TUCKERS ISLANDS
During the night we crossed via the Beagle Channel to the Pacific Ocean and back into the Straits of Magellan to head north to Punta Arenas. Today was a bonus day, as we'd expected to spend it merely cruising through the fjords enjoying the scenery. Instead, we also had the opportunity to take a wildlife cruise in the zodiacs.
We had a gorgeous day to be on deck as we passed through the San Gabriel channel. At one point it narrows to only 250 meters, or about twice the length of the Midnatsol. The outlying fingers of the 100 km long Darwin Icefield lay above on the starboard side, Tierra del Fuego, with dozens of slim waterfalls cascading down the mountainside.
A group of tiny islands known as Tuckers Islands lie at the far end of the channel. They are full of wildlife, and were a great place for our final zodiac cruise.
The highlight, of course, was penguins. Magellanic penguins are burrowing penguins that nest under grasses. The chicks were nearly adult size, but had not yet molted.
Lots of burrows
There were hundreds of nesting rock cormorants in crevices in the cliffs, a huge Chilean sea lion that was disguised as a rock until out lifted its head, a very well camouflaged Chilean skua (wherever there are penguins, there are skuas looking for their favorite meal), and many other birds.
Spot the skua
Then it was back to the ship to begin to wrap up our journey. We returned our excellent rubber boots, received our instructions for disembarking and packed up. We will be in 80°+ degree weather by tomorrow afternoon.
Before we leave the ship, a few words about preserved fish: Every buffet meal on this Norwegian ship has offered a cornucopia of cold herring, mackerel, salmon and other fish I've never encountered before. There is sweet chili herring, cod, haddock, blueberry herring, tuna, mackerel in cream sauce, smoked salmon etc etc etc.
We had a Norwegian-themed menu for our farewell dinner, and then were treated to an impromptu salute by dozens of dolphins who played around the ship while we remained anchored off the Tuckers Islands. What a wonderful way to end the day!
(The video will be better)
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