Allthegobro

The NP is about eighty km away from the Singular Hotel and we did the trip in eight seater vans. It is mostly on paved roads, within the park gravel takes over.

The landscape is dominated by the towering peaks and lakes. Quite a spectacular sight. We saw them from many angles.

Waterfalls a feature as well. As it is mid summer the wild flowers are starting to die off but they remain plentiful, particularly around the lakes.

We had numerous sightings of Guanacos and Rheas. Rheas are a flightless bird, Patagonias answer to emus, although smaller.

Birds were also common sightings. We had several sightings of condors. But a way off and difficult to photograph from the moving van.

Well appointed camping areas are a feature of the NP, a little chilly at night I suspect, small fires are allowed in the enclosed fire pits adjacent to the covered tent sites. We stopped in one for a picnic lunch with the towers a backdrop.

We took a different route out of the park hoping to catch sight of a puma. But the elusive animal was not to be seen.

It had been a great day out, little walking but weary non the less. We returned to the Singular for dinner and bed. We are next off by plane to Santiago and the flight home to Brisbane.

It was a long road trip to our base from which we explored in a day a small part of the Torres del Paine National Park. Although a small section of the park it was to be a spectacular experience in high country. Getting there from Calafate was an experience too!

We got away at the appointed hour of 6.45am after an early breakfast. Our destination was the Singular Hotel Patagonia, just outside the town of Puerto Natales. It is located on the shore line overlooking Last Hope Inlet, at the end of a 59km fjord complex. It is called Last Hope because an early explorer worked his way around the fjords trying to find a way through to the Atlantic, so avoiding going around Cape Horn.

The road trip basically followed the Route 40 markers south west along the southern spine of Chile. The landscape either side of the road was a little reminiscent of Australia’s outback, without the red colours and replaced by a glaciated landscape. There were long stretches of road with seemingly never ending livestock paddocks.

We had a convenience stop at the Hotel La Esperanza. It is in a small town of the same name with about fifty inhabitants, rather tired looking.

Seems to be in just the right place though for a stop to break the journey.

Further along we needed to stop and cross over into Chile. Joined the queue of buses and cars. It took a little while, it is a small outpost. Can’t photograph the official buildings.

Luckily, as well as humans the border crossing was manned by a dog. The dog sniffed our luggage in the bus hold, otherwise it would have had to be taken off and put through a scanner machine. No problems.

The Singular Hotel is a restored early 1900s sheep processing plant, much of the machinery is still in place as exhibition items. It has been restored to its former Industrial Revolution and early 20th century shining glory.

The plant closed in the mid 1950s (I think and will check up). The factory complex was made from bricks imported from England along with much of the machinery.

We were at the Singular for two nights. After a late lunch, we put our feet up and enjoyed the view over the inlet.

Get away time the next morning was kinder, 8.30 am for the hour or so drive to the National Park.

The glacier is about 80 km south west from El Calafate and our bus takes an hour and a half to get there. It is a big glacier flowing off the Patagonian Ice Field into Lake Argentina. For two or so hundred years up until about 2020 the glacier had been relatively stable, periodically retreating and advancing, but it now appears in full retreat. It is 30km long and the ice formation is over 250 square km.

We boarded a catamaran for a cruise back and forth along the face of the glacier, the captain rotated the boat around for some great up close views. A few bergs floating around too that needed avoiding.

A big lump of nearly clear ice was brought aboard for a close look. No idea how old this would have been!

The face of the glacier is 5km wide and averages a height 74 m above the surface of Lake Argentina.The depth of the glacier is around 170 m and it appears to be moving at about two metres a day. No

If one pauses and listens the ice mass ‘groans and grunts’, regularly calving into the lake.

After an hour we returned ashore and ventured into the NP for some free time strolling around the board walks.

These provided some great views of the top and face of the glacier and the mountains behind.

