Island Hopping in the Beagle Channel

A count-down to Easter: Ushuaia, Day 2

One cormorant, two cormorants, three cormorants, ... It would be a good exercise for Tom to learn to count in Slovene. First thing in the morning, cruising the Beagle Channel, we bumped into a tiny island where cormorants live in perfect symbiosis with sea lions. A countless bunch of them, undisturbed by "ah whau" sighs and "oh my god" looks of 26 tourists, moved by their zen ritual of yawning, relaxing, kissing, fighting, flying and flying again.

Next stop: Bird Island, full of sunbathing cormorants. A couple of miles further, another sea lion colony. It's like a zoo in real space, in real time ... so much fun. We reach the lighthouse "Les Eclaireurs", the furthest islet and thus the sea entrance to Ushuaia. The highlight of the trip is when - after a bumpy ride against the waves - we finally disembark on the Bridges Island where we peak into the history of the Land of Fire's indigenous people - yamanas, the southernmost peoples of the world! They used to be 3000. Today, there is only one woman left.

To get the bird's view of the Beagle Channel, we climbed up to the base of the Martial Glacier in the afternoon. It's funny to observe that the forest limit reaches no more than 600 m. Autumn colors are well spilt over the surrounding trees. The glacier has shrunk a lot but the view over the Ushuaia Bay and the Beagle Channel is amazing.

A busy day again, do we deserve a new XL portion of king size crabs?

Sea Lion Island, a spectacle without precedent

How many can you see?

Sea lions & cormorants, a full house

Fly baby fly

Mother & son

The proud father ...

... and two proud tourists

Cormorants' sunbathing ritual

Lighthouse "Les Eclaireurs", the French influence makes it as far as that

Leaving behind the Beagle Channel horizon

A happy sailor

Crazy lands

Trekking on the Bridges Island, a peek into the yamanas (indigenous) history

Inspired by a day of fresh air, strong wind, must-see animals and "oh whau" panoramas

Ushuaia Bay: bottom-up

Ushuaia Bay: top-down

An afternoon trekking to the Martial Glacier

Autumn-coloured Patagonia, ready for the first snow fall