April 9 - Annapolis, Maryland

I’ve been home now for one month and am just finishing up this blog. It goes to show you how long it takes me to unpack. I still have not fully organized my photos/files, but that seems to be an ongoing project for me.

This year’s experience was, once again, just amazing. Visiting Chile was a wonderful adventure and I was lucky to be able to cruise the fjords. My best memory of the trip has to be landing on Cape Horn and at Diego de Ramirez Island. I know how lucky I was to visit those places, and have a greater respect for the sailors and explorers that have sailed the waters.

Until the next expedition……

March 7 & 8 - The Adventures of my Cape Horn Rock

As I write this, I am still in transit on my way home from Chile. I have been traveling since early morning March 7th and will not get back to Annapolis and my house until around 2pm. In all, it’s been two pretty uneventful travel days, however, I do have one story about my rock. Yes, I said, my rock. It is a special rock that I took from Cape Horn, and it is shaped like a mountain range with a flat bottom so it sits perfectly upright. I would like to have someone (any volunteers??) paint an albatross on it for me. Anyway, the officials in Punta Arenas did not see my rock as the special souvenir I did, and they wanted to confiscate it. I guess they thought I could use it as a weapon or something. After telling the security man that it was shaped like a mountain (he got a kick out of that) and smiling (ahh, the power of a woman’s smile on a Latin man), he told me to wait one minute and left with my rock. A few minutes later, he came back with it in a plastic bag and it was tagged as checked baggage. He handed me the luggage stub and told me I’d get my rock back in Santiago.

Once we were in Santiago, I almost expected the rock to come out on the conveyer belt, but instead I heard my name on the loudspeaker, followed by some Spanish. I had no idea what to do, so I identified myself to someone who pointed me to a desk. The woman at the desk was laughing when she handed me the rock and asked me (in Spanish) where the rock was from. I told her that it was from Cabo de Hornos (Cape Horn) and she was remotely impressed, but I’m sure still thought I was crazy. After getting it back safe and sound, I decided to rearrange my bag so that I could check the rock. A smarter move considering that American Airlines would probably not be as nice as the man in Punta Arenas. Of course, I had to document this on film, so the photo attached today is of the rock in Punta Arenas all wrapped up and ready to get on the plane.

My layover in Santiago was about 11 hours, but I was able to spend it with most of the expedition staff. We had a long yummy lunch and then hung out outside on the warm grass killing time before checking in and having dinner. I finally boarded my plane around 11 pm and luckily scored a whole row, so I was able to sleep. When I woke up I was in Dallas. For those of you that don’t travel much, it is very strange to be in one place one day and then go to sleep and wake up in a totally different place all together. I definitely have a hard time with the transition, especially with being in a place so different from the USA and then being smacked in the face with the hectic Dallas airport at 6 am. I guess not everyone has this issue, but for me it is all very surreal.

March 6 - Punta Arenas

We spent our last day of this cruise in Punta Arenas. In the morning, the passengers went on tour, while I stayed back with some of the other staff and finished the trip log and some other last minute things that needed to be done. Since we were able to finish all of our work by lunchtime, we had the afternoon free to explore the small city.

Rusty, Kevin and I walked around the town square and market and then had some lunch and wandered around checking out the city. It was nice to stretch our legs, but I really didn’t get to see much of the city.
On the way back to the ship, we stopped again in the town square to visit the statue of Magellan and the Fuegian Indians and “kiss the toe”. Legend has it that if you rub the toe, or better yet, kiss it, you will have good luck, safe passage home and/or return to Punta Arenas someday. That is the thing with legends, there are so many different stories. I hope it means all of the above. I gave it a big smootch!


Kissing the lucky toe

March 5 - Isla Magdalena

Today we did our last landing via zodiacs of the cruise. Tomorrow we are in Punta Arenas at a dock. I was happy that I was assigned to drive. The wind was high and the seas were extremely swelly, but the Captain positioned, and then repositioned, the ship so that we were running with the waves and wind at our backs both to and from the landing. Upon launching my zodiac I was met by a group of Commersons Dolphin. It was so nice to see them as I have not seen many cetaceans on this cruise. They, as usual, were friendly and played with my zodiac as I got ready to pick up the passengers.