Over the last hundred years or so the glacier has periodically closed the waterway and established an ice dam that has seen water levels rise by over twenty five metres. The dam eventually ruptures and the water level dramatically drops.

With the glacier now seemingly retreating this is unlikely to occur again in the current glaciation cycle, maybe human induced warming is also playing a role.

Lunch was at the restaurant, looking down on the glacier, and as always it was very tasty. As we left there was an opportunistic special tasting of some sort of whisky with a bit of ice.

The highlight though was the ice. It was from the glacier. The first time I have had a whisky where the ice was older than the whisky!

It was then back on the bus to return to El Calafate. We were dropped off in town for a look around and to check out the tourist traps. Of which there were plenty.

Dinner that evening was a taste of the local delicacy. BBQ lamb and roast veggies, preceded by a couple of empanadas. Quite a process this BBQ, pictures tell the story! Some folk dancing finished the night off.

We left El Calafate the next morning and headed south for the Torres del Paine National Park.

It is a full day road trip of about 370km, on for the most part Route 40, along the spine of Argentina. Will pick the story up in the next post.

We disembarked the Octantis as planned at 8.30am and were to be bussed off to the Ushuaia airport to catch a domestic flight north to El Calafate.

But, first a minor hassle before heading to the airport. One of our bags could not be located. After a few calls around it was eventually found. It had beaten us to the airport and was about to head off to Buenos Aires, not El Calafate. Some intense conversation ensued and the guides made a more concerted effort to prevent it going to Buenos Aires. We were saved by the system and the bag was plucked from the BA cargo and redirected for our collection at the airport when we got there. Which we did! So all was ok in the end. The airport was a nightmare, it took us a bit over two hours to check in and go through security. Apparently, a number of cruise ships were disembarking and cruisers were leaving town but at the same time arrivals were coming to take their place on the ships.

The plane left on time despite all the people and made its way up over the Andes for the one and a half hour flight to El Calafate.

El Califate is located near the edge of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, third largest after Antartica and Greenland. The city of 30,000 is located on the shores of Lake Argentina, which is fed by the melt from the numerous glaciers flowing down from the ice field. The lake is the largest in Argentina, average depth is around 155m with the deepest point at 720m.

We arrived before being able to check into our hotel. The solution was to take us off in a Mercedes Benz troop carrier with articulated wheels that allowed it to crawl up steep inclines and get to high places. This generally excited Leanne!

We first had lunch at what is known as an ‘Estancia’, essentially what we know as a ranch. In these parts ranches were historically big in the sheep meat and wool trade. In the last half of the twentieth century many shifted to cattle. Today this one doesn’t do much ranching, it is quite close to the city and focusses more on tourists. We had some tasty empanadas and a traditional ‘hiker’ stew.

After lunch we returned to the Merc and began the ascent of what is known as the Balcony of El Calafate. Magnificent views over the city and Lake Argentina, about 700ft up as I recall.

From the ‘Balcony’ you get a clear view of how the landscape was carved by successive periods of glaciation. From the Balcony heights it is like a step ladder descending to the current level of the lake, each step being a seperate glaciation event digging the lake lower and lower.

On our way back down we had time for a flat tyre to disrupt things a bit. The driver mucked around with some special stuff trying to reflate the tyre but this didn’t work. So, he eventually managed to raise the flat tyre and wheel up, doing the same on the other side, and we resumed our descent on a single set of wheels on the back and two on the front. Great vehicle!

Back at the hotel we settled in over dinner and enjoyed a little Tango exhibition among the tables.

Next day we headed off to Los Glaciaries National Park, an 80km drive, for a viewing of the giant Perito Moreno Glacier. Till then.

We are heading back across the Drake Passage over the next two days, the weather is forecast as less than ideal. Some strong winds are whipping up the sea. The original itinerary had us going around the Cape Horn area, but the wind and sea conditions are forecast to make this unpleasant for 21st century cruisers, so we are heading more directly to Ushuaia. Reminds me of that Russell Crow movie ‘Master and Commander’!

