Southernmost port

Ushuaia lists one of its main industries as ‘logistics’. This is because many Antarctic cruises start and end here, with the consequent demand for supplies. It is an attractive (in a Scandinavian way) port on the Beagle channel, surrounded by many dramatic peaks. There are glaciers, as well as snow and ice, on the highest ones.

The geography of this area is complex. There are many islands as well as fjords, so it is often difficult to work out what is mainland, what is Tierra del Fuego (Land of fire, so named because the early European settlers on the mainland saw the fires of the original people each night. No-one has told TSH and Diva what the original name was) and what is an island. The Andes run from west to east here, forced out of their normal north-south alignment by the action of the Scotia tectonic plate.

The excursion used three modes of transport. The ‘steam train at the end of the world’ is a reconstruction of a convict train from when the area was a penal colony. Road transport was used to take guests to the end of the Pan-American highway, which links the whole of the American continent from Alaska in the north to the Beagle channel in the south. There have been sightings and uses of this highway throughout the voyage so far, as it mostly runs near the west coast in South America. TSH and Diva then boarded a catamaran which cruised the Beagle channel, allowing time to observe the dramatic scenery, the sealions and the huge colonies of cormorants.

The captain has warned of rough weather on the way to the Falklands but at the time of writing this has not caused a problem for TSH and Diva. They are dosed up on Stugeron, wearing their wrist bands and staying on the more stable lower decks. Favourite breakfast of grilled peach with honey.

Through the Chilean fjords to Punta Arenas

The itinerary for the voyage was misleading in that there was really only one day in the fjords – the first was in open sea (which was choppy enough to make some people ill – not TSH and Diva) with entry to the first fjord at 17:00. When they eventually got there, TSH and Diva thought the fjords were very similar to those in Norway. They varied in width and at one point it seemed that the Silver Spirit was on a lake, while at other times, both banks were quite close. The nearest hills were reminiscent of the central English Lake District fells, covered with low vegetation but with some bare rock. In places, snow covered peaks and glaciers could be seen through the mist on the higher peaks beyond. This was the first rain of the whole trip.

The butler spotted a ship-wreck but for some reason the captain did not draw attention to this sea feature.

There was another special dinner (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, pasta, beef, tuna, sticky dessert) for the Circlers, this time in La Terrazzza.

Punta Arenas is not the most interesting town but the short excursion gave a good idea of a region which has always had to work hard to counteract its climate and its distance from places it trades with. The terminology of ‘discovery’ and ‘native Indians’ seemed very colonial and old-fashioned, not to mention politically incorrect. The main statue in the town shows Magellan in triumph, with the original inhabitants of the region beneath his feet. The guide was the son of a man who left London after the first world war but most of the European settlers here came from what is now Croatia.

Punta Arenas is at the extreme south of the mainland of South America. It is on the Magellan strait – across the water is Tierra del Fuego, a separate island which belongs partly to Chile and partly to Argentina.

Many guides in Chile have said that Chile is the major exporter of salmon in the world but a Norwegian guest insists that Norway has that distinction.