Continued from Page 3

Left - Buller's Albatross

Thursday 18 November (cont)

….A small lake held Chilean Flamingos, and on another we stopped for a Red Shoveler. The best birding site was reserved until last, Lago Grey, the Grey Lake. At the small hotel very tame Austral Parakeets perched, unafraid, for all to see and another very good bird was found, Striped Woodpecker. This small woodpecker can be decidedly difficult to locate in Chile. ….an obliging Austral Parakeet was at its nest hole next to the path, not six feet away from us. Some of the group walked out to the icebergs that had broken away from the glacier and now lay stranded in the shallows. Friday 19 November It was a beautiful sunny morning as we left Puerto Natales. We passed the swan flock (commented on a couple of days back) which was estimated at 4000 birds of which 90% were Black-necked, the remainder Coscoroba. ….we dropped anchor once again and launched the zodiacs for a really super cruise. We motored between a number of islets to where the rapids were creating unusual currents and vortexes, eddies and whirlpools. We could drift down, crossing some with  the engine idling, slowly rotating as if on a fairground ride.

Chilean Dolphins were enjoying the strong currents also and we saw four in total, very close to our rubber boats, and through the clear water they could be seen swimming under us. A young bull sealion played around, surfing the waves that were being created by these jumbled waters. We returned to the ship, escorted by a line of Rock Shags flying at eye-level.    The still waters were great for seeing birds. We began seeing Magellanic Diving-Petrels and within an hour logged fourteen, probably the highest concentration I have seen of this diminutive ball of feathers. The views were excellent with some birds flying up from the bow. We assumed that a breeding population was nearby. Saturday 20 November There were squalls with rain early morning as we sailed the fjords of Tierra del Fuego. The diving-petrel numbers had increased, about forty Magellanic Diving-Petrels in a couple of hours, some in small groups of three and four. We went from sheltered waters into the open ocean at 0930 and the ship battled against a headwind. There was pitching and rolling. Black-browed Albatross numbers increased and, at the stern of the ship, the giant petrels now contained some adult birds. Sunday 21 November We had left the Beagle Channel and were into open water heading towards Cape Horn. We were on the Atlantic side of South America. The morning started sunny, surprisingly warm (even T-shirt weather) but there were very few birds around. In this sector in the past I have seen thousands of birds but the sea this morning was calm with just small numbers of Black-browed Albatrosses and Sooty Shearwaters sitting around or slowly flapping by. The zodiacs took us ashore to Cabo de Hornos and everyone took photos at Cape Horn, to record their visit to the 'end of the earth'. Only a few birds were recorded, but they were good, including Blackish Cinclodes, Striated Caracara and even a Magellanic Tapaculo for the lucky ones. There were also some penguins in the far distance, that may well have been Rockhoppers. ….We sailed in an anti-clockwise route to round Cape Horn with the prevailing wind at our stern. As we turned into the open ocean a little of the power of these seas was felt as the ship began to pitch and toss around. The birding though got much better in this area as Grey-headed then ‘northern’ Royal Albatrosses appeared and both Magellanic and Common Diving-Petrels shot away. There were three sighting of prions but all were too far away for identification. ….The final leg of our cruise journey, during darkness, was to take us into Ushuaia and Argentina. Monday 22 November At 0645 the ship came alongside the quay in Ushuaia. Our luggage was collected from outside the cabins and transferred to the quayside. We left the ship after breakfast and said our farewells to the crew and staff. Tuesday 23 November Travelled home