Also aiming to keep ahead of the weather to avoid the worst of it. So it is mostly eating!

A bit of rock and rolling doesn’t worry us. We are in cabin 3003 which is at the front of the bow. So the swells get us both ways, the bow dipping into the sea and also rolling a bit as the swell comes across our course. Generally, we like being in the middle of a ship, tends to minimise these issues.

Probably 80% of the cruisers on board are Americans, a few Brits and Europeans, Japanese. Then miscellaneous types like Aussies. Australia Day came around snd Allthego talked the contemporary duo into doing Waltzing Matilda at their 9pm slot. They had never heard of it, so Allthego gave a brief rendition for their info, Homealone thought it was a pretty good effort!

It was a good performance and there were a few claps from the onlookers.

There was also a tour of the bridge, interesting place. Lots of mod cons to keep the ship going the right way. There was still a chap on lookout for anything untoward ahead of us.

The seas calmed down coming up the Beagle Channel but the wind didn’t and we had to delay docking for over an hour while conditions improved.

It was a sunny early evening waiting in the Channel, some great views.

Come our last morning we are soon to depart the ship and head off on our trip north to Santiago exploring the Patagonia region along the way for a few days.

Danco Island is our last stop on the Antartica Peninsula and like the first, just on a week ago, it is on an island with a Gentoo colony. More penguins!

The map shows where we are (7), as well as the previous stops we have made in these parts.

The landing spot has a lot less snow than the others we have stopped at, the path leads uphill from the shore in a series of S bends to get to the Gentoo colony. A bit slippery in spots and some of our group had a couple of falls. Not easy going particularly downhill.

In the morning we had another Special Operations Boat (SOB) outing and took in the sights of the surrounding waters.

We had some whale encounters and were entertained by a ‘raft’ of penguins beside the SOB. Leanne secured another great video of the show and we got a still shot of one of them in ‘flight’.

‘Raft’ is the collective noun for a group of penguins in the water, a ‘waddle’ is a group of penguins walking on land, a ‘huddle’ is a group keeping warm together. Rookeries and colonies are where penguins gather to breed and rest.

Back on board the Octantis for lunch in Mamsens, the Nordic buffet. They had a rather good split pea soup and a range of open sandwiches.

Allthego liked the cheese and capsicum on rye bread as well as the roast beef, red onion, pickles and capers on white bread with a tangy tartare sauce.

After lunch we went ashore on a zodiac to checkout the penguins.

There were a lot of penguin chicks around and the parents were carefully guarding them from dangers. Leanne chose not to do the climb up to the rookery but instead pottered on the shoreline among the penguins coming in and out of the water.

The trek up the snowy path was ok and there were some great views looking back down to fellow trekkers and to the ship offshore.

Here are some random shots of the inhabitants.

Hard to pull ourselves away and make the zodiac trip back to the ship. We now have two days at sea making it back across the Drake Passage to Ushuaia. The captain has advised we will also encounter some rough seas on the way!

Our next location for zodiac cruising was False Island, on the 24 January. Shown on the map below in the little red box below the 4.

False Island was first mapped in 1902, as part of a group of three islands just off Anvers Island. However, in 1945 it was determined that it was actually attached by an isthmus to nearby Vega Island. Hence the name False Island, but also known as False Point.

We had another day of pleasant sunny weather after a cloudy start. There had been a big dump of snow overnight and the decks were quite clogged but cleared away with some crew action and the sun.

We encountered quite a bit of wildlife on the zodiac cruise, no landing on this occasion. Birds, seals and whales were abundant.

At times we motored through thick ‘chopped’ up bergy bits, product of a glacial carving somewhere in the bay. A chunk of ice was plucked from the water for a close look. Very cold and translucent, with some almost glass like sections.