After landing the passengers on Isla Magdalena, I was able to tie up my zodiac and take a walk around the island and up to the lighthouse. On Isla Magdalena there are about 50,000 breeding pairs of Magalenic Penguins. Although I took many photos of them on shore, molting, and in their burrows, I think my favorite of the day is of one diving into the heavy surf for an afternoon of feeding.


Magallenic Penguin diving in

The Magalenic Penguins are very curious, but do not come up to you like the Gentoo Penguins in Antarctica. They will, however, stare at you intently, and if you get down on the ground at eye level, they will cock their head back and forth checking you out, and mimicking your head movements. I've attached a photo showing myself having a stare-down with two penguins.


Checking out the Penguins
Photo credit: Andy Wolff

I also saw a large number of South American Terns, which are beautiful birds. There was a group of them just hanging at the shoreline. I've attached a photo of them as well, just so they don't feel left out.


Terns

March 5 - Kirke Narrows

We spent part of the day today cruising the fjords and looking at the scenery from the ship and part of the day cruising in the zodiacs. Right after lunch, we went through another narrow passageway called Kirke Narrows. This time, the wind was cooperating, so we got to launch the zodiacs and go through before the ship and watch it come through the narrow passage. The zodiac cruise was amazing and I think the best one so far in Chile. It started off raining, but the rain cleared about a half hour into the cruise. In Kirke Narrows, there were a bunch of small islands to explore and the channel was paved with lush cliffs dotted with small waterfalls and wildflowers.


Ship passing through Kirke Narrows
Photo Credit: Mick Brown

After the ship passed through with one of the staff zodiacs in tow (photo attached), we first hung around a small island checking out some South American Fur Seals. There were a number of them hauled out on the rocks and a few small pups. Near us, there was a fishing boat and when we got close to the Fur Seals the men on the boat started yelling and motioning for us to come to them. We took this as the universal sign for, "you are too close to the wildlife", so we backed off and sent Louis (who speaks Spanish) to talk to the men. It turns out that they couldn't care less about the Fur Seals, and instead, wanted some cigarettes. Despite the fact that we did not have any, they were all smiles and spent some time checking us out and waving.

Around the corner, we found a male Southern Sea Lion feeding in the shallow water amongst the kelp. Upon closer inspection it seems as if he was feeding on a Fur Seal! Probably a pup or small female. He didn't mind us watching him eat and we spent about a half hour just observing. When we left him, we went about another quarter of a mile and spotted the very rare Chilean Dolphin. There were about five or so, and although they were not that friendly with the zodiac, we were able to watch them for a little while. The species is very uncommon, so it was a treat to even see them for a short time.

We then crossed the narrows and headed up the other side, checking out the birds and the vegetation growing out of the rock face and up the mountain. The landscape is lush and everywhere we looked there was a new plant or small wildflower growing out of a crevasse or hanging from above. The best parts for me were the small waterfalls all over the place, each with its own personality. Some trickled like curtains of light rain, others gushed and splashed, and then there were the large ones that hugged the mountains seemingly originating out of the low clouds. At one place, there was a small channel that we tucked into and I turned off the zodiac motor. The water was like glass and you could see the kelp clear to the bottom. Around us were small waterfalls and birds chirping (one zodiac even saw hummingbirds in the area!). It was almost tropical and I could have floated there for hours just listening to the sounds, smelling the fresh air and looking at the surroundings.

However, we did have to return to the ship, and then we had a few lectures in the afternoon. I do not think that I am going to lecture at all this cruise, which is ok with me. I've had fun learning from the others and just experiencing this new itinerary.

I did not take many photos today because I was just enjoying the scenery (and it was on and off raining which made it challenging). I've attached a photo from Mick. Surprisingly, there are not many passengers that partake in the zodiac cruises. Today, we only took out about twenty-five people out of sixty. I don't understand why everyone doesn't go every time. Maybe it was because it was raining when we started, but, as you all know, there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate dress! I've learned to live by that, and am not bothered at all by the elements since I am all bundled up in my great gear thanks to my great sponsors.


