Penguins!

Today we went on a boat tour up the Beagle channel. We left Ushuaia early in the morning, and it started out sunny, but as they say is typical in this area, the weather changed quickly. It started raining a bit and got quite windy. Nevertheless we were able to get on deck and take pictures.
We first stopped at some rocks where sea lions were sleeping. There were also comorants. These comorants had white bellies which is different from the all black ones I`m used to seeing in Vancouver.

After a couple of hours we reached an island about 60 km to the east of Ushuaia, which has a penguin colony. One of the only colonies around here, I think, and I was surprised there was one this far north. I thought they´d only be in the Antarctic. The colony is not very large, and they seem to mostly hang out on the beach, although some were higher up on the island.

 The penguins were not disturbed by the boat and it pulled right up to shore so we were able to get very close.

Afterward the boat stopped at a little place called Harbourton, which is the first ranch on Tierra del Fuego, and some people got off there. The rest of us stayed on the boat for a very windy, wavy, and bumpy ride back to Ushuaia. Felt a little green by the time we got back.

Ushuaia

Ushuaia is on the southern end of the Argentinian side of Tierra del Feugo, at 55 degrees south latitude. It is likely the southern most settlement in the world, and so it´s tourist marketing thing is ´the end of the world´. Cruise ships for Antarctica leave from here. It seems like a sleepy little place, with one main street for shops and restaurants and another main street along the port. It is on the Beagle channel, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with the Andes mountains in the background. It is quite cold, raining off and on. Apparently a couple of days before we arrived it was snowing.

Today we did a tour to the Tierra del Fuego park. It is quite scenic with hiking and camping. The southern end of it on the Beagle channel, and it reminded me a lot of the British Columbia coast.

This is also the terminus of the Pan American highway that starts in Alaska. We saw several camping vehicles and motorcycles with European licence plates that had been shipped over and the people were travelling part of the highway.