We had numerous humpback whale sightings. While having seen humpbacks in action before, witnessing them motoring along arching their backs, diving and waving their tails with a backdrop of snow and ice is a wonderful sight.

Lunch called when we returned to the ship and we later had a little feet up in our room to recuperate.

Late in the afternoon we commenced our sail away to the next stop but not before a pack of orcas put on display beside the ship. The Captain manoeuvred the ship around so we could get a good view of the action from the decks.

We looked back at the landscape around the Island, spectacular cliffs and craggy outcrops.

Overnight we are making our way to Lepeyrere Bay. We first made a stop at a British Research station (me thinks I need to check) to drop off some undefined ‘supplies’.

This is also the place where postcards are perhaps also dropped off for later delivery world wide. Timing of delivery is not promised. We sent some to the youngins in the family and some to ourselves because no one sends us postcards anymore!

One wonders, but the sun does go down here in Antartica circa 10.30 pm thereabouts at this time of year. Haven risen at 4am it is a long day!

Next day Lapeyrere Bay turns out to be a total change of Antartica conditions. It is cloudy and calm first off and some zodiacs get away before lunchtime. Leanne decided to have a day onboard and pulled out of the midday zodiac cruise. Wise choice! The weather changed at about the time Allthego got in the zodiac. It was windy, cold and unpleasant; but away we went into the squall, safe of course. Didn’t see anything and we were called back to the ship after twenty minutes due to increasing wind strengths. Got back ok and enjoyed the ship’s warmth.

The wet and cold mitts were hung up to dry. The stop was ultimately abandoned for safety reasons. Not much more to say, except that it is what Antartica does. Wild weather swings! Tomorrow Danco Island calls.

The evening before we moved on from Recess Cove towards Dallmann Bay, the red square on the map, which lies between Anvers and Brabant Islands. The bay was named after a German whaler captain who explored and chartered the area in the mid 1870s.

We arrived in the bay in the early morning. The weather was again tremendous, sunny blue skies and calm seas.

A number of odd shaped icebergs were floating around in the bay. The mountains behind made a great backdrop. From time to time there were deep rumbles coming from the ice and snow up the sides of the mountains.

We did not land here but undertook some cruising later in the morning around the bay in a zodiac. Encountered some fur seals on an iceberg and also a Kelp Gull with a chick on the nest. Photographing the wildlife from a zodiac is a bit challenging at times with all the rocking and rolling. But if you click a lot you can get some reasonable images. Can always doctor them up later.

Lunch aboard the ship was an open deck BBQ. Quite a spread of meats and seafood.

Despite the sun it was a little chilly up on deck 6, but we had some great views of the bay and the surrounding landscape.

We have made our next landing at Recess Cove, situated on the mainland of the Antartica Peninsula, in Charlotte Bay (in the area of Anvers and Brabant Islands).

The day started with mildly overcast weather, temperature around -3‘ C. It was looking a bit glum as we approached the landing point!

As the expedition team did their usual landing site preparation, checking for safety etc, the weather broke and sunny blue skies emerged. Another sudden climatic change to experience. We watched from the ship’s deck and the Explorer’s Lounge as it just got better and better as the day wore on.

Our trip ashore in the zodiac at 3pm was very smooth, getting used to hopping in and out. A little waddle ashore found us making our first footprints in Antartica. Equal with penguins!

The expedition team had prepared a circular pathway around the spit of land known as Meusnier Point. Took us about forty minutes to stroll around with regular stops to take in the landscape and the sluggish Weddell seals.

Back on board we sat back for a while taking in this special landscape.

Slobro, who has been very quiet on this trip can’t go ashore. He is a ‘banned’ foreign object. Not impressed, just sits in our cabin looking out the window.

We had a short talk before dinner on what might happen if polar bears reached Antartica. The conclusion wasn’t pretty, a bit Jurassic Park like. The penguins would be in trouble big time!

