Day 4: Patagonia, Feb 26
In which I mistake cormorants for penguins and sea-lions for rocks, see thousands of Magellan penguins and a few yellow-toed Gentoo who wandered up from the Antarctic by mistake and return on the "Bucking Bronco of the Beagle Channel"
Ushuaia: Rush to catch a boat to take us to see the penguins and sea lions. Our boat has "J&B, Start a Party" painted on the front, which sounds promising. But suddenly we have to jump ship when it turns out that this one is not going to the penguins.
Off we go into the Beagle Channel, discovered by and named after the boat that carried Charles Darwin - you know Darwin, the guy who said we were descended from the apes.
Our boat slows as we approach a small, rocky island covered with white-fronted birds, can they be penguins? No, seems they are cormorants, hundreds of them. As we draw closer what appeared to be brown rocks on the top of the little island materialise as sea-lions, dozens and dozens of them. Huge 400-kilo males haughtily looking up to the sky and slim 150-kilo females vying for their attention, plus a writhing mass of baby sea lions who are in constant motion and kept in check by the parents giving them little bites. Seems corporal punishment is still permitted in the animal kingdom!
We move on ploughing through the grey/black waters of the channel under streaks of clouds sitting on top of dark, snow-splattered mountains.
Finally, Martillo (Hammer) Island and penguins. Lots and lots of penguins. Our ships' guide says 3,000 (how could she count that fast?). The majority are little black and white Magellanic penguins, named after that chap Magellan who we encountered yesterday. There is also a small group of larger penguins with orange beaks and feet, they are the Gentoo penguins who normally inhabit the Antarctic, but apparently found their way to the island by mistake and now as they were born on the island they keep returning to breed and then head south, while the Magellan penguins swim north.
As we head back the wind (did I mention the wind?) is against us and the sea is very rough indeed. I call our little boat the Bucking Bronco of the Beagle Channel. V is very brave and manages the two-hour ride without mishap. I dream of a whiskey when its over.
Incongruous footnote: Our friendly female guide had explained in Spanish that the Beagle is a type of dog, like the dog in the Peanuts cartoon! A far distance from my image of the Beagle as a ship with a hardy bunch of sailors braving the dangers of the unknown to discover new lands.
Good Morning David,
ReplyDeleteYour blog of days spent in Patagonia certainly roused me to recall the initial few days of my own sojourn in South America with Nick, seven, or is it eight, years ago. For we traveled a similar route across Tierra del Fuego from Ushuaia to Puerto Natales, from where we continued North by ferry after making a segue back into Argentina to visit the Moreno glacier and a three day trek around Torres del Pines. Our lodgings were not as luxuriant as your choice of accommodation. I was forcing Nick to join in with my re-living of your and my earlier travels of the 60s across Turkey, Iran & Afghanistan. The young man stuck it out bravely for about eight weeks before the welling of rebellion finally erupted in Lima Peru - no more lowly chummages for him, and I was forced into sharing three star boarding for the final week of our venture. Oh, the young - No stamina!!!
Every wish,
Nicolaus