After a good run down from the Falklands, we arrived in Shuaia, the most southerly city in the world.
It statrted life as a prison colony, so basice that the first convicts, back in the 1800s, had to build their own jail, and the accomodation for the warders. The prison finally closed in 1947, and is now a museum. The city has a frontier town feel to it, though it does have full employment thanks to some industry, the docks and tourism. It is the jumping off place for those going to Antartica.
We saw something of the countryside, as we tookan all day trip. It started with a cruise down the Beagle Cahnnel, to look at the wildlife. Bit of a quiet day as it was mostly bird colonies, with a group of sea lions, It was cold when we started, at 5C, and stayed that way whilst we were on the boat(about 3 hours). Diembarcation was in the Tierra del Fuego National Park, some 30kms north of Ushaia. After a short drive we stopped at a lake which is part in Argentina, and part in Chile. The surroundings are magnificent, as this is the end of the Andes chain, and the tops are snow capped. The wind meant it was still a bit chilly. The road is part of the Pan Americas highway, which starts in Alaska, and ends just south of Ushaia.
The final part of our day out was by train. To build the goal, and then to provide lumber to build other properties, a lot of trees neede to be cut down. Once the supplies near the city had been exhausted, the wood had to come from furthjer afield. The only way to move it was by rail, so the prisoners had to build one. Initially with wooden rails and hauled by mules, it got converted to metal rails and then to steam power. To extend it one gang built forward,as they cut down the available trees beside the tracks. Working on the railway, and the logging, was keenly saught after by the inmates, as it meant getting outside for the day, even though conditions were very arduous. Noone realy escaped, though one or two tried. There was nowhere to escape to, and the terrain was hostile.
The journey lasted an hour, including a rest stop, and we returned to Ushaia. We stayed in town for a stroll round, but there really was nothing to see.
Today is Sunday, and we have been to Cape Horn. The weather was wild, with winds touching 70 knots(about 85 mph). Fortunately the wind was from the north, with the land providing some protection. This means that the seas could not build quite as much as they might have, but the ship still had a serious lean to one side. Had it been from the south, from the Antartic one thousand kilometres away, the sea state would have been a different question!! Passengers who have done this trip before say they have always had good weather, with calm seas!! Standing up to take photos became a bit of an issue, as did catching ones breath if one inadvertently stuck ones head outside the screens at the wrong moment. Still, we did it, have seen it, photographed it to prove it and survived. Going round today would not have been possible in safety, because of the wind direction. We could see the seas round the other side, and discretion was certainly better than valour.
Now we are retracing our route back into the Beagle Channel. It is still wild, with a severe lean to starboard caused by the wind. The plan is to sail up the channel, pass Ushaia, and continue through the fjords until we get into the Magellan Straits. Once there we turn right, to get to our next port of Punta Arenas in Chile. We are due there on Tuesday morning.