where you steer the ship. Nothing to do but to wait downstairs until the polar bear decided to leave.

We are back in the Drake passage. It’s expected that the seas will be rougher than when we came. They’re expecting 18 foot waves. We are at 15 ft as we write. . My patch is working great. David hasn’t bothered taking anything and he seems fine.

As we entered the passage one last magical scene went past.