Buenos Aires

 I had intended the previous post to be my final entry for this trip, but we had time to get out in Buenos Aires before we flew home and some of the photos I wanted to enter in a blog post so I would remember. 

This photo was taken in front of our hotel and it shows the Women's Bridge. 

Cindy at a nearby steak house before we took on some very large pieces of meat. 

There is a great deal of political activism in Buenos Aires and these are two recent representations. The first memorialized the COVID deaths of the city (the rocks in remembrance of individuals) and the charge that officials were vaccinated long before the citizens. The second is from the Plaza de Mayo (very close to the COVID rocks) and represents the white head scarves worn by the Mothers of the Disappeared in the location where they frequently marched. 

The Evita Balcony

Our hotel was also near the location of many government buildings and these soldiers were marching to change the guard near the government buildings.

Probably the reason I had to add a few more pictures was because of the spectacular house colors in the neighborhoods. Buenos Aires is a massive place with a population near 14 million in the metro area. There are many tenant neighborhoods of tenement housing some of multiple similar bland-looking flats (apartments) and some of colorful mashed-together homes. Lots of graffiti art

Not Messi (he is in Florida), but you find the images of Messi and Maradona everywhere in Argentina. 

A barista handing over my final coffee in Argentina. I was lazy and did not find a coffee shop in Ushuaia so I could claim I had coffee in the southernmost city in the world, but I did get this photo in Buenos Aires. I do have a shot of the southernmost US coffee shop (from Hawaii), but I should have made the effort to get off the boat and add to my collection.

Chocolate Bar

 We are in Buenos Aires and leave tomorrow at 10PM for the long flight home - first to New York and then home. Long night.

I don't think I have posted any food pics on this trip and this is often a staple of my travel posts. The food on the ship was excellent and always in far greater supply than necessary. I have picked out this special event for my only food post. I call it Chocolate Bar because I am a puny guy.

This is all for a few months. Time to get back to salads.

Cape Horn

 We are nearing the end of our journey and just rounding Cape Horn making our way to Ushuaia where we catch a plane. The map appearing below shows the location where I took some of these photos.

My only knowledge of Cape Horn was based on what I read in Mitchner's Hawaii in which the author described the perilous journal of the missionaries sailing from New England around the cape on the way to Hawaii. It sounded very rough and dangerous. 

Some on the boat got up to watch from the deck (with drinks) as rounding the Cape the first time is supposed to have some special significance. We watched from our window (Cindy might have had some tea.)

The boat did sway a bit, but nothing I thought was extreme. I went up to the dining/library area to have a coffee and generate a blog post and found that there was some damage as guests had either stumbled with plates or things must have fallen from tables.

Garibaldi Glacier in Garibaldi Fjord

Today was our last opportunity to get onto the water in one of the small boats. We were to take a Zodiac and land on a glacier. It turned out that this was not possible as you will see in the following video, but it was an interesting trip nonetheless. I am more of a photographer than I am a videographer, but the clips should be good enough to give you an idea.

This glacier has a strange feature that is easy to notice. There is a vertical line near the middle. The line is the result of debris captured in the middle as two glaciers merge before heading to the ocean. 

 

Balloon launch in Garibaldi Fjord

 Another balloon launch, but for this one I took care to capture the surrounding scenery. The launch this morning was accompanied by the chefs preparing Apple Crumble and Irish Coffee. We are in the Garibaldi Fjord at the base of the Garibaldi Glacier. After tough seas through the night, the morning is calm and bright.

After capturing the video of the balloon launch, I decided to have another Irish Coffee. I thought I made a video of the bartender completing the preparation of my drink (a little coffee, a generous portion of Jamison, and whipped cream), but my phone is automatically set to photo when I activate the camera. Sorry.

Mark makes a rare public appearance.

Magellan Penguins

We can now say we have viewed penguins in the wild in Australia, South Africa, and Chile. The birds were different across locations, but the latitudes would be similar.

Our visit was to the Island of Magdalena to see Magellan Penguins. This desolate island is a seasonal home to about 120,000 Magellan Penguins. These birds use this island from September through March as their breeding location. You can view chicks toward the end of this period. There are no birds and no tourists the rest of the year.

The island does very well attracting the birds and the tourists because a no-fishing zone of 30 kilometers has been declared around the island. The sea provides an abundance of sardines and without the competition from commercial fishing the penguins can find all of the seafood they need close to their nests. In other locations, the birds must venture up to 5 days away from their nests making them more vulnerable to predators and drastically increasing the mortality rate of the chicks as a parent may not make it home with food. This is not a problem on Magdalena. 

Magdalena Penguin Island

iPhone camera tricks

During the voyage, there have been various presentations and some have involved technology. While I am an experienced iPhone user, I did attend a session on the iPhone camera, and as is so often the case I learned something I had overlooked because I tend not to explore new capabilities.

The new techniques makes use of the “shutter” button while in camera mode. It turns out that this button can be moved and the different movements accomplish different things. Slide the button to the left to enter “burst” mode. Slide the button to the right to take video even when taking photos. Slide the button up and down to zoom in and out. Maybe you already knew this, but it was new to me.

When in burst mode, the number of images captured is indicated in the space where the shutter button used to be. Note that when shooting bursts only one image will appear in your photo collection, but click on this image and you will see the entire sequence.

