A Three Hour Tour
Monday, October 6th, 2008Day 192
I heard Jordana get up a few times during the night. At first I thought it was morning but when I realized it was still dark I figured it was the buffet food that was probably calling her to the toilet. As daylight broke Jordana seemed to be feeling better and outside a fresh 10cm or so of snow had fallen. Ushuaia is spectacular without the snow but it really looks quite stunning with a coating of new snow.
Jordana, Natasha, Sheamus and I sat down for breakfast, what a nice change to have eggs and cereal. A proper breakfast, if you ever find yourself in Ushuaia I can’t recommend the Antarctica Hostel enough, its a fabulous place. Our goal for the day was a boat trip on the Beagle Channel. We had heard the previous days trips were cancelled due to the weather so things didn’t look good as we walked through the snow down to the docks. We were looking for smaller boat that would be able to get real close to wildlife and where we didn’t have to battle with tons of tourists for photos. We found a good company but there morning boat wasn’t running due to rough waters in the channel. We reserved for the 3pm boat if there was one.
The rest of the day was spent catching up on blogs, walking around Ushuaia and buying some groceries for dinner. No more all you can eat buffet. At 2:30 we headed back to the dock and were given word that the Yate Che would be sailing. This was the one activity I had always envisioned doing in Ushuaia, a boat on the famous Beagle Channel. As with crossing the Magellan Straits, I thought of the famous explorers that have sailed these waters. As we left the dock and saw Ushuaia in the distance I imaging ed what it would be like as people set sail for Antarctica from here, the last truly unexplored land on earth. Our boat was perfect. Small, only 10 of us aboard and a warm cabin for the 3 hour tour….a three hour tour. By the way you were supposed to sing that last part and break into the Gilligans Island theme.
If the scenery was good in town it was simply amazing out here. Wild snow covered peaks that fell right into the channel. We sailed out passed several small islands and pulled up very close to one. Sea lions covered the rocks, honking away as they do. The baby sea lions looked as cute as they do on those anti seal clubbing ads, except they were safe out here. Let me say I could spend hours just watching sea lions, they are fascinating and hilarious creatures to observe. Mixed in with the sea lions were cormorants, beautiful birds with white bellies that at first glance could be mistaken as penguins. We moved on through the channel to another island with a huge colony of cormorants. They covered the entire rock face of the island. Another island had a light house that has stood since the early 1900’s. To complete the trip we stopped of at Bridges island where we were able to disembark and go for a short walk.
The island was snow covered and absolutely freezing as a stiff wind blew across the tree less landscape. Our guide showed us holes in the ground where the native Yamana people once build shelters. They are now extinct and merely another sad part of the colonilization of Latin America. I don’t know much about the natives here in Tierra del Fuego but they seemed to have been wiped clean off the island in an incredibly short time.
Back on the boat we warmed up in the cabin and were offered beer, for free! Not just beer but a local microbrew, Beagle. They actually had a keg aboard. Yep we selected the right company for this tour. The four of us downed our small glasses and as soon as we were done we were offered another. We sort of forgot about the beautiful scenery after that. Our boat made the trip back into Ushuaia bouncing around in the now rough Beagle channel. Waves splashed up on the windows of the boat. Soon enough we were back safely and docked.
We returned to the hostel and the four of us had dinner together. Well Natasha shared dinner with Jordana and I. She’s vegetarian as well so we feel her pain here in Argentina. Sheamus on the other hand eats meat and meat, oh and some potatoes. Food wise he’s a walking Irish stereotype. Its was a great day and a good night with our new found friends.
Michael Coroneos