We were up at 6AM to enjoy our passage through the Beagle Channel and its Glacier Alley, while on route to the “End of the World” city, Ushuaia. (Pronounced U-shwi-a.)
We prepared for the show. We had breakfast delivered to our cabin, arranged the chairs & table on our deck, dressed in our warmest clothes, and wrapped ourselves in the ship’s blankets, as we cruised the narrow channel at about 10 knots. All five of the alley’s glaciers were observable from our port side. Deborah tried her best to get pictures but the poor light hampered her efforts to get the greatest shots.
Did I mention it was fricken cold? Six degrees Celsius but that wind …
The glaciers are all named after the home countries of the explorers that originally sailed these waters, Holland, Italy, France, Germany and Spain. Interestingly, none were named after Britain despite the fact Britain’s Robert Fitzroy first discovered the channel and its name stems from Fitzroy’s ship, the HMS Beagle. In no particular order:
Each glacier descends to tidewater and all link back to the Darwin Ice Field that covers 2500 sq km of the Tierra del Fuego region. We didn’t see any “calving” at the water’s edge but there were several bergie bits seen floating in the channel. The ice field takes its name from Charles Darwin who was on the second ever trip through these waters.
After the glacier show was over we continued cruising the length of the 240 km channel towards Ushuaia.
We arrived in Ushuaia only to be told that we were unable to dock due to the continuing high winds. The captain made a decision to anchor and we transferred to shore on the tenders, loading in the lee of the ship in lesser, but still turbulent waters.
Ushuaia advertises itself as the last city at the “End of the World”. In fact it is the most southern city in South America and therefore the “end of the world” but there are small outposts on the island chain to the south before jumping off to Antarctica. It is the most southerly settlement in South America that can be reached by continuous road. You can dine in “End of the World” restaurants or even use an “End of the World” toilet.
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Tender Dock |
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Mountain Peak Visible From City Centre |
Ushuaia is the capital of Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego province. It has about 100,000 hardy folks living here. The city has its own glacier that reaches down from the 1000-meter peaks of the Andes Mountains. The glacier provides drinking water for the city and skiing recreation for its inhabitants.
The Selk’nam indigenous peoples inhabited the area for around 10,000 years before the Anglican Church missionaries arrived in the 18th century. European diseases wiped out the locals and it was home to a small smattering of missionaries after that. Lacking a significant Argentinean population and with not so friendly neighbour Chile nearby, the Argentine government took steps to populate the area. The government established a penal colony for its most dangerous, second-time offenders. The prison became the null the city until it was closed in 1947 due to the cruel and unusual punishments the convicts were subjected to. It is now a centre of tourism, off shore oil support, commercial port and other light industry.
The Argentinean Navy has a presence in Ushuaia. It is from this port that the Argentinean flagship, battleship Belgrano sailed from in the 1982 Argentine-United Kingdom War. The Belgrano reached open sea and was then promptly sunk by the British. Many Argentinean souls were lost.
We signed up for a bus excursion city tour and visit nearby Ensanada Bay (on the Beagle) in Tierra del Fuego national park and a journey on a replica narrow gauge railroad to the “End of the World”. The railroad was a 10 km trip, complete with an audio history of the prison and convict prison life. Essentially, the prisoners built the railway into the forest to chop wood to heat their prison and fire the boilers to produce electricity for the town. There were no successful escapes from the prison. Escapees either returned in a few days begging for food & shelter or were found frozen to death nearby.
I have a better understanding of why the Argentines have become so successful in world rugby. In the short drive west from the city, I counted four rugby clubs, two of which had indoor training facilities but all four had playing fields that reminded me of gravel pits. You would have to be a very hard woman or man to play rugby in these conditions.
A side note, “shout out” to Holland America’s customer service representatives. We had returned to the ship when I noticed I had lost my wallet. Not thinking anything could be done, I reported it to Customer Service and explained the excursion I went on (there were many as most of the 1500 passengers had left the ship). Two hours later Holland America Security had found my wallet and returned it to the ship. In hindsight, we were lucky to have spent the extra money on the ship’s tour and not taken one of the many private tours. I don’t think a private tour company would have made the effort to find my wallet.
