Beagle Channel - Isla de los Estados
Ushuaia - Cambaceres bay
It is a cloudy, windless, nice temperature day. We are at the marina to board the Ocean Tramp, a sailboat which had just completed its Antarctic season. Laura and Federico, the owners, are there to welcome us. Inside, my wife and I made our accommodations in the cabin assigned to us and meet our fellow travel companions: Aninda from Indonesia, Katherine from Texas, and Martin from Buenos Aires. He was there in an assignment for the arthropods laboratory of Bernardino Rivadavia museum. The crew is completed with Miguel, the cook, and Fernando, an experienced yachtsman from Buenos Aires. All the forms from Prefectura Argentina (Argentina’s Coast Guard) are completed, and all the supplies for the journey loaded. We are ready to sail. Our final destination is the mysterious Isla de los Estados (Staten Island). I am really anxious, though I have sailed many miles before. This is what this journey to the island at the end of the world makes me feel. It reminds me of Jules Verne’s novel and meetings at school organizing the crossing of Le Maire strait by kayak. And I am about to make this dreamed journey to such a special island.
And thus begins a calm navigation through the well-known Beagle Channel. Cambaceres Bay is our first objective, there we will anchor and spend the night. Few miles away from Ushuaia, we find the first point of interest, the Les Éclaireurs lighthouse surrounded by thousands of sea birds like cormorants, terns, seagulls, among others.
Near Isla Martillo (Hammer Island) we can see minke whales, passing around them we get to the island where Gentoo and Magallanes penguins are there to receive us.
We arrive to Cambaceres bay in the evening. After anchoring, we get to land by rubber boat to begin our first hike. Once back to the boat we see in the distance a sailboat that anchors near us. The vessel’s name is Amarrante, on board we find its French captain, and four Argentine women. The Amarrante is not in good shape, and the captain tells us that they were caught in a severe storm that broke the mainsail, and other things. They had a rough time, but at Parry Port they could recover and were on route to Ushuaia. Our first day ends with a cheerful dinner in the Ocean Tramp.
Bahía Cambaceres – Puerto Español
We depart very early in the morning, and set course to a special place, the historic Puerto Español (Spanish Port) in the wild Mitre Peninsula. Some hours later we are no longer protected by the calm waters of Beagle Channel. We can fell the waves move our vessel, it is still cloudy with no wind. Whales and dolphins escort us in our way. At noon we reach Aguirre bay.
Our first stop is a beach at the west side of the bay, where there was a Prefectura (Coast Guard) station. Now turned into ruins, it shows that Nature imposes over man.
We walk the beach to get to a different historical site, a cave that is located between Jalón Point and Pique Point. There Allen Francis Gardiner, an Anglican missionary, and his apostolic partners starved to death pursued by Yaganes tribes.
This place holds another great surprise for us. Some meters away, between some rocks on the beach there is a sculpture in a pyramidal shape, it is one of the eight vertices of The Soul of the World. This project was directed and created by Rafael Trénor. The sculpture is formed by two main elements: the Sphere of Earth, and an immense Cube written on the inside. The diagonal of the cube-counterparting the diameter of the Earth- will be of 12.756 kilometers. This cube makes the eight vertices or corners of the world. We are right in front of one of them, in a spectacular place.
We also found the wreckage of a Belgian sailboat, in which the captain could barely reach to Ushuaia. It is the end of an intense day, a lasagna made by Miguel is waiting for us.
Puerto Español – (Isla de los Estados) Bahía Franklin – Bahía Belgrano
It is a cloudy morning. We are all excited because today the Ocean Tramp will set course to Isla de los Estados (Staten Island). Sailing conditions are good, almost no tide to worry about. No winds, and crossing the fearsome Le Maire strait is a relatively calm task. We head towards Franklin bay in the south side of the island.
The approach to the island is exciting. A group of yellow feather penguins wait for us. The penguin colony is temporary, and most of the penguins already left. We anchor to have lunch and enjoy the first landing. The vegetation of the surroundings makes a great view. Humidity and fog give the place a mysterious tone.
We watch the penguins, while the black vultures and southern caracaras fly around us. We even find red deers, an exotic species man placed in the ecosystem. The red deers presence threatens the immaculate environment of the island.
Back in the boat we encircle the eastern part of the island, we head to Belgrano bay in the north part. It is a rainy afternoon and we anchor for the night.
Bahía Belgrano – Bahía Flinder – Caleta Baind – Puerto Hoppner
The sudden weather changes are striking. In late night, the tide direction changes abruptly to northeast with greater intensity. Then the Ocean Tramp is no longer protected and swings violently. At dawn, we move to Baind cove, within Flinder bay where the ship is protected and water is calm.
It is a rainy day, and we gather in the living room of the Ocean Tramp, there we listen to Martin Ramirez PhD talk about his area of expertise: spiders. He is thrilled announcing that a new species was found on the island, though it is yet to be named, it is being studied thoroughly. It is a very interesting talk.
Despite the rain, we land to explore the area.
On the route, we find southern dolphins that perform lovely stunts and jumps while escorting us. We get to Hoopner port under a heavy rain and heavy overcast sky. Despite the weather, this place is amazing. We enter the first bay through a narrow corridor, no more than one meter away on both sides of the boat. Thanks to the skilled captain Federico we manage to get to the second bay.
There we are protected and surrounded by green mountains. In this place, we anchor for the night and plan to explore the following morning. This stop has a scientific purpose, Martin will gather samples of the island’s endemic spiders.
The sunrise is amazing. The sun covers all the Green mountains, a big waterfall can be seen among the hills, and the great blue sky makes an amazing scene.
We land, excited to hike in the hillsides. Meanwhile, Martin is focused in catching small spiders and he is good at it.
