Oct 28 – Day 4 – Ainsworth Bay/Tuckers Islet
We both awake at 5:00 AM, excited to start our adventure- instead of “adventure awaits” we are at a point of inflection where “adventure begins”! A few cups of cafe con leche and we head out on our first of many Zodiak boats. We were supposed to hike at Moraine Marinelli but it was too icy to disembark so we did the very informative forest tour instead. We were shocked at the devastation caused by beavers- 25 original pairs of them were imported back in 1946 to create a fur industry… the industry never took off but the beavers did and they estimate more than 500,000 are there now. In 6 months they have destroyed many acres of forest just where we were- I can’t imagine how much damage they have done in total.
After lunch and a tour of the engine room, we take our second Zodiak tour to the penguin colony at Tuckers Islet. Because this is part of the National Park there is no disembarking allowed- we were told there were approximately 1000 penguins there, but we saw about 20 that were on the beach. Cute, but a bit underwhelming since we were mentally prepared for a huge noisy stinky colony! So if penguins are important to you, you may want to consider one of the Ushuaia tours that land you on a beach with them. But we did see cormorants and a steamboat duck, so it was pretty cool and a great first day! After a hot shower, a delicious dinner and a presentation on glaciers were were ready to call it a night.
Oct 29 – Day 5 – Pia Glacier/ Glacier Alley
After a fairly rough night of ocean travel into the Beagle Channel, we have desyaunar (breakfast) and go to a presentation on the native inhabitants of Southern Patagonia & Tierra del Fuego. We recommend going to as many of the presentations as you can, they are very informative and add a extra dimension to the places you are seeing.
Our only excursion today is to the Pia Glacier, which is just magnificent! We did the Boulder Hike (which really should have been called the Mud & Rocks Hike) which took us up to the top overlook of the glacier, an amazing view! And riding the Zodiaks through the glacial ice in the water was incredible fun!
The afternoon and evening passage was through Glacier Alley, with each glacier named after another country- German, French, Italy and Holland glaciers; each glacier was celebrated with the appropriate food & beverage from the country it was named after- just a cool way of marking each one.
When we went to dinner we discovered our assigned tablemates had opted to dine with some friends they had made earlier in their trip- that was fine with us, it made our dinners more special and romantic- and Jose, our amazing waiter, dedicated himself to making sure we were well taken care of. And it gave us an opportunity to people watch, one of our favorite pastimes.
Oct 30 – Day 6 – Cape Horn/Wulaia Bay
In the wee hours of the morning we left the Beagle Passage into the waters of the Atlantic- to say it was rough would be an understatement! From about 2:00-6:00 AM we went through what seemed like nearly 90 degree shifts from side to side- I was told later it was 15-20′ swells. At 6:00 we passed behind an island and had a slight break, then it was back to rough water all the way down to Cape Horn. Melinda was not feeling well, so I went up on deck to take some pictures- there were maybe 10 of us up and about, I suspect most people were still in bed (or worse!). All exits to the ship were sealed and we were not allowed outside. At 7:30 the announce came over the loudspeaker that (surprise, surprise) the disembarkment to Cape Horn was cancelled. We were of course disappointed but not surprised given the conditions. The web site says they have a 75% chance of landing there on any given trip, and the excursion leaders said spring (Sept-Nov) was the best chance of landing, so we were there at the right time, but fortune didn’t favor us. But we did get to see the “end of the world” and the lighthouse, even if we didn’t get to land there, so it was all good in the end.
Skipping breakfast and a movie on Shackelton, we opted for a nap instead as the waters had calmed down. After lunch we went on our last excursion in Wulaia Bay- a long and steep hike through some beautiful woods and traces of snow on the ground. At the conclusion of the hike we were met with hot chocolate spiked with Johnny Walker- a nice way to warm up on a blustery cold day! Upon returning to the ship we had hot shower, our last happy hour of pisco and calafate sours and our last dinner on the boat.
So what were our final impressions about the cruise? Would we do it again?
We discussed this at length (and in our video), and we really did enjoy it- and if you want to go down to Cape Horn, it is the only way to get there. The sightseeing is beautiful, Glacier Alley, Pia Glacier and some of the other excursions are only accessible by boat. That being said- it is really expensive, and if you are trying to manage costs we feel like you can skip it and do some excursions out of Ushuaia- in some cases, like seeing penguins, that may even be a better option. We were glad we did it at the beginning of the trip, it kind of eased us into the trip. Would we do it again? Well we wouldn’t go back and do it twice, but we felt it was worth the time and expense to have an experience like no other.