In the Pacific and Valparaiso bound

Day 13 of our adventure finds us in the Pacific Ocean - named by Ferdinand Magellan after his exhausting trial in negotiating the strait - the Ocean was such a calm relief that he named it the Pacific. And - true to that history, the Pacific today is placid and welcoming. We had a lovely day cruising northwards with the beauty of the Southern Andes on one side and the ocean stretching out to the other - except when we were in channels and looking at glaciers and dolphins and bendy trees and whatnot... At around 3pm we neared the Amalia Glacier which is a truly gorgeous glaciers stretching from high in the mountains down in a gentle sweep to the ocean where a mile-wide ice face meets salt water and bergy bits bob around and the ocean turns green from minerals. The weather held and the glacier showed us it's blue - it was too cool to be actively calving but was wonderful regardless though the more jaded among us were heard to make such comments as, "I am tired of ice and rock, I've seen ice and rock..." etc. Everyone was out on deck though and the reminder of how great it can all be kept us all snapping pictures though everyone at home may also wonder exactly how many pictures of ice and rock a pair of people can take (so far more than 1000 I think).

I thought I would take a chance to describe some of the daily life around here while we have our last 3 days at sea.

There's Jessie and Natalyia and Daniela who greet us every morning. Natalyia is Ukrainian and serves a lovely hot chocolate (milk and chocolate - not powder and water). Daniela is Macedonian and is very creative and eager to get to Santiago as she gets to go home after this trip. Jessie is the bartender at the piece of marble we keep warm (International Cafe bar) and is Filipino and smiles kindly and puts out the icewater when he sees me approach. He was the first to recieve an origami penguin as a gift - though the others have all earned theirs as well.

There's Raj who is young and Indian and newly married and likes to joke around but got frightened when Dale asked him to set up a meeting with the Captain. There's Robert who was cool at first (a Polish lad) but has warmed up to us and helped Donna and I create the perfect Origami Orca complete with ocean waves. There is also Mark who seems stiff but really isn't - he's just British and looks forward to London after this trip - he always makes sure the ice is in the water and the peanuts are at hand then tells tales of 16 years working on ships. Manuel serves us extremely ably and cheerfully each evening though he seems to have a hearing problem and always brings twice as many desserts as any of us ordered. It is creating clothing problems in some quarters...

There's "Ottawa" the friendly chap at the bar who learned to fold a penguin for his grandson and checks the latest news from Canada for us on his laptop. And there is "Houston" whom Dale met for the first time today. He is the kind neighbour who got help for me when I was locked out on my balcony. There are the people who gather around and shyly ask if we will teach them how to fold a whale. There is also the very odd older lady who looks about 103 but curiously fit though very thin and insists on wearing culottes in bright colours with matching argyle knee socks. There is the stodgy Swiss chap who though young, is VERY Swiss and somewhat dull but fancies himself a ladies man - the ladies tend to let him down gently. There is the couple - her bent over a walker and he, somewhat distant appearing, who wear supersized penguin slippers around the ship and introduce them by name to unsuspecting travellers who are trapped in an elevator with them. There is the fellow that tried to take Donna's seat when she went to the washroom and insisted it was his then went off to eat 5 bowls of soup with lemon squeezed in and annoyed the bar staff by trying to serve himself lemons from their container. There are the people who insist on standing in doorways and at the top of stairwells and of course all the people who have to be first in line and can't listen to instructions if their lives depend upon it. There are also the lovely, kind people who share stories of their countries and lives with us - farmers, engineers, preachers, retired teachers, and so many more. it is an oddly comforting sort of united Nations that manages not to get too out of hand most days. like any society, this one has its jerks but they are held in check by the good ones so it all works out.

Ciao dear friends - hasta manana

D&M

One Last Chance with the Penguins

Another beautiful day in the Straits of Magellen. For some reason we are starting to think all the rumours of the weather being terrible all the time are somewhat exaggerated. There was light mist this morning and as we took our small boat from the big boat to shore - it began to rain. we were prepared with waterproofs and paid it no mind. We got to shore and stood around like groupies waiting for some rock star for 40 minutes. In fact, we were waiting for our Floridian friends - Joe and Donna - and were all set to go shopping with them. As we stood in the rain we were approached by innumerable taxi and van drivers, tour directors and other and sundry marketers of stuff to tourists. We bravely resisted and also managed to befriend the pier security dog who was sharing our little place somewhat out of the rain - Rex. Dawna will appreciate his taste in dog people! He was very nice, but I digress. We were made an offer we couldn't refuse as a cabbie was willing to take the 4 of us out to the Otway Cove magellanic penguin colony. We took an hour's drive out of Punta Arenas out into the countryside and were treated to marvelous views of a ranch-ruled country - it looked very similar to home - rolling and open. The plant life was different but the colour and feel of it was strangely familiar. We saw herefords (horrors!) out grazing along with Llamas, sheep and even some Rheas (south America's large flightless bird - similar to an emu). There were eagles and vultures and even the odd tourist (though rare). We went out to a beautiful and lonely spot covered in wildflowers and faintly marshy sand hummocks. This is where Magellanics like to nest. they are a burrowing species of penguin and dig nice little burrows in the sand and peer out from under flowering or grassy doorways at the visitors who pass them by. We were treated to views of adults and chicks in and out of burrows as well as at the edge of the ocean playing in the surf. they are quite good aat body surfing and were coming in and out with the waves. The weather, as I said - couldn't be more perfect. The rain had cleared and it was around 20 degrees with partly cloudy skies and a light breeze. As we left the colony EIGHT tour busses drove up and started disgorging their loads. We felt horror for ourselves and the penguins! The whole thing was much more profit driven here than in the Falklands where the numbers of visitors were much more limited. Thankfully, the penguins are well protected despite this by a nice boardwalk that visitors are to stay on and of course, they can always run into the burrows and hide.