We begin hiking, it is a difficult terrain, lots of peat and water everywhere. We move among sour cherry trees, Ñires (Nothofagus Antarctica), box leaved barberries, and lengas (Nothofagus pumilio).
We enjoy the sun bathed panoramic view of Hoppner port. However, at noon the sky is overcast again, this sudden weather changes are normal in the island. A couple of hours later the sun is back again, and we feel like navigating. Some use the kayaks, but we prefer the rubber boat.
It is a lovely afternoon in which we enjoyed seeing many fuegian steamer ducks. This is a nice flightless kind of duck, it uses its small wings like paddles to swim resembling the wheels of old steamer boats.
We leave the boats behind, and access a stream backwater by foot. Then we reach what it seems to be a hidden shallow lake.
Later on we return to the sailboat to enjoy a delicious dinner.
This is our last day in Hoppner port. While we wait for the tide to rise, we land once again to explore the opposite side of the beach we visited yesterday. Once again, peat and water on the ground make hiking a difficult task but the view is totally worth it.
On this side, we are able to get much closer to the waterfall we saw yesterday. Once back in the Ocean Tramp we depart towards Cook port.
After a calm trip, with a northeast current and southwest winds, we arrive to this historic bay. We dock to the landfall buoy that Argentine Army keeps there. We land quickly to use the last hours of solar light. On the beach we can see the remains of the military prison that was on the island. The first prison was established in San Juan del Salvamento, and later on moved to this place.
We continue and visit a cemetery which has around ten tombs in its grounds. Then we hike to the inner part of the island. Vancouver port is a few meters away on the south side. Here both ports are just a hundred meters away.
We bask in a lovely sunset on the southern coast. On the beach there are lots of brown algae and whale bones. In the meantime, Laura and Miguel are looking for the trap cameras they left to get the images of the southern river otter, a species that can be found in inner lakes and streams. We get back to the Ocean Tramp with the last daylight.
San Juan del Salvamento – Puerto Basil Hall - Puerto Parry
We set sail very early towards San Juan del Salvamento. Our spirits rise because we are going to The Lighthouse at the End of the World. It is a cloudy day, calm navigation, and shortly after we can see the lighthouse in the distance.
Not a word is uttered, every one of us is caught in our minds.
Right after landing we begin the hike towards Cabo San Juan. While we reach the snowy peak, where the lighthouse is, we enjoy the great views around. Out of a sudden, at the end of a woods we see the lighthouse right in front of us. The moment has come, we are at an iconic place in a unique natural scenario.
We walk in the inside of the lighthouse. It was rebuilt in 1998, as a tribute.
The first lighthouse was built in 1884. Prisoners brought specially from Buenos Aires work in its construction, so a prison, a coast guard office, and a search and rescue post were built.
The prison was turned into a military prison and moved to Puerto Cook (Cook Port). By 1901 the lighthouse was abandoned since Año Nuevo lighthouse (New Year lighthouse) was built in Isla Observatorio (Observatory Island), and the latter was better located is an islet out in the open with a significantly better view. After a century of desertion and decay the French captain, André Bronner begins in 1995 its harsh reconstruction. The new lighthouse, similar to the one in San Juan del Salvamento, was built during 1998 summer in its original location. The construction was in charge of a crew of eight Frenchmen led by Bronner, logistics provided by Ushuaia government, and Argentine Army that provided the ARA Suboficial Castillo (A-6) vessel to transport workers and material to Isla de los Estados (Staten Island). The building was built in France, and brought in pieces from La Rochelle (France) to Ushuaia.
We leave this place knowing in our hearts that an incredible dream came true.
We leave this place knowing in our hearts that an incredible dream came true. Now we sail towards Basil Hall port, where Laura will pick up some trap cameras she left placed there. This is an amazing place where we navigate by boat to a small sea lion colony, there we see oystercatchers, blue herons, ducks, and many other birds.
With the camera trap removed, we headed to another emblematic point, Parry port, where the commander Luis Piedrabuena is located. This bay is also very deep and protected, late in the afternoon we moored to the detachment buoy and proceeded to disembark. We are received by all the staff of the place, Alberto who is the native chief of the city of Salta, the maintenance manager Diego, from Punta Lara, the nurse Gabriela from Córdoba and finally the youngest of the group, the sailor Rodrigo.
And there is the most important character, the friendly Rocky, a puppy that has been accompanying the different groups for years, which are replaced every 45 days in the detachment.
At night we shared some delicious pizzas at the OCEAN TRAMP with the whole group from the detachment. Fun and warm dinner that serves to strengthen ties with these people who are in such remote places and have an enormous responsibility to exercise national sovereignty.
Chief Alberto tells us that they have already promised the satellite antenna to have the internet and also important improvements in the detachment, which is celebrated by all of us. Emotional farewell since we will leave early starting the return to the continent.
San Juan del Salvamento – Puerto Basil Hall - Puerto Parry
Very early the OCEAN TRAMP begins its route back as there is a storm announcement with more than 60 knots of wind for the next few days, this makes us to continue our return. This time the strait of Le maire with winds of up to 35 knots reminds us of its historical fame. Navigation is quite rough, but the tide helps and we advance at a good pace, which allows us to reach the island of Gable at night, in the protected waters of the BEAGLE channel, where we anchor to spend the night in peace.
Spectacular sunrise that we enjoy while navigating among islets along the Guaraní pass, heading to Ushuaia. And so at noon after a quiet navigation on the BEAGLE we arrived in Ushuaia, to end this incredible and more than emotional trip.
I hope that the images can partly convey the natural beauty of this mysterious ISLAND OF STATES and its mythical LIGHTHOUSE AT THE END OF THE WORLD.