In Patagonia ON The Stella Australis @ Ainsworth Bay

The expedition cruise is much smaller than the regular cruise liners. There are obvious technical reasons behind it but I like the intimacy they give you with the land. With a little more than 150 people on board the vessel, it feels good to be in a small space for the length of the expedition. On the Antarctic cruise at the end of the 10^th day, you probably would know all, of your co sailors. However, here in Patagonia where the route from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia only lasts for 4 nights/ 5 days you only know them by their subgroups of nationalities.

I had seen the map of the South Chilean fjords, the way the land is completely broken into pieces and thrown in the Pacific ocean in the form of an Archipelago. Norway is the only other country in the world where the landscape is like this. The northern hemisphere is still tamed and even the wilderness on the Norwegian fjords seems to be minuscule in comparison to that of Chile.

On the way to Ainsworth Bay

The best of South America and Antarctica is how my website speaks of Patagonia. On my second day here on this ship, I have started to realize why this makes sense. The landscape has the end of the world feel like the last continent, but then nature alone doesn’t make Patagonia as Patagonia.

People have settled here and the early traces have gone back to an era much before Christ. How does one survive winds of 100 km/hour in temperatures near freezing point and still have no cloth on the body? As much as the land amazes me, so does the story of human survival.

Getting into the Zodiac rafts

Our first landing was on this beautiful Ainsworth Bay area where the sun was shining through the rains. Where the forest and the odd waterfall gave an impression of being somewhere in Norway, but where the ocean and the facing glacier spoke of a land different from it.

My last tour was to Greenland and I cant help but compare Patagonia to its Northern equivalent. I was in Greenland in July this year but it makes much more sense to write about that experience now than it did back then.

The very nicely done Cabin of the Stella Australis

The Magellan penguins at Tucker islands