Author Archives: Steve Walker

About Steve Walker

Once a tech in-house PR type, now professional photo/videographer and recreational drone pilot. Violinist. Flautist. Occasional conductor. Oenophile.

Tierra del Fuego – 2: Cowardice (or common sense?) strikes

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18th March 2018

The next day saw us beside the Pia Glacier. Well, we had to take the captain’s word for it, as you couldn’t really see anything through the mists and rain, which was followed by sleet and then snow. So we spent the morning, apart from watching an interesting presentation about the five tribes of the Patagonian region (now almost entirely wiped out by a combination of thoughtlessness, disease and genocide), debating whether it was going to be worth taking the proposed expedition to see this alleged glacier. Perhaps the rain would ease, and we’d have a clear run?

It didn’t.

So we decided that discretion was the better part of valour and that the lure of a G&T outweighed that of a close-up of a glacier we’d be lucky to even see, let alone appreciate (besides which, we have other glaciers on our Patagonian itinerary, so making avoiding great discomfort to see this one a defensible choice). We got things about 50% right, in that it continued to rain and snow and be misty for almost all of the time. But it did actually clear for about 30 minutes, and the beauty of the scene became apparent. We took the opportunity to get some photos and video:

Above is the overall scene from the ship,  and this is a closer view of the glacier itself.

and here you can see some of the hardy folks from the ship on the shore by the glacier. For a few brief moments, the scene was a thing of beauty, before the weather closed in again.

A post shared by Steve Walker (@spwalker2016) on

Were we right to elect to stay in the warmth and comfort of the ship? There’s no knowing, but I hope that we will have better weather for when we see the Perito Morena Glacier in a few days’ time. As ever, stay tuned for that, and to see whether we actually make it to land at Cape Horn itself.

Tierra del Fuego – 1: Ventus Australis, Ainsworth Bay and the Tucker Islets

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16th – 17th March 2018

A three-hour coach journey from Puerto Natales brought us to Punta Arenas and the first slight hiccup in what had been an otherwise flawless logistical flow. Our itinerary instructions said that we would be put on the coach (Buses Fernandez) to Punta Arenas and met there to be taken to the port to board Ventus Australis, a brand-new (started service in January 2018) 200-passenger ship which would take us around Tierra del Fuego, Cape Horn, the Magellan Straits and other evocative destinations (though the Beagle Channel sounds a bit more like a TV service that hunt followers or Snoopy fans might tune into).

What became apparent as we approached Punta Arenas was that there were multiple stops in the city, starting at the airport and working inwards. When we got to the Buses Fernandez terminal and everyone looked to be getting off, we followed suit. But there was no friendly face above a card with our names on it, so we spent a few angst-ridden moments wondering if we should have stayed with the coach. Jane got on the phone (thank God for mobiles) to our tour organiser’s local contact, who also professed to be puzzled as to the absence of reception committee. To cut a long story short, some moments later a driver showed up, full of profuse apologies and muttered Spanish among which Jane thought she heard the words “pneumaticos”, so we charitably assumed that he’d had trouble wth a flat tyre. Anyway, the practical upshot was that we got to the port, checked in – and found that we had three hours to kill before they’d let us join the boat.

So it was that we headed off into the bustling metropolis of Punta Arenas, in search of coffee. Although it has a much larger population than Puerto Natales, there isn’t frankly, a lot to see in the town; but we did stumble across the buildings that were the “palaces” (very grand residences) of some of the pioneers of the vast sheep-processing business whose buildings now form part of the Singular hotel in Puerto Natales, including Sara Braun and Jose Norgueira. Fortunately their palace had found modern use as a hotel with a bar, so we had lunch there, in the Shackleton Bar, whilst (inter alia) watching a DVD of Shackleton’s ludicrous folly of exploring Antarctica and reckless gamble taken to rescue the men he nearly killed doing it. I had a local Pale Ale, which the barman charmingly called a “Pally Ally”.

There was WiFi available at the boarding terminal, and so the pre-boarding hall was awash with people taking their last sip of internet before four days off the grid. I was one of those people.

We were eventually allowed to board, and discovered that the Ventus is indeed a very fine ship, with great facilities, good food and obliging service. There was also hot water available at the coffee points. See, I knew it was going to be worth bringing those tea bags with us.

