First full day on the ship and we go ashore on zodiacs

At dawn we sailed through the Admiralty Sound, a spectacular branch of the Strait of Magellan that extends almost half of Tierra del Fuego.

We suited up in our waterproof clothes and life jackets and boarded the zodiac for a ride to the shore at Ainsworth Bay.

Two guided hikes were available.  We have 161 passengers on the ship from 19 countries.  We are divided into several groups.

We chose to go on the "challenging hike".  Our guide was Cris and he led the way along the crest of a glacial moraine.

The path was narrow and steep and very muddy.  But we were rewarded with spectacular views of the fjord, the Marinelli Glacier and the Darwin Mountains.

At one time the glacier reached all the way down to the water.

Once back down to the shore we boarded the zodiac again and headed across the bay to a landing where we had hot chocolate.

We had a good view of the Marinelli Glacier.

The beach was covered with shells.

After lunch we had some down time to relax until the 3:45 pm engine room tour.  During this time the ship is sailing west along the sound to Tucker's Islets.

Terry felt right at home in the engine room of the ship, after working in a power plant for so many years.

At 5:30 pm our group rides the zodiacs for a close-up view of the Magellanic penguins.  We wait until late afternoon because the penguins feed in the waters earlier in the day.

More than 4,000 penguins use Tucker's as a place to nest, give birth and nurture their chicks.  Here's a few photos of our excursion.  (I have about a gazillion)

There are 1.8 million Magellanic penguins in Patagonia...I promise I did not take photos of all of them!

Here's a baby penguin just starting to molt.

And an old, injured sea lion

There is a wound around his neck, probably from getting caught in a fishing line.

We saw many bird species including king cormorants, oystercatchers, Chilean skuas and even the occasional Andean condor.

We observe all this from the zodiac boats to protect the fragile ecosystem of the islet.

Overnight the ship sails around the western end of Tierra del Fuego and enters the Ballenero (Whaleboat) Channel, named by Captain Robert Fitzroy in honor of his whaling boat that was taken by the indigenous people and never recovered.  Our destination is the Pia Glacier.

To continue reading, scroll up towards the top of this page and click in the right-hand column the entry entitled:  OMG:  We see a spectacular sight at Pia Glacier.