Zodiac Cruise

March 3 - Torres del Paine National Park

Today was a full day bus tour of Torres del Paine National Park. I was very much looking forward to this tour and really wished we could have spent more time in the park hiking around. Most of the day was in the bus, but the scenery was beautiful and the park incredible.

Some highlights of the day were seeing, Black-necked Swans, Lesser Rhea birds (like Ostrich), Guanaco (like camels), a Fox, Andean Condors, and Flamingos. We got to do a little hiking to a waterfall. The wind was blowing like crazy and it was almost hard to keep upright. I've attached a few photos from the park so you can get an idea of what the day was like.


Torres del Paine National Park


Guanaco


Fox


Waterfall (notice the person for perspective)


Flamingos

We returned to the ship around dinner and the staff decided to go back into town for dinner instead of dining on the ship. We went to a local seafood restaurant that was jam packed (a good sign) and I had a lovely meal. For appetizers I had avocado with king crab on the top and for my meal, scallops in a nice garlic chile broth. For desert I had crepes with a local jam that I can't remember the name of, but it sure was yummy. Hopefully, I can pick some up to bring back when we get to Puerto Arenas. After dinner, we walked around town and I have to say, there more tourists here than I thought. On first glance, the town seems sleepy, but I did see a good number of people in the restaurants and around. I enjoyed my walk and did a little souvenir shopping before heading back to the ship.

March 2 - Cruising through Canal White and arrival in Puerto Natales

This morning we continued our scenic cruising of the fjords. The views are spectacular and I'm not sure how many photos I can take of snow covered mountain peaks rising out of the water. It is, like Antarctica, hard to capture the scenery here and the scale of everything. The wind this morning was blowing extremely hard, reaching gusts of 59 knots, and I spent a good portion of the morning watching the wind move across the surface of the water creating interesting swirls and patterns. When we arrived at Canal White, the wind was still very heavy. Canal White is a narrow canal that you have to transit at just the right tide because the currents run fast. Our plan was to go through the canal in zodiacs, tuck in at a perfect vantage point, and watch the ship navigate through the narrows. The wind forced us to cancel that plan, as there was no way we could launch the zodiacs. Instead, we watched the transit from the top deck. It was pretty incredible as the ship had to do a few "S" turns to avoid the kelp and the small islands - all this in high winds and high current. Impressive. I've attached a photo of the ship going through the narrow passage.



Canal White

In the afternoon, we arrived at Puerto Natales for a planned tour of the Milodon Cave. The wind was still blowing, so we were unable to pull up to the dock and anchored the ship just off shore. Just as we launched the zodiacs to take passengers to shore, we got called back to the ship and told that the harbor was closed and we did not have authorization to drive the zodiacs. Conveniently, they had a tender already waiting for us that we could charter for the low low price of $900.00. After much arguing, we did take the tender, and then guess what?? Once we returned back from our afternoon excursion and the tender took us back to the ship (another $900.00 or maybe the first price was round trip????), they miraculously opened the harbor for our zodiacs. Hmmm..sounds fishy to me.

The tender they sent was interesting. It was actually an old sailboat that was converted on the inside with tables and benches to be a tourist boat for day sailing. I've attached a photo of it approaching the ship. We didn't really know what to do with it when it got to the ship, as it was not the type of "tender" we were expecting.


Our Chilean Tender

The trip to the Milodon Cave was fun and a good way to get a leg stretch. The milodon is like a giant sloth creature that lived a long time ago and fossil remains were found in the cave. I've attached a photo of me and the replica of the milodon - scary, huh?


Lori and Milodon

We took a short hike through the cave and on our drive to and from learned about the area of Punta Natales. They are building many new hotels in the area hoping for an increase in tourism (since Torres del Paine National Park is so close), but as of yet there are no commercial flights into the area, just private planes. The drive from Punta Arenas is about three hours, so this may slow down their tourist boom.