Around The Horn Review-Part 3

[Smooth Sailing]

Day 7 - Punta Arenas - We arrived at port this morning at 6:00AM and were cleared to leave the ship around 7:00AM - Again cloudy, windy, and cold. We did the Otway Sound Penguin tour this morning - again numerous small group tour operators on the pier. Otway Sound was about an hour and a half drive from town - it is some type of National Park and a small entry fee is charged. You walk down a dirt trail for a 1/2 mile or so to reach the Penquins - then onto a raised wooden trail through the penguin colony - this is a fairly small colony of several hundred penguins - the trail is roped off so you can't walk down into the colony - the colony is covered by the penguins small in-ground nests and they don't want hundreds of people stepping on the nests and killing the babies. You do, however, get very close to the penguins - they will come right up to the rope and pose for you. Most of the penguins are either walking to or from the sea - there is an observation deck where you can watch them going into and out of the water. This was a very nice tour - only problem was the hundreds of tourists here today - It was very crowded. We returned to town and did our usual walk around - a little shopping - a few beers - found a great place for a late lunch. Lamb is the specialty here - we don't normally order lamb - but, we always enjoy trying the local favorites - at our resturant they really knew how to properly cook and prepare the lamb - best we ever had. Many of the ship's crew were also eating here - so we knew we had the right place. A few more beers and back to the ship. Since we had had a late lunch and did not feel like changing - we opted for the buffet this evening - not good - but since we were not really hungry - made little difference.

Day 8 - Beagle Channel and Ushuaia - I know I sound like a broken record - Again cloudy, windy, and cold. The cruise down the Beagle Channel was very scenic - as everything else has been - tall, steep snow clad mountains on both sides of this somewhat narrow channel - more waterfalls. We passed glacier after glacier - maybe 10 or more - became old hat - the most scenic was probably the Glacier Italia - very nice. We also encountered a bit more wildlife - more birds - a large school of Dolphins - some Sea Lions. We were scheduled to arrive at Ushuaia at 2:00PM - we arrived at noon - It was soo windy that we were almost blown off the deck. We walked around this beautiful small town for a bit - it is set at the base of some very high snow clad mountains. We were docked next to the Infinity - If you go to http://www.tierradelfuego.org.ar/webcam/anteriores.php?imagen=20050123-01&fecha=012005/

you will see our tiny cruise ship next to the infinity on the day we were there.

More to come later -