What is burst mode useful for? I think of it as “whale mode”. It is so difficult to capture that perfect whale picture because it takes some time for a camera to respond and the perfect time is never predictable. You see the whale arch its back to dive and by the time you get the photo at best what you capture is the tail. Burst mode allows a sequence of images to be collected and you can then select the shots you want. Action shots such as sports photos would be another good example of an application.

Finally, the use of the “shutter” button to zoom in and out. This move is especially useful while shooting video in order to get smooth transitions. You don’t have to pinch to zoom allowing one-handed operation and smooth transitions.

I don’t own an android phone to explore, but similar actions are available within the camera app on these phones.

Perspective

 I think travel is an important way to spend some of the money you have. You learn that the world is more complicated than what you experience daily and yet people have similar needs and aspirations. 

During one of the first gatherings of the passengers on this ship, the presenter made reference to the globes in the southern hemisphere. I immediately found a globe and it looked just like the globes I had experienced whenever I had bothered to look at a globe. I then thought maybe he was joking around. Tonight I encountered a different globe and sure enough, it offered a different perspective. So, I guess up is not North,

Zodiac Excursion

 I have been worried about the zodiac excursions. I assumed I would be fine once in the boat, but I doubted my ability to lower myself from the door of the ship into the boat. I am not the most agile fellow. Never was. I practiced my sailor's grip to be certain I was ready and it turned out not to be that big of a deal.

We have had (see final comment for clarification) very good weather. You hear how much rain this region receives in talk after talk and all we have had so far are nice sunny days. It turns out there is a downside to the sunny and warm days, the glacier we were to visit with the zodiacs had been calving a lot and there was so much ice in the narrow channel they decided it would not be a good idea for us to approach. They found a quiet bay and allowed us to explore a bit as an alternative. More zodiac excursions are yet to come so we will move more chances.

If I were to imagine a zodiac driver in the ocean region of Antarctica, I don't think I could come up with a better image. Interesting guy.

The guy in the black rain gear is me. I do look the part of a tourist, Reminds me of a story from our time in South Africa. We had purchased the beige shirts and pants and the hat to match for our safaris. One of the guides asked why all of the tourists dressed like that. Too many movies I guess. I thought it was to fool the Tsetse flies.

It turns out it is difficult to take photos from a zodiac. There are 6 people plus the guide and you all sit on the side of the rubber boat facing in, It is difficult to turn around and you should not stand. Only the pair in the very front have many open shots. 

I think they felt bad because we could not view a second glacier so they sent out the champagne boat.

One update on the weather. We were told the weather was going to change and it would be getting rough. You could feel the change about 5 in the morning and the boat was really bouncing around. I took a short video from our window about 7 this morning. This is 50 mph winds and 45 degrees. The wind is amazing.

Balloon Launch

 Two of the Viking Expedition boats participate in the launch of weather balloons. Weather balloons are launched worldwide twice a day at the same time (actually within the same hour). The Viking ships do not launch this frequently but do participate partly because they are often in remote locations. Data from these balloons is combined with satellite data to study atmospheric patterns and predict the weather.

Balloons are now made of biodegradable material in many countries and carry a very small payload that is capable of capturing quite an array of data types. The balloons rise for approximately two hours for approximately 18 expanding as the outside pressure decreases. Eventfully the balloons pop. These packages need not be recovered as in our case, but the devices in some cases do return to earth via parachute and some make a hobby of tracking and recovering the devices. You are allowed to keep them and there are evidently some applications for those who like to tinker. 

We were able to watch as the data were being sent back during the ascent and the results were shared on a graph. Eventually, the data from all of the balloons are sent to the University of Wyoming where it is archived and shared for anyone interested to retrieve. 

Our location at launch

Data are displayed in our viewing area.

Why the University of Wyoming? I tried to find the answer and did discover a bit of the history of the involvement of this institution.

This map graphic shows active balloons and changes as the day progresses.

Pio XI Calving

 Pio XI, also called the Brugge Glacier, is the largest glacier in the southern hemisphere. It is located in southern Chile which is home to approximately 80% of the glaciers in this region of the world. Pio XI is unique in not receding at the rate of the world’s other glaciers.

We had the opportunity to view this glacier at fairly close range from our ship. The blue color is the result of the sun shining through denser ice. The ice at the face tends to be white because it is warmer and when the glacier calves the denser ice behind is revealed.

Pio XI is very active and moves at a rapid rate. We were able to witness it calf several times. I have come to think of catching a calving section with my camera very much like trying to photograph a breaching whale. At best, I might capture the tail. Cindy spent much more time with her phone and captured two great video sequences that are good as I have seen. Great luck comes from great patience.

Tech Toys

 We are in a two-day stretch during which the ship moves South and we watch what goes by. We have discovered an interesting diversion. We have a window in our cabin that can be lowered. If I position my phone on a tripod pointed out the window, I can use my watch to take photos and videos. The video captures our approach to the Pios XI glacier.

Puerto Chacabuco

I think an advantage of the smaller expedition ships in comparison to a massive cruise ship is the opportunity to get into places such as the place we are now at. Puerto Chacabuco is a community of a little more than 1000 people within a fjord within an archipelago. I think archipelago is the correct term because we are certainly within a massive cluster of islands.  You don’t bring a ship of this size to dock under these circumstances but make use of a tender to move people to and from shore

The views here are spectacular.