Day 5, 25 February, Southern Patagonia FITZ ROY EXPEDITION, Bárbara Channel – Helado Sound

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Day 5, 25 February, Southern Patagonia FITZ ROY EXPEDITION, Bárbara Channel – Helado Sound: We woke up anchored in the Barbara Channel, and after breakfast we sailed to the Shag Passage, in search of Humpback Whales. This is an area where they are feeding amongst birds and sea lions.

What a day we had whale watching. All morning we spotted whales everywhere. Francesco, our main guide had worked with a researched over the past 10 years, had identified, numbered (by the whales’ flutes) and tracked their travels over these years.

Every time we saw a flute, Francesco yelled their identification number. He had a book with all their photos and numbers of the whale’s tails. There was a mother with a new calf, so it hadn’t been numbered. Whales calve every 2^nd year. There was also an adult whale without a number. He registers every sighting, including where and when he sees them.

Francesco had a favourite whale he called Simone. He spotted it! She started to move towards the ship. She came next to it then ‘played’ this us, moving from side to side, front and back. Francesco was in heaven…and so were all photographers. Tom got an amazing movie of Simone’s antics. She even turned on her back, showing her white belly and fluke. What a fantastic experience. All the crew were so excited as well.

All up, we saw 11 whales, all but 2 previously identified by Francesco. After spending all day watching whales, we headed to the Shag Passage to anchor. Again, we were lucky with the weather. It started showering with rain just as we were called into lunch. As soon as we finished our lunch, it stopped raining. The water was very calm also, which made whale-watching very easy.

That night, it was time for Karaoke! The Chileans were very keen. The 4 people from Canberra went to bed! The MC was the engineer who earlier in the evening, had proudly shown us the old, but gleaming 50+ year old 8 cylinder, 300 hp engine. He was also a fantastic singer, as was one of the men who drove one of the zodiacs. As with all the crew, he had multiple tasks on the Forrest boat.

The Chilean girls sang several songs – in Spanish of course – and then they said, “common Australians, your turn”. The 4 people from Canberra decided to go to bed so that left Tom & I. Tom didn’t want to sing so I recruited one of the Chilean girls and our other guide, Luis. We sang one of the Beatles songs.

Then the French speaking people were encouraged but the ship had nothing on computer for Karaoke in French. This was our second last night on the boat and the Chileans warned us that the next night being our last night, we need to be prepared for more celebrations!!

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