PUERTO WILLIAMS

10 PM, 12 Feb 08 (Super Tuesday), MS Nordnorge, Puerto Williams, Chile

PUERTO WILLIAMS

It’s a pleasure to recall
The Port Williams waterfall
And the fun we were having
Watching a glacier calving
And sea lions by a fjord wall.

It’s been a big day and a very good day.

We had very good weather again today. It didn’t rain except for an occasional sprinkling. There was hardly any wind. And it was fairly warm.

I guesstimate that I walked six miles today, nearly all of it on shore.

We entered the west end of the Beagle Channel early in the morning. Midmorning we sailed up a side cove off the Beagle Channel, at the end of which we viewed a fine glacier called the Pia Glacier. Everybody was watching. We were there quite a while. I took lots of photos. The ship actually rotated around a few revolutions in place on its axis. Helen and I saw a glacier in Alaska in 1999, and it was larger than this one, but we stood back farther from it.

On the way out of the cove we saw some sea lions lying on rocks next to the water. The big almost black male was lying by himself apart from the group of smaller more brownish females.

We had a mandatory briefing about Antarctica and also about Cape Horn where, if conditions permit, we will land (via small Zodiac boats) about 8 AM tomorrow morning. If we can’t land there, we will at least be given the opportunity to see it. Mainly the Antarctica briefing was about ecological controls, but it also covered some operational matters. Ecological rules are not only a common sense and a “do good” matter. They are international law. There is a treaty organization of some 44 nations, and each nation has incorporated the requirements into its laws. And one of these nations is Norway, where the Nordnorge is registered, making the laws applicable to its staff. Another organization of interest is the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO), of which Hurtigruten is a member, as are 95% of the Antarctic tour operating companies.

Our Vantage coordinator for the whole trip, “Nacho,” who is Argentinian, gave us a lecture full of information about gauchos and also about the drink called mati.

We had a lecture from Christoph Hollger on “Cape Horn’s significance in the history of world traffic and trade.” It was interesting and jam packed with information. I stayed wide awake, but I’m sure I could latch onto more of it if I could hear it a second time. More than 800 ships and more than 6,000 lives have been lost in attempts to sail around the Horn. Its name stems from the city of Horn in the Netherlands. (It was discovered in 1616 by two Dutchmen.)

The MS Nordnorge docked at Puerto Williams about 5:30 PM. The dock can accommodate exactly one boat as large as ours. We leave again just before midnight. There were three options: an expensive tour to the national park, which we declined, the only tour we’ve declined on the trip; just walking around town; and a free guided hike on a gravel road to a waterfall. We joined the hike to the waterfall. It was about 3 miles round trip. That hike was plenty for Helen. Then I walked around town after that and came in and had dinner, the buffet still being open, at 8:45.

Port Williams, population about 1,500, is the southernmost town in the world and a Chilean naval base. It’s a picturesque little town that I think is reminiscent of Alaska and Norway. It is surrounded by natural beauty (mountains and the waters of the Beagle Channel).

The water falls were actually a disappointment, especially after the spectacular Salto Grande we saw a couple days ago. They are nice enough, but they just involve a small stream in the woods. It seems like all of the trees in the forest, large, medium, and small, are beech.

By American standards, Puerto Williams is definitely not prosperous. The streets are gravel. The homes that I saw are shabby. Well, I thought the homes I saw in Puerto Natales were shabby too, but not quite as much so. I haven’t had much of a look at ordinary residential districts in other Chilean cities and towns for comparison.

The front of the bow of the tug boat Yelcho that rescued Shackleton’s 22 men from Elephant Island is on display, and I found and photographed it.

There is a famous and really, really quaint little bar, and we had a look inside. It is called The Yacht Club, and it is in a very old grounded naval vessel; perhaps it’s a destroyer.

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The food is great on this ship, and I’m eating a lot of it. Especially the deserts are delicious, with several kinds to choose from at noon and at dinner, and they’re put out in case you’d like some between meals.

Sailing in these waters has at times been reminiscent of the Inland Passage in Alaska. They are more like that than they are like the fjords or Norway or the fjords of New Zealand.

:-)

Bernie