For those with cruising experience, the next hours would follow a familiar pattern – welcome drinks, introduction to the crew and tour officials, safety briefing (including how to cha-cha-cha into a Zodiac rib), then the trepidatious journey to dinner to find out whether you’re going to get on with whomever it is you’ll be eating with. We struck lucky, with a nice Australian couple d’un age not dissimilar to ours – Lynette and Ken.

The next day saw the first excursion, to Ainsworth Bay, where our guide, Rodrigo, led us along an easy ramble through bogs and forest, explaining at various points what we were seeing – plants, lichens, moss, trees. Oh, and glaciers. Our starting point offered us a great view of the Marinelli glacier:

You can see it either side of the central hill in the photo above. Rodrigo gave us, as evidence that this, like most glaciers in the world, is receding, the nugget that 100 years before the glacier reached to the point from where I took this photo. Evidence from original photos by Alberto de Agostini.

The ramble took us through a very photogenic environment.

And then we were offered hot chocolate and whisky before being whisked back to the ship

On the way back, in a lovely piece of serendipity, the Zodiacs were accompanied by a pod of playful dolphins, which spent a couple of hours frolicking around as the ribs went back and forth to pick up groups from the shore. What is it about dolphins that makes seeing them such an engaging experience?

The other expedition that day was to the Tucker Islets, where the advertised attractions were Magellanic penguins

and the common cormorant, or shag.

and, while it was nice enough to see them and learn a little about them, what was more interesting to me was some of the other action going on. For example, there was a turkey vulture glowering at proceedings, presumably hoping for a spot of lunch

and several skuas squabbling and fighting over whatever opportunities they found

These two expeditions, and a couple of G&Ts at the bar, closed off what was a very good day one, and left us with the mouth-watering prospect of an expedition to a glacier on day two. Stay tuned for the next thrilling (and probably chilling) instalment!

A Singular Experience in Puerto Natales

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13th – 16th March 2018

Some hotels give themselves airs and graces through their names “Grand”, “Splendid”, “Imperial”, that kind of thing. Sometimes the reality matches the name, often it doesn’t. We’ve had the pleasure of staying in one that absolutely matches its name.

We have a long and extensive itinerary for our South American trip, and we will have many varied experiences before we get home in April – trains and boats and planes (and at least one coach journey). The descriptions of our various accommodations have been very complimentary about how nice they will be. Puerto Natales is a very small town – a very small town – and I probably subconsciously allowed this to affect my expectations about what our hotel near there, called the “Singular”, would be like. Such expectations weren’t heightened when we approached, down a bumpy, rutted track, what appeared to be a ramshackle selection of brick buildings with red painted corrugated iron roofs.

The reality was different from, and vastly superior to, anything I might have imagined. The buildings are from a century-old factory which processed sheep – hundreds of thousands of them at a time – canning them, freezing them, creating leather, rendering the carcases for tallow. It was, in its time, a huge business. After the second world war, it went into a decline as demand for canned lamb (for soldiers), wool and other products declined. After it shut down, it was made into a national monument and a museum. Then it was turned into a hotel, with the fixtures and fittings of a top-quality luxury hotel beautifully merged into the original buildings and museum – many parts of the old infrastructure have been preserved and can be walked around. The only major structural change has been to change what were the freezing chambers into a set of ocean-facing (and very luxurious) bedrooms. Other parts of the building have been made into an excellent bar and a superb restaurant.

One of the great charms of the place is that walking from one part of the hotel to another takes you past some of the old machinery (such as steam and diesel generators), which is largely English and lovingly restored. Seeing it reminded me strongly of the engine rooms beneath Tower Bridge in London – the machinery is of similar ponderous scale and the smell of old machinery and oil is utterly distintive.

One thing that delighted me utterly and made me fall completely in love with the place is something that greets you pretty much on first entry. You arrive in a large shed, go through the entrance to a check in area, and the staff (who give excellent service) invite you to go down to reception, pressing a button to summon what you’d think would be a lift. But it isn’t – it’s a funicular railway; absolutely part of the original building but now a charming way of leading guests to the reception area.

The hotel experience is as good as anything I’ve ever experienced – very comfortable, large, well-organised rooms, excellent service, fine food, superb decor. It’s a superb place to stay and one I’d heartily recommend to anyone.