We did manage to do a little bit of shopping on the way back to the ship but kept it pretty minor. Donna and I blew our earnings from Origami sales on pretty Lapis rings (lapis lazuli - a blue gem stone is mined locally here in Chile). We then returned to ship for a well earned rest.

We have just weighed anchor as I write this and will be now heading up the West Coast of S. America through fjords and islands enroute to Valparaiso. We are at sea until Monday morning now and then will get on our flight back to civilization and work and friends and dear Rupert and all that.

But - we got to play with more penguins!!

Adios amigos

Dale and Marsha

The Land of Fire and a Channel named for a Beagle

Tierra Del Fuego gets its name from campfires that once burned as Magellan passed by not knowing he was seeing evidence of a people that would be extinct before the 20th century. THe campfires were those of the Yaghan peoples - a civilization that had no written language, very few tools, no artwork and no clothing and yet somehow managed to survive over 7000 years in lower Patagonia where everyone else manages to nearly freeze to death or is wrecked on rocks. We made it to Ushuaia today - a beautiful city called "San Francisco south" as it lays at the same latitude, frames a beautiful bay and crawls up and down steep hills very similar to the California city. Of course, there are critical differences - Ushuaia is the furthest south city in the world, it is Spanish and 95% catholic and icebergs drift by during many parts of the year. The city is located on the Argentine half of the island of Tierra del Fuego. The climate here is all about the wind. There are fewer than 30 days a year where it is clear, calm and sunny and we had one of them today - it was great - 22 degrees and nearly windless. The reminders of the great role of wind in this part of the world are all around you though - shipwrecks, huges waves on rocks and very stunted trees that lean in unison away from the wind and crouch behind cover. The trees refuse to rise above their sheltering land masses and are amazing sculptures of nature. We rode a catamarran out in the Beagle Channel (so named for Fitzroy and Darwin's geographical ship) and were treated to scenes of roosting cormorants and snoozing seals as well as the curious Steamer ducks - a flightless bird that rushes off madly, feet and wings plowing the water like a paddlewheel steamer - hence the name. We had our first chance to set feet on land in more than 6 days and strolled around Ushuaia and did a little shopping. Like any port city they see the big boats coming and raise the prices accordingly but we poked around and found some neat places. I was particularly charmed by a bookshop with great selection in several languages but the prospect of hauling any of it home in my suitcase actually kept me from buying anything beyond a few postcards. Apparently it IS possible for me to go into a bookstore and come out without a book - who knew?? We are now back afloat in the Beagle Channel headed for the Strait of Magellan and Punta Arenas, Chile where we set anchor and take smaller boats ashore to see what Chile has to wow us with. The Beagle channel is more characterized today by ongoing hostilities between Argentina and CHile over who owns what. There is a distince armed presence everywhere you look and a tentative deal over where exactly the line lies was brokered by the Catholic Church. For the time being the split is down the center of the Beagle Channel. It was evidenced today as we never left the Argentine side of the Channel as we explored in the catamarran. This is a place of great beauty and wonder and should be characterized by the towering mountain peaks, the lingering glaciers, the windswept trees and the remains of an astonishing civilization - but that is humankind for you, I suppose.

I shall take my photos and my memories and delete much of the ugliness in favour of the splendour. it deserves at least that much.

From El fin del mundo (the end of the world)

Dale and Marsha

Cape Horn Monument

Ok - no picture but if you Google "Cape horn monument" you will see very nice photos of it...

To the end of the Earth and Back

Well - here I sit on the North side of the utter end of the Americas. We are now among the elite (?) souls who have rounded the Horn. Of course, we cannot count ourselves amongst those intrepid and/or insane who did it centuries ago in leaking wooden ships smaller than a breadbox with no maps and certainly no 5 course meal awaiting them at the end of their daily log. The Horn was discovered in 1615 by Cpt. William Schouten - a Dutch sailor who named it Kaap Hoorn after his hometown in the Netherlands. Those who had gone before - Sir Francis Drake, Darwin in the Beagle and Magellan - had all managed to miss this spit of land while getting lost in the maze that is the region around Tierra Del Fuego. The Horn seems a very fitting bit of rock to use as an end to a continent. It rises magestically in a gentle sweep and guards the wild waters of the Drake Passage in fitting warning and monument to sailors yet to pass and the graveyard of those who tried and failed. There is a large bronze monument on the island, erected by the Chilean government, in honour of those who have lost their lives in this wild and lonely spot. It is made in 2 pieces and the negative space forms an albatross on the wing - the albatross is the good luck charm of sailors. It is beautiful. I think I have successfully added a web photo of it to the blog. We are feeling a little bereft of Antarctica but are told the wonders of Tierra del Fuego, the Beagle Channel and the Strait of Magellan are equally deserving of adulation and crazy photo snapping - we eagerly await that which is yet to come.

