11/25: Patagonia Cruise to Cape Horn & Canadian Beavers at Wulaia Bay!

We slept like babies all night long as the ship made its way through the waters of Nassau Bay in southern Patagonia. We were certainly relieved we hardly felt any movement at all on the ship, which was certainly way different from aboard the Ushuaia on our just completed ten-day voyage to Antarctica!

Because we had exceptional weather and the seas were so calm, we were able to do a landing at Cape Horn at 7 that morning. We were told that it wasn’t uncommon to have 35-foot waves right here so we counted ourselves very lucky. We later learned that the waters were so calm in this spot about three or four times a season!

The zodiacs were bigger than we were used to as they carried 16 people, compared to just 10 on the Antarctic cruise that we'd completed the morning before.

There was a steep climb to the top of the cliff and then many, many more to the albatross sculpture and lighthouse, the attractions on the island.

Halfway up the path was this small chapel.

We were heading to this large sculpture atop a far hill. 

The sign welcomed us to Cape Horn National Park in the Republic of Chile. This isolated headland on Hornos Island marked the northern edge of the Drake Passage we'd just been on to and from Antarctica.

We detoured from the main path to look at a monument erected in 2005 on the bicentenary of the birth of Vice Admiral Robert Fitzroy, the British explorer who discovered Hornos in 1830.

The low-lying plants that grew in bunches here were so hardy they could survive gale force winds. The cushion or pillow plants were typical of those in the high latitudes and adapted to the high winds. 

I overheard a guide mention that we were standing in front of the Great Southern Ocean. It was amazing being at the bottom of the world where the latitude was 55 degrees and 58 minutes.

The albatross monument was dedicated to those sailors who had lost their lives rounding Cape Horn before the Panama Canal was built. I overheard a National Geographic guide from our ship tell his people that the Drake Passage had been named after Sir Francis Drake, a privateer and licensed pirate who was given permission to attack Spanish ships filled with massive amounts of silver from the mines in Potosi, Bolivia, a city we’d visited on our extended trip to South America two years previously. 

After walking to the interesting sculpture, we retraced our steps and walked toward the lighthouse that was home to a captain in the Chilean navy and his family. Once again, Steven and I were lucky as the captain and his family would only be there for another two weeks before they were to leave. I wasn’t sure if it meant the lighthouse would then be abandoned altogether or whether it would be welcoming new inhabitants.

The lighthouse and the monument were actually located about a mile northeast of the actual Cape Horn, which was difficult to access both by land and by sea. The actual cape that we could only just see had the most southerly lighthouse in the world.

The captain's daughter sold pretty painted stones she'd made depicting the lighthouse at Cape Horn. I bought one to support her.

What a pretty chapel beside the lighthouse. I wondered how often a priest visited to celebrate Mass on such a lonely outpost.

Hearing a helicopter in such a remote place was beyond weird and we had no idea where it came from since we were so far from anywhere! We learned later that the mega ship Scenic Explorer that had also docked in the harbor at the same time as we did was home to not just one helicopter, but two, and also a submarine for their ultra-wealthy guests!

I liked how some of the plants were identified and also with their Spanish, English, Latin and indigenous language names. This was called fashine in English.

These small, low lying shrubs that grew in a creeping manner were actually called Krumholtz forests and were subject to the strong and cold winds at high mountain peaks and sub-polar latitudes.

Hebe plants:

The green brush was called native celery:

We arrived back at the ship at 9 after making a very welcome detour to see seals dozing on the rocks.

We were all hungry for breakfast having gotten up so early and walked a long way to the sculpture and lighthouse!

The ship then began going through part of the Drake Passage which meant a far bumpier ride than we’d experienced at night. 

My last shot of Cape Hope, a place that the guides had said was very special for them. It had also been very special to us, too.

That afternoon, we had a one-time only opportunity to visit the bridge unlike on board the Antarctica ship, the Ushuaia, where it had been open sesame virtually every day all day. Steven wasn't interested in the tour so I went by myself. The crew member/guide mentioned the officers worked on four-hour shifts. I recognized one of them, Claudio, as he had also been our boatman that morning on our excursion on the zodiac. 

The bridge was also responsible for communications and security in addition to navigation. 

