Punta Arenas and Ushuaia

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Punta Arenas and Ushuaia

Actually, Punta Arenas (sand point, in Spanish) is our last stop on the mainland of Chile. We have scenic sailing to the port of Ushuaia, Argentina which is the last stop before heading around the Horn and south to Antarctica. The weather is overcast and nippy with temps in the 40’s and occasional bursts of sun peaking through, especially around the glaciers where they create their own climate.

In Punta Arenas we took a city tour of the highlights. The cemetery is much like the one in Buenos Aries except this one is even more beautiful because of the cypress trees that have been trimmed from an early growth and are now almost perfectly shaped. Sarah Braun is credited with the founding of the city, and became a very wealthy woman. The Menendez family also became rich, so, naturally, they joined forces through marriage with Sarah’s brother marrying the Menendez daughter. This Jewish/Catholic marriage resulted in ten children and there are now more than 600 offspring. The closest synagogue is many hundreds of kilometers away, so the cemetery is non-denominational.

We sailed on the Straits of Magellan to Punta Arenas, and then, instead of continuing through to the Atlantic, we sailed south to the Beagle Channel and on to Ushuaia. It is here that the scenery is so beautiful. We are enjoying the view from our room and the description by the experts that comes over the TV in our room. The glaciers range in size from very large to quite small. The ice melts on some more quickly than on others. Our Captain was able to bring the ship right up to the face of the largest glacier so we saw the sea ice or fast ice as well as small chunks that had broken off. This glacier has its own climate around it. The sun shined on it while clouds and grey skies were all around. From there we sailed slowly on past snow capped mountains and more awesome scenery.

WE arrived in Ushuaia, the” bottom of the earth,” about one PM and immediately left the ship for our penguin cruise on a large catamaran docked right near our ship. The boat was warm and covered making the ride enjoyable since it was raining off and on all afternoon. That didn’t deter the animals, however. Our first stop was a small barren island loaded with sea lions and cormorants (birds that look like penguins.) We circled that island and continued on to a larger island full of penguins. They primped and performed for us the whole time we were there. We saw Magellan and Gentoo penguins. The latter have yellow feet like ducks. After getting our fill of penguin antics, we headed back to the ship. It was the 13th of Feb. and the cruise director changed the formal night to the 13th because the next day we were going to be heading to the Antarctic through the Drake Passage which can be very rough going because of the winds. This, however, proved to be a bad call since many people had gone on long tours and didn’t return until 7 or 7:30 and didn’t want to get cleaned up and into formal clothes to go to a dance. We eat the first seating and missed dinner downstairs and went up top to the Lido for a casual dinner (of lobster and steak) before going to our room. Our first successful day of wild life viewing completed, and we were exhausted.

We’re off to Antarctica and will see what the weather permits - maybe a little, maybe a lot. Don’t know about the internet, but will keep trying. In any event, E-mails from friends and family are always welcomed with enthusiasm! (Hint,hint.)

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