Chile 2016

Thursday10November

Last wake-up in Puerto Natales in our hospedaje Casa Teresa.

This small fishing port is located east of Admiral Montt Gulf.

Here too, the risks of tsunami are very real...

We thus leave Puerto Natales (not without greeting some sheep on the side of the road) to reach the large city of Punta Arenas, 3 hours from here, further south near the Strait of Magellan.

Barely time to find a room in Punta Arenas, we decide to continue south as far as possible to reach the very end of the American continent... It will take us an hour and 70 kilometers on Route 9 to get there. The road then the track ends in front of this unequivocal sign about the possibility of continuing by car...

"Hito geográfico donde comienza el continente americano señalado por la cruz de los mares", geographical landmark where the American continent begins marked by the cross of the seas.

So we continue on foot to get closer to the tip of the continent, but alas, we already know that we won't make it because it's about thirty kilometers away...  

If the continent ends, that's without counting the countless islands that separate us from Cape Horn, the true extremity of the continent, located 350 kilometers from here!

Mussels... Well yes, just because it's the end of the world doesn't mean that, being bivalves, they don't have the right to settle here!  

A few kilometers away, the Isidro lighthouse.

We are in the Strait of Magellan, and this icebreaker (the Almirante Maximiano H-41), a Brazilian oceanographic research vessel, may be returning from Antarctica (at least 1000 km from here, though..).

We turn back and get back in the car. We cross some geese. The grey goose is a Magellan goose (Chloephaga picta), a male. The orange goose is a Ruddy-headed goose (Chloephaga rubidiceps). According to the sign, the latter is endangered. Indeed, since the reintroduction of the grey fox in the region, the population of this bird has largely decreased.

A little further on, a small monument to recall that here was established the base of land operations of the British hydrographic expedition in Magellanic waters (1826-1830)...

Friday11November

Today, we're going on a small car loop throughout the day. This circuit will take us to the other side of the Strait of Magellan where we can notably approach the rare King Penguins... And to cross the strait means taking a ferry! We do it at "Tres Puentes" in Punta Arenas. Only one departure per day at 9 AM sharp!

Aboard the Pathagon ferry.

Barely 90 minutes to cross the 35 kilometers separating the two coasts. We dock in Porvenir and at the same time set foot (tires) on the Chilean province of Tierra del Fuego. We also take a Frenchman and an Australian with us; they have been in Chile for 6 months and are exploring the country by hitchhiking. They accompany us to the King Penguins.

So here we are at the King Penguin Park with our two new travel companions. Not much on site, a simple hut is enough to receive visitors.

While heading to the hut, we surprise an Argentine grey fox (Lycalopex griseus).

Behind the hut, a small path leads to the observation panels that must not be crossed to preserve the birds' habitat.

The birds are about thirty meters from us but close enough when you have a good zoom...  

The King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is a close cousin of the famous Emperor Penguin. It is smaller (less than a meter) but its orange-yellow patches are more pronounced.

While the Emperor Penguin lives only in Antarctica, the King Penguin is distributed on a few islands around Antarctica. But it is here that it is easiest to observe, at least for simple onlookers like us, the others being in the middle of the oceans...

A juvenile and its brown down. It is in full molt, its plumage will soon give way to the black and white feathers of the adult.

In the background, Bahía Inútil (the "Useless" Bay) overlooking the Strait of Magellan. This bay, named in 1827 by the British captain Phillip Parker King, was described as "useless" because it offered "neither anchorage nor shelter, nor any other advantage for the navigator"... © Wikipedia

The impressive down of the young penguin offers it great protection against cold and wind but makes it unable to swim and go to sea to hunt for food. It can therefore only rely on its parents, sometimes gone for several months in waters more fertile in fish...

In the video on the right, this juvenile preferred not to part with its "hood-down" to start this chilly spring...  

A hundred meters away, part of the colony prefers the beach pebbles to the tall grasses of the dunes.

In any case, this seems to be the ideal place to isolate oneself or to make a round with friends...

Last glance at the colony before hitting the road again.

It is here that we leave our courageous Franco-Australian passengers who will try to reach Ushuaia by hitchhiking. Yes! The famous little town is only 340 km from here by road! But as we already visited it 7 years ago, we wish them good luck (there aren't exactly crowds passing through there...) and resume our little circuit as planned!

Some flamingos cool off in Laguna Poca Agua.

We will only cross one here, a guanaco llama (Lama guanicoe).

This small bus shelter will protect us from the wind and will do for our picnic break! A Chilean swallow (Tachycineta leucopyga) is also trying to make the most of the situation...

The typical landscape of Tierra del Fuego and its sheep.

Our loop obviously passes through the Strait of Magellan again, which we must cross once more, but this time to the North to reach the Punta Delgada lighthouse. The crossing is faster as only 4 kilometers are needed for the Patagonia ferry to get to the other side.

On the left, departing from Punta Espora. On the right, arriving at Punta Delgada.

The Punta Delgada lighthouse.

And that's it! All that's left is to drive to Punta Arenas. It's easy, just follow the road to the end of the world!   And tomorrow, we will indeed be at the end of the world because we are leaving Patagonia and its winter climate for a much sunnier place: Easter Island!