The ship moved on at about 6pm in bright sunny blue skies. After dinner there were some great views from the deck and later of the sun going down behind cloud banks, coming our way the Captain suggested.

We will see what the morning brings.

Our cruise director has told us several times already that where the ship will stop down in these parts is governed by the unpredictable weather. And so today (20 Jan) we are at Enterprise Island, in Foyn Harbour, not far from Mikkelsen Harbour.

It was not originally planned to be here but we are trying to dodge the sleety/snowy and windy weather in a safe area for exploring around in the zodiacs and other craft.

Enterprise Island was a centre for whaling in the period from the mid 1910s through to 1930. There was a mishap here in 1915 when the floating whaling station ‘Governoren’ caught fire and was grounded on the shoreline. It is thought that the crew were having a party below deck, celebrating the end of a successful whaling season, when a candle (maybe) was knocked over starting a fire. The many gallons of whale oil on board soon ignited causing the ship’s destruction. The crew were all saved by a nearby vessel. The rusting hulk still survives in the water. This seems to be the attraction for our stop here.

We had two excursions here. The first was mid morning in a Special Operations Boat (SOB). A big speed boat with about twenty onboard.

One can imagine this vessel being used by commandos to storm ashore in a beach landing. But not in the gear we are wrapped up in!

Sighted some Weddell seals and a lone Gentoo penguin aboard icebergs in the bay.

Good experience bumping along on the slight swell in between ice bergs and the steep shoreline.

In the afternoon we were out in a zodiac to check out the rusting hulk of the ‘Governoren’.

Three yachts were closely tied up to it for weather protection. Stoic sailors!

Spotted some birds, including a colony of cormorants and a lone Kelp Gull beside the seashore.

We returned to the warmth of the Octantis a bit chilly. Great day out checking out the White Continent. Enjoyed a nice dinner in Manfridi’s, the Italian restaurant onboard.

Not sure where we are headed next, but the weather looks to be on the improve. The sun sets at 10.59 tonight and rises at 3.41am, four and half hours in the dark.

We have headed south from Ushuaia , passing by the South Shetland Islands, and have made our first landfall.

The weather is problematic with heavy overcast skies, we have had snow flurries and patchy rain. It is chilly too. Sun is unlikely. It is a bit cold. Might be like this for the next day or so. The Antarctic summer!

We are just off Trinity Island near the small islet known as D’Hainaut, inside Mikkelsen Harbour, near the top of the Antarctic Peninsular.

Our zodiac trip to shore was uneventful. Getting out of the zodiac there involves swinging legs overboard and then wading through calf high water to the stony shore line.

Mikkelsen Harbour was the location of an early 20th century Norwegian whaling station. Remnants of an old whale boat lie on the shore along with numerous whale bones, some of which are over 200 years old.

Unlike the much larger Trinity Island D’Hainaut is smaller with a lot less snow and ice. It is home to a colony of Gentoo penguins, which is why we are here.

Gentoo penguins are distinguished by their orange bills and feet, they are two to three feet tall when standing. There are a lot of them here and there is a bit of a pong for sensitive noses. It is not long after nesting season and young chicks are out and about, some still lying around to be fed by Mum and Dad penguin.

It is difficult to know when one should stop taking photos. We have to stay five metres away and the penguins have right of way. They seem to be oblivious to our presence, wandering and flapping around as they see fit. Here are some of the antics on show.

As we left on zodiacs to return to the ship a couple of Chin Strap penguins were identified on a nearby rock. These are distinguished from the Gentoos by a black ‘chin strap’ line that keeps their black cap on in the wind! And no orange bill or feet.

Overnight the ship is going to move a little further along the Peninsula to Enterprise Island for more action on the ‘White Continent’.

We left Buenos Aires for Ushuaia on a JetSMART charter jet at around 8am on 17 January, a three and a half flight south mostly over the South Atlantic Ocean.

