Chilean Fjords (and a bit more!)
by Theo Steel
We were lucky enough to be on Island Sky with Hannah Lawson as Cruise Director and Cathy Bartrop who took the Travelpost photos which are on the site in March 2019. It was a spectacular trip with a great expedition team, Pierre and Wendy Malan to the fore. Of course Captain Fonseca was in overall charge and the Chilean pilots were essential for some very challenging navigation from Puntas Arenas to Valparaiso. The cruise was effectively a post Antarctic positioning trip and a close examination of the Chilean fiords using a small ship on a rare itinerary
The trip started with the long flight to Buenos Aires (Mar12/3). We had been to Buenos Aires before and then had had 4 days there under our own steam, to be recommended if you have not been as there is plenty to see. The city dates back to C17 but its heyday was in the late 19th/early 20th century when Argentina was the 8th richest country in the world.
The cruise package included a couple of nights in BA with a general city tour which takes in the key sites not mentioned below and a visit to a tango show, both were great. Each visit we have stayed in Retiro. There are opportunities to get out walking and see the Opera House (Colon) which is one of the most highly regarded and architecturally spectacular in the world; the café Tortoni; the Galeries Pacifico-upmarket shops; the National Art gallery (actually under refurbishment this time); and the el Ateneo bookshop. The Puerto Madero pre containerisation repurposed dock is their equivilant of Canary Wharf and there are 2 19th century ships to visit – the Sarmiento built in Birkenhead and the Uraguay an earlier expedition ship with a Calatrava bridge as a backdrop. In this area every street has its pleasures.
| Constitution station Buenos Aires |
I was in my element as there are 3 adjacent railway stations in Retiro! At Mitre the Liverpool connection is maintained as the designers Conder and Conder were from there and the overall roof was manufactured there. It has been beautifully restored. Adjacent is the narrow gauge Belgrano station which has a more central European look. St Martin is being rebuilt after a century as a temporary station. To cap it all there is a small railway museum with some superb English sometime restaurant car china on show as well as heavy metal! I actually used the Line C underground to Constitution station which is teeming. Built in the 1930’s the line C Metro stations have lovely mosaics. Line A was built in 1913 but now has modern trains, the original wooden trains lasted almost 100 years. Constitution is a mix of late 19th century architecture with a US like concourse and a Waterloo like trainshed opened by the Prince of Wales in 1924. London like shops are being added to the concourse. The frontage is like the Casa Rosada with bull’s blood stained limestone! There is an extensive suburban rail network using new Chinese built electric trains and the long distance trains are being revived in a small way. The streets feel very art nouveau Parisian and are punctuated by red UK style pillarboxes.
| Mosaics at Line C Metro Station |
So on day 3 (March 15) it was an early start for the internal BA airport for the 4 hour flight to Ushuaia. Those of you who watched Race to the end of the World will have seen the final attempted sprints up the steep hill to the Arakur hotel – we were taken up there by coach for an excellent buffet lunch before boarding Island Sky. I was struck by the amount of development since we last visited. While the view from the Arakur is spectacular to the Dientes de Navarino (Andes) it is remote from the centre of Ushuaia.
| View from the hotel in Ushuaia |
We set sail East along along the Beagle Channel past Puerto Williams and out to Cape Horn on day 4 where Zodiacs took many to land and climb the steps to the lighthouse. The weather was fairly tame. It was then back more or less as we had come but we were in new territory for us on day 5 when we woke to find the ship in the Garibaldi Fiord. Again it was out in the zodiacs for an exploration closer up to the glacier through calving ice with condors, albatrosses above and whales beneath. Spectacular!!
In the afternoon we proceeded further west along the Beagle channel past fiord scenery and islands with more wildlife to watch both in the water and in the sky. Tony gave a lecture about albatrosses before another excellent dinner.
On Mar 18th we were in Magellan Strait which divides Patagonia and moored off Punta Arenas in Chile. We zodiaced in with the intention of a trip to see Penguins on Magdalena Island by catamaran but were thwarted by a choppy sea. After a wait in the ferry embarkation hall while the coaches were assembled after their school runs ,Plan B was initiated when coaches arrived to take us west to Bulnes Fort where there is an excellent recreation of a C19 fort as well as a superb museum. En route we saw a number of C19 ships beached and deteriorating.
It was back to Puntas Arenas but not to the ship due to the wind. A hastily organised picnic lunch in the terminal and then a trip out to do the sights. The museum of replica ships visited included the James Caird(Shackleton’s whaler of the rescue fame), Magellan’s galleons and the Beagle. The original Beagle ended her days as Customs ship accommodation moored on the river Roach and was then beached at Paglesham in the Essex marshlands – the attached photos show the alleged site and what is said to be her anchor.
| Replica of the Beagle |
Puntas Arenas city centre was not unimpressive and is growing fast. Another wait back at the embarkation shed while Hannah negotiated with the Harbour authorities but eventually we were allowed back to Island Sky by Zodiac – a relatively bumpy ride. In retrospect the day showed the Noble Caledonia team at their most resourceful – albeit relative to the 2020 Chilean chronicles outlined in other areas of the Travelpost.