The crew member aka bridge guide said the captain always stood on the starboard side of the ship and the first officer was always on the port side of the ship. 

The chart of our trip around Cape Horn that had been signed by the captain would be auctioned off at the end of the cruise with the proceeds shared among the crew. When I asked what the average price of the chart was, he said $400 which seemed exorbitant to me. Spoiler alert: Stay tuned to the post on November 28th to hear what the chart was sold for – the $400 was mere peanuts by comparison!

If there were a fire, all 32 fire doors on the ship would automatically close. The concept was the same if there were flooding on board the ship, he stated. Each of the doors had a small opening in the bottom that allowed a hose to be put in to isolate the fire.

This cake was the most exciting thing at lunch in my opinion!

It seemed very surprising that there was no one else out on the deck as it was very sunny if windy.

Around 3:45 we noticed several small islands in Wulaia Bay located on the west coast of Navarrino Island, shortly before we made a landing cruise.

We felt like beached whales with the cumbersome life jackets that were so much heavier than those we'd had on the Antarctica trip. Since the temperature was about 52 degrees, I decided to take a chance and only wear my fleece. 

Claudio, our boatman:

When we reached the cove, a sign indicated that we'd arrived on the Fuegian Archipelago that had been inhabited for at least 6,000 years by nomad hunter-gatherers. They were ancestors of the now extinct Yamana people, one of five aboriginal people in the region. One of the guides said our time on the island would not be spent learning about the flora or fauna but about the island’s history which was of greater interest.

The historical house at Wulaia Bay that dated from 1930 was an old radio station that had belonged to the Chilean Navy. 

In 1930, the Chilean navy welcomed people to Wulaia Bay because it was so close to Argentina. But, as there was so few boats passing by here, the base was moved north to Puerto Williams where there was lots of activity near Ushuaia that required the navy’s attention.

Two days earlier after our return from the Antarctica cruise, we'd taken a brief tour of Tierra del Fuego National Park where the guide had shown us examples of Old Man's Beard plant. Here were many more of the great fire starter. 

The guide indicated three tribes had lived on the Atlantic side of the island and hunters lived on the Pacific side. The Yamana people were nomads so this space in the bay was a place to rest and build canoes. They lived in what we would refer to as tepees while on the island. 

Our hike took us along the Darwin Path named after the famous explorer and scientist.

Janina: I thought of you when seeing this bench as I remembered your comment about my bench shots in a post from years ago!

More of the Indian bread that we'd first seen in Tierra Del Fuego. While the 'bread' was very common here in Patagonia, it was equivalent in price to caviar in the north of Chile and Argentina! Though it had no taste, the Yamana people called it their sweet. 

The Yamanas’ whole world revolved around the water and they considered the forest to be evil. Our guide, Hermann, explained that the Yamana people had a different definition of the cosmos than we do. For the Yamana, an island was water with a piece of land, not a piece of land surrounded by water as we think of an island.

There was a third presence on the island in addition to the navy and Yamana people, Hermann told us. The Chilean government wanted people to live here and lured people by saying there was gold here. There was but the quantity of it was so small, it was too expensive to mine. For some reason, many Croatians moved here and built an estancia or large sheep farm on the island. Problems arose, however, as the Yamanas, because of their different way of looking at the world, regarded the sheep as being there for the taking, just like the dolphins or king crab or mussels were in the sea. To them, the sheep were ‘there’ which meant they no longer needed to venture far to get food. There was no sense of the sheep ‘belonging’ to the Croatians. 

The Croatians as we all could imagine, weren’t happy to have their sheep stolen and with the different vision of the cosmos. There was a large community of Croatians who lived here in Wulaia Bay but eventually left for other areas in Patagonia because they couldn’t succeed in their business because the bay was so isolated. 

Hermann explained the Yamana people didn’t wear clothes, even in the winter. They had three times more body fat than we do and their body temperature was normally 105 degrees. In addition, they adapted to the environment by oiling their bodies with blubber.

The Yamana initiation house was for both men and women as there was no distinction between the sexes or between adults and children. British Captain Fitzroy captured four Yamana boys to bring them to England so they could act as a bridge between the explorers and the Yamana ‘savages.’ Herman states the Yamana culture had 32,000 words compared to 16,000 words in Shakespeare’s works so the natives were anything but ‘savages.’ They had a rich language so hardly needed to be 'cultured' in Britain. The boys were good students and actually had tea with Queen! 