There was a lot of low cloud on the way down but we ended up with some views of the Andes and the Beagle Channel coming into land at Ushuaia around 11.30am.

A short bus ride from the airport transferred us to the ship, boarding all went smoothly.

Ushuaia is the southern most city in the world, it has about 100,000 residents. Consequently, our guide said, it has a lot of the most southerly things like golf courses, pubs etc.

Looked an interesting place, towered over by the Andes. A small glacier provides water to the city, but it is getting smaller ….. what happens when it disappears? ….this wasn’t discussed. Some great views from the ship decks.

At around 6pm we pulled away from the dock and set course down the Beagle Channel for the Antarctic Peninsula, roughly a thousand kilometres. Chile lay to the starboard side and Argentina to the port side.

It took us around three hours to make passage down the Beagle Channel (named after the ship on which Charles Darwin did his evolutionary thought work) into the Drake Passage.

During the middle of the night things got a little rocky in the Drake Passage. By morning the sea had calmed and the sun peaked through the clouds for a while. It retreated before lunch and the light rain returned with seas of about three metres coming in from the west. The ship performed well with all onboard ok.

We have had a session on ‘how to behave in the Antarctic’ and protect the unique environment. Quite a challenge, well and truly putting animals, birds and the local environment at the top of the heap!

We have made it to Buenos Aires after an uneventful flight from Sydney (where we left an hour and a bit late due to undermanned flight control operations), followed by a six hour layover in Santiago before the flight to Buenos Aires.

We arrived in BA around 7pm as the sun was going down, it had been a wet day in the capital and there were two remnant rainbows looking down on the tarmac. After clearing immigration it was a speedy ride into the city to our hotel, a massive traffic jam going the other way after a prang. We enjoyed a late night snack at the bar and then hit bed around 11pm.

We only had one day scheduled in BA ahead of the cruise. So we had to pack some action in and at least see a bit of the city and its major sights. We first went off on a short walk to have a look at the famous 19th century Colon Theater, spelt like this. We took a wrong turn and missed seeing it, after earlier taken in the Obelisk which is not far from the Theater.

It was a bit of a dash back to the hotel to meet the minibus for a three hour city tour at 11.30. This took us around the city to see the major sights as well as a panorama of the different districts and lifestyles of this large city.

We then moved on to the colourful La Boca district home district of the BA football team La Boca. Also, famous for its tango dancers.

Following the city tour it was back to the hotel to make our way by taxi to a cooking class. How to make an empanada, the traditional Argentine snack food, as well a couple of other nibbles. There were six of us in the group and it was a great experience of learning a little about what the locals eat.

They were all quite tasty and local red and white wines completed the experience.

We were back at the hotel around 6.30 and had to get packed up for an early start the next day. On the way south to Ushuaia to join the Viking Octantis and head for Antarctica.

Slobro is so excited, he is off to the Antarctica Peninsula south from Argentina. Bucket list. He has always wanted to go and has been pouring over maps checking on the route, landing spots and the penguins to be seen.

We leave early Thursday morning for Sydney, from there to Santiago and then on to Buenos Aires. We have a couple of nights there before heading down to Ushuaia to join the Viking Octantis for the expedition cruise across the Drake Passage to the Peninsula.

It takes a day and a bit to get across the Passage to the Peninsula where will spend seven days making landings in various spots for wildlife sightings etc. Cruises also go down from Hobart to the Australian side of Antarctica but take much longer to get there, six to seven days. The landscape on the Australian side is also totally different, great expanses of flat land, snow and ice rising out of the sea. Icebergs tend to be flat and of great size. Whereas, on the Argentina side the landscape is more mountainous, with craggy peaks and glaciers. The icebergs are also more irregular and of smaller size.

Each place also has different species of penguins and seals. Lots of whales and birds.

Should be most interesting, zodiac landings a little challenging perhaps for aging legs! We will see, and hoping for a smooth crossing of the Drake Passage.