The night was punctuated by a short rough spell in the Pacific prior to entering the Sarmiento channel for a rendezvous with the right tide at 1600 at the entrance to the Kirke pass. We were preceded through the sinuous channel into the Natales gulf by some of our Zodiacs. We were in Puerto Natales by 1930 ad after dinner had a saunter through this frontier town, en route finding an engine from the “abattoir railway’ on a plinth.
| Torres del Paine |
On 20th March we enjoyed a spectacular coach trip all day to the Torres del Paine National park with its jagged peaks, glaciers and the Salta Grande waterfalls. The route to and fro featured sheep ranches and the occasional guanaco. A good lunch at the Hosteria Grey an old ranch. A spectacular foray into the Andes. Back on board It was possible to have supper on deck and watch a good sunset.
Another night in port and next morning some zodiacing on a mill pond sea which was great fun and punctuated by more wildlife before we entered the White Channel Narrows for our midday passage. A stop off after lunch to walk the moraines of the Benal glacier and onto the ice. As ever well supervised by the team.
| Puerto Eden |
22 March saw us shrouded by fog but with a stop at Puerto Eden for a brief stop and a walk. We emerged from the prevalent mist and well it was a bit of a garden of!! Rather like Ketchican in Alaska with houses fronted by an overwater wooden terrace it’s a mix of tropical humming birds, fuschias, and some more alpine plants but very fertile and miles from anywhere. About 200 people live there. We spent the rest of the day in fog.
23 March was a sea day traversing the Gulf de Peras where we saw a blue whale then another trip through the Paluche, Chacabuco, and Moraleda channels with landscapes both port and starboard. The weather was changeable but the landside activities were more evident as we headed north with lots of fish farms and varied bird life. I took in a couple of lectures which as ever were interesting. Hannah Lawson on Marianne North the Victorian plant painter who travelled in these areas among others and left her collection in a museum in Kew Gardens prompted us to visit subsequently and recognise some of the places we have been to.
| Chiloe Island |
Next day we arrived off Chiloe Island and took in Castro with its fine wooden church. Castro has been affected by earthquakes as have most of the towns near the Andes and has a tidal range of over 4 metres, explaining the palafito houses on stilts. Lunch was taken on Quinchao Island and accompanied by Chilean dancing - we were also introduced (in our case anyway) to Pisco sours. We were now in a temperate farmed landscape with towns with more wooden churches and craft markets.
| Chiloe Island Wooden Church |
25 March saw us at Puerto Montt, anchored offshore. The town is160k people and has suffered from 2 earthquakes recently – that in 1960 being the most serious ever recorded. We were off for a longish drive into the mountains through Puerto Veras and past Lake Llanquihue (third largest in S America) to the Vicente Rosales National Park and Lake Todos for a catamaran trip to view the volcanoes – the perfect cone of Osorno volcanodominated but there were longviews east to the volcanoes around Bariloche in Argentina. We then saw the waterfalls at Petrohue, rocks were granite and lava, before having a late lunch at the Puerto Veras resort town. We were lucky to get a superb afternoon’s weather with blue, clear sky.
Again dinner on deck as we cruised out of the fiords and up the coast to Niebla aided by a strong tail wind which enabled a final zodiac cruise before lunch on 26 March before a Zodiac landing near to the 1671 Spanish fort which we toured before a coach drive up the river to Valdivia.
Valdivia is a local centre with University and dominated by people with German roots; as the previous day there was some Jugendstil architecture interspersed among more modern buildings. There was a great food market by the river with sealions squabbling over the fish detritus as well as food for sale. We also visited the Annkuman house and gardens built by the owner of the german brewery of the same name established in 1860. It was nicely restored and worth the visit.
| Valdivia market |
Back to the ship for our dinner as we coasted north to Valparaiso. We had a sea day on 27 March and listened to some lectures – one on modern day piracy by Falklands veteran Mike Bowen, the situation was improving when he spoke!!
We docked at Valparaiso on 28 March and disembarked onto coaches which were to take us to Santiago after a quick tour and a ride on one of the many funiculars breasting the cliffs. This is a long established city with a strong British feel, helped by the presence of some ex British naval ships in the large harbour. This perpetuates the links established in the 19th century by Admiral Cochrane – the subject of an excellent talk by Pierre Malan the day before. There are some beautiful houses on the cliffs showing how rich the city was pre Panama Canal.
| Matetic wineries |
It was then on in the coach to Santiago with our journey punctuated by a visit to the Matetic vineyard for wine tasting and then lunch on a beautiful mountain estate. We finally arrived in Santiago at 1700. Santiago is a huge city with extremes of wealth evident. We were in a hotel out of the centre and did not explore the core which we regret in retrospect but there was a serious smog there.
We left the hotel at 1300 on 29 March for the drive to the airport which was chaotic.
A year and a half later with the last months constricted by COVID the cruise is a fond memory of some interesting out of the way places and stunning scenery, the company, organistion, and staff were good too . The Andean volcanoes are very special and the navigation through the fiords was particularly memorable. Let’s hope its not too long before such trips can be resumed.