Charles Darwin attempted to count the number of Yamanas but, as they were nomadic people, he ended up counting the number of boats they had and came up with a number of 5,000 people. They were likely more than that, though.

After there had been a huge fire caused by one of the large estancias or estates in 1920, only the fire bush grew afterwards.

After learning about the Yamanas, we restarted our climb up the mountain. I think both Steven and I were thankful for the rope and the knots to hang onto!

Later, we stopped for several minutes again so we could learn about a threat to the environment. The Chilean government figured that since sheep farming had done so well, they should also get involved in the fur business and therefore brought 20 Canadian beavers here to Patagonia but they were still waiting for the business to take off! The winters were much milder than in Canada so the quality of the fur was horrible. The cages were opened up and the beavers were released. There are now a staggering 120,000 beavers in the area.

Hermann joked that as there were no predators for the beavers, it was their la Dolce Vita! They adapted to Patagonia so well that they bred twice a year and not just the usual once! Normally in North America, beavers stay at the bottom of hills, but here in Patagonia they came to the top. The beavers built dams here with grass, not with wood, as another indication of how well they have adapted to life in Patagonia.

The beavers have also survived the salty, ocean waters of the Beagle Channel and have even crossed the Magellan Strait to the mainland, much to the concern of the government because of the damage they have caused. There, the beavers are hunted by helicopter and SEAL teams, he almost joked.

When the government first tried to get rid of as many beavers as possible, hunting was encouraged. Then people were paid for each beaver tail they collected. As Hermann joked, 'Welcome to Latino Country' as his countrymen simply bred beavers for their beaver tails to sell to the government! Alas, there was no culinary treat in eating beaver as it must be cooked for five hours.

Our ship in the distance:

What incredible panoramic views at the top of the mountain!

More of the prolific fire bush plant that seemed to grow everywhere on the island.

We had what Hermann called a ‘Patagonia moment’ in which we all just took in the amazing view for a minute to absorb it into our being. It was one we will long remember.

Scurvy was a big issue for the early explorers. One ship’s cook discovered that making tea out of this winter’s bark was the perfect solution to scurvy.

The nomadic Yaghan people lived in huts like this recreated one for a few nights at a time in family groups up to six but our guide said they fit twelve people. The dome or conic-shaped structures were made of thin and overlapped branches, then covered with grass or moss, and then sea lion skins. The main structure was always left intact so that it could be reused for the next family who just had to change the outer layer to use it. 

These tiny berries were Calafate fruit and were common throughout Patagonia.

We returned to the former naval station that had been turned into a museum. There we learned about the Disappearance of the Yamanas aka Yaghans: The Yamanas and their ancestors lived between the Beagle Channel and Cape Horn for at least 7,000 years before the middle of the 19th century when their population was estimated to be about 3,000 people. Just fifty years later, this figure had dropped to merely 120 people. 

The explanation for this dramatic phenomenon was due to the direct and indirect contact with the white man. Two details were critical: the introduction of contagious diseases like TB, measles, pneumonia, typhoid and smallpox, against which they had no antibodies, and also the introduction of alcohol, which wreaked havoc not only to their health but to their social organization.

The indiscriminate hunting of sea lions in Yaghan territory by hunters was a fatal blow to a source of food rich in protein and fat critical to the Yaghan people. In addition, the actions of the Anglican missionaries, despite their good intentions, also contributed to the extinction of the Yaghan people. The concentration of Indians in their missions helped to spread the contagious diseases, and especially the changes imposed on the indigenous people like getting dressed, living in enclosed homes, generated a physical and psychological weakening that was fatal to the Yaghans. 

Coming up to the whiskey and hot chocolate station at the end of our hike was wonderful!

Washing off debris from the bottom of our boots was mandatory as soon as returned to the ship each time.

We returned to the ship at 7 just as it began to rain – what great timing!

The presentation of each of our meals was an art. I wish I could say they tasted as delicious as they looked!

Next post: Discovering Patagonia's Pia & Garibaldi Glaciers.

Posted on New Year's Day, 2020, from sunny Denver, Colorado. Steven and I wish each of you all the very best this year, especially time spent with family and friends.