Cruise The World With Us

Monday – February 3, 2025

So what does it feel like to be at the end of the world? Not a lot different than other places – but definitely colder! Ushuaia is the closest city to Antarctica and is considered to be the End of The World (Fin Del Mundo). The lighthouse in today’s featured image is known as the Lighthouse at the End Of The World. It is located in the Beagle Channel – more on both later.

Our day started out looking a lot better than Sunday. The sky cleared and we could see fresh snow fell overnight on the mountains. We had a 7:45 am excursion call which took us to a waiting bus for the land portion of this adventure. Our guide – Esteban – is a Ushuaia native and very knowledgeable in the history of the area. As we drove to a national park West of Ushuaia he explained that much of Ushuaia was developed by prisoners – the roads, train tracks and houses were built by them. He also said that people come from all over the world to be in Ushuaia. Recently he met 2 men from France who had just completed a bicycle journey from Fairbanks, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina. It took them 6 months. For my brother Bob – does that sound like something you might like to try?

Argentina begin setting aside land for national parks early in the 1900’s as one of the first countries in the world to do so. The park we drove to is on the border with Chile. Included in the park is a part of Lake Roca. When we arrived there were no other visitors. The air was still and there were virtually no sounds to disturb the morning. In the distance we could see a snow-capped mountain in Chile. While driving through the park we stopped at a visitor center that had a small museum. One of the items on display was a photo of the indigenous people who lived in this area for centuries – named by Europeans ‘Yaghan”. They did not wear clothes but used the blubber from South American sea lions rubbed over their skin to provide insulation from the weather.

Next we stopped to look at what some friends from Canada had done to destroy the environment. Those “friends” were beavers. Don’t know why they were introduced to the area but they have no natural predators in this area so they have thrived and multiplied. It is estimated they now number around 150,000. In addition, they like the trees which grow in the area. I have included a couple photos to show what the beavers have done to areas they inhabit. The Argentine government now has allowed the hunting of the beavers to reduce their numbers. Hope that happens before the beavers destroy more area.

While walking to the beaver dam we saw plants in the trees and on the ground. The plants in the trees were identified as Chinese lanterns. They live with but do not destroy the tree. The berries we saw look much like blueberries and are named calafate berries.

Our final stop of the land tour was the boat ramp for our voyage on a catamaran on the Beagle Channel. The channel was named after the English ship HMS Beagle. The channel flows from West to East so on the West side it is the Pacific Ocean and on the East it is the Atlantic Ocean. Our trip on the catamaran would take us from Bahia Lapataia to the Beagle Channel past Ushuaia. I included a photo of a map so you can locate those points for reference. The land portion of the tour was about 3 hours.

The last time we were on a catamaran was in St Croix and it was the kind that had a tarp stretched between the hulls. Jan wasn’t thrilled with that ride. As you can see from the photo, this catamaran was much larger and had 2 levels both of which were enclosed. We chose the lower level so I could slip out when I wanted to take a photo. I only spent a few minutes inside until we begin the sprint to the dock.

Along the Beagle Channel we saw lots of birds, South American sea lions and a special lighthouse. Encountered the birds first. There may have been others but the 2 types I photographed were South American terns (white with a black head and red beak and feet) and cormorants (at first glance you might think they were penguins). There are many small islands in the Beagle Channel. We saw (and the photos reflect this) birds on many of those islands. On one of the islands along with cormorants we also saw South American sea lions. This group has 1 male (much larger and darker coat) and 7 females. I included short video clips of both birds and sea lions. The terns were fishing and you can see what they caught in some of the beaks. Not sure what the cormorants were doing but their flying was fun to watch.

Further East on Beagle Channel we came to the lighthouse known as the Lighthouse at the End Of The World. It used to be operated by a person but they have converted it to LED lights that are powered by energy from a solar panel that is stored in batteries. This is not the lighthouse farthest South but it is the lighthouse closest to the farthest South human city – Ushuaia. I know I included too many photos of the lighthouse but is was an interesting site and the small island was covered with birds.

As we made our way back to our ship from the catamaran we noticed that more ships were tied to the pier. Most of them appeared to be going to Antarctica. I don’t have a desire to see that continent. There are some travelers who not only wish to see it but will pay to sleep on it in a sleeping bag. To each his own! Due to its location relative to Antarctica, Ushuaia is the principal departure point for trips to this chunk of ice. It is 1,000 kilometers from Ushuaia vs. 3,000 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro.

Tomorrow we begin our transit of the islands off the West coast of Chile as we travel to Puerto Chacabuco. This port and the next 2 look like they are situated close to the Andes range so I’m hoping for some nice photos of mountains and everything associated with them.

To view the video and photos from today, click here.