To Terra del Fuego

This morning we flew to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, on the island of Terra del Fuego at the tip of Argentina and along the Beagle Channel. The flight was uneventful until we neared our destination and the spectacular snow covered Patagonian Andes appeared outside the windows. The Andes run north-south, separating Argentina from Chile, but turn and run easterly at the southern tip of South America.

In this remote and beautiful location, the city of Ushuaia has grown to a population of 70,000 people, many of whom are employed in electronics assembly. The mountains at the end of the Andes range are only about 5000 feet high but because the surrounding land is at sea level, you see the full mountain, which is very dramatic. We drove to a national park set up to protect the southern Andean forest. There are no conifers here, just 5 species of southern beech trees that are only found here, Chile, New Zealand and Australia. There are essentially no mammalian predators and almost no insects because of the climate and the isolation. At Bahia La Pataia, we boarded a large catamaran and sailed back to Ushuaia. Bahia La Pataia is also the end of the pan-American highway, 17,848 km from its starting point in Alaska, and 3000 km from Buenos Aires. As we sailed through the Beagle Channel we were able to see a group of South American sea lions, our first species of albatross, and a number of land and aquatic birds. It is early spring here, so some bird species are beginning to have their breeding plumage. 

Back at the pier in Ushuaia, we boarded our ship, and after a mandatory safety briefing and practice drill, set out for the first leg of our journey. The Falkland Islands are 37 hours, or 355 nautical miles, away; so we will be spending the next day traveling. We do expect to see some more sea birds as we go and, perhaps some large ocean-based mammals.