Yesterday I neglected to add a moment from my day that brought reality crashing back. I was relaxing on the deck of our stateroom watching the splendor of Deception Island and having a pleasant chat with the fellow from Houston on the next deck over. We sailed by and I was getting cold, Dale had gone to a lecture and I decided to attend another origami class - i turned to leave and much to my surprise found myself locked out on my balcony - in ANTARCTICA! It seems our very efficient room Steward (kind of a cross between a maid and a butler) had locked the door to keep out stray drafts and somehow didn't see me out there. It is NOT a large balcony and it seems a very hard thing to do, but he managed it. I asked the kind gentleman from Houston if he would be so good as to pop out into the companionway and find Ekanan (the Steward) and ask him to release me. It seems that Ek (as we call him) was nowhere to be found and I was still stuck. eventually Mrs. Houston called the Purser's desk and a kind human was sent post-haste to release me. I said to Ek "you do know this will likely affect your tip..." He found it wise not to argue with me at that point! And THAT , Kelly, can't happen to you at the Moose Jaw zoo!

Last night we crossed Drake's passage once again and once agin it threw a little unexpected weather at our little boat. thankfully the ocean gods were feeling less cruel and only gave us gale force winds (75knots) and rough seas (5-7m). Sleeping was a bit of a challenge but no furniture was lost and neither of us fell out of bed so off we go merrily to Ushuaia - the SOuthernmost city in the world. Tomorrow we board a catamarran to look at the wonders of Darwin's Beagle channel and stand on land for the first time in over a week. We anticipate that it may be a little wobbly. More on that tomorrow.

beunos dios

Marsha and Dale

North to Deception Island and then back to take our chances in the Drake Passage

We are back asea after many and wondrous adventures in Antarctica. We are now in the Drake Passage making time for Cape Horn. This morning saw deep fog which lifted in time to show us the wonders of Deception Island. This is an island in the South Shetland chain which is aptly named. Discovered in 1820 by a Royal Navy Captain -the island appears unassuming from most angles but at one point a narrow passage called Neptune's Bellows opens into one of the world's largest harbours and it is possible to sail right into an active volcano. The harbour is actually the caldera of the volcano and all recent eruptions have occured around the rim rather than in the main crater though they tell us that occasionally the crater heaves and water rushes through the narrows in a great surge that has swamped unsuspecting ships. The soil near the base of the island is so hot that digging down less than 1 foot yields water hot enough to scald unprotected skin. Occasional schools of krill are washed by currents into the harbour and in shallow water are accidently cooked - apparently this is a great treat for the birds of the island. The island has many spectacular rock formations and colours of rock and volcanic soil not yet eroded away by the harsh weather. it is a major breeding ground for Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins and they climb all over the island to amazing heights to nest and rear their chicks.

After the adventure of Deception Island which included thousands of penguins and several pods of humpback whales, we headed back out to open ocean and are now whizzing northwards to our next point of interest - Cape Horn - or the Southernmost point of the America's and the Northernmost point of Drake Passage.

Once back at sea with ocean for scenery we turn inward to amuse ourselves. Dale once again took the edifying route of listening to lectures on everything from finance to Antarctic flora and fauna. I, on the other hand, went crafty and attended an origami 'class' where I successfully constructed a penguin despite an abyssmal instructor - and I do mean AWFUL - Donna (of Florida fame) and I taught ourselves the basics then bartered for additional materials from various staff and offices and sat down at our favourite cafe/bar and made and entire colony of penguins all dressed in black and orange and gathered such a crowd that the barkeeps must have made a little extra. Our hard work paid off when some German tourists came and asked if we would make them some so we cranked out a further dozen and made ourselves $60US. Dale and Joe scoffed and said we undersold ourselves but we are quite satisfied with the results of our efforts and plan to make whales if we can find a pattern.

That, in a nutshell, is another day at sea. We are headed for warmer climes and the wilds of Tierra del Fuego and the Beagle passage.

Special thanks once again to Jennifer for posting more photos on our behalf. The first is not a dead penguin - it is a very live chick basking in the sun. They look very very dead and then suddenly jump up and run off. Very funny. The second is a view of some of the fablulous rock formations on East Falkland. It was a very beautiful location and we agree with the penguins in their choice of rookery site. The third is an adult Gentoo penguin nesting. unfortunately this poor fellow is rather late with his nesting and his chick is unlikely to survive the coming winter because it will not have time to molt and develop adult feathers before taking to the sea. this is nature in its wisdom - ours is not to question. His father is a fine looking fellow though and we wish him well.

Off to yet another fine meal with fine company -

Adieu
D&M