English Narrows, Seno Eyre and Pio XI Glacier
We awoke to a glorious morning. Though the sun was yet to rise, the moon was a lovely crescent as we passed through the famous English Narrows. The moon had arisen about 4am and was still rising above the snow-covered mountains to the east as we traversed the deep and treacherous waters that Pilot James Kirke of the HMS Beagle named in 1830. As the sun rose, we passed by the picturesque fishing village of Puento Eden and several flightless Steamer ducks, paddling across the inlet. An escort of Peale’s Dolphin and flights of Blue-Eyed Shag announced our arrival through English Narrows.
We traveled through narrow passages and watched as the beautiful Coigüe (Nothofagus drombeyi) large broadleaved trees that had dominated the forests of the Taitao Peninsula disappeared from the steep, shallow-soil slopes to be replaced by other Nothofragus species as well as the very hearty conifer - Ciprés de las Guaitecas – Pilgerodendron uniferum. The transition between these botanical regions spanned a region of less than 10 miles.
We entered the Fiordo del Indio and steamed south through the Paso del Indo until turning due north into Seno Eyre and traveling to Pope Pio XI Glacier. This glacier rises nearly 50 meters at its calving front, and extends across the fjord about 3500 meters. The glacier plunges approximately 60 miles from the Patagonia icefield – Campo de Hielo Sur to the fjord where it noisily calves off gigantic ice masses at a rate of one every several minutes.
We loaded the Zodiacs about 10:30 AM and headed for the face of the glacier to witness one of the true spectacles of nature: the calving of glaciers. We spent nearly two hours listening to the sounds of shattered ice and the slam of tons of ice into the cold waters of the fjord. Many crew of the Endeavour, including the Captain, mentioned that they had never seen such a beautiful day in these waters.
After a lovely lunch back aboard the Endeavor, we went ashore by Zodiac to hike the lateral moraine of the ice field. We hiked through seepages of rushes, grasses, small angiosperms and bryophytes and saw the scaring of the schist rock over which the glacier had recently receded. Flights of Blue-Eyed Shags followed us as did Chilean Swallows and we observed Rufous-Collared Sparrows, a male and female Speckled Teal and four new hatchlings in a glacial pond, and several Ashy-Headed Geese.
We departed about 5pm and headed back to the inland passage to traverse the nearly 200 miles to White Narrows that we will enter late tomorrow afternoon.
Each day as we travel south, the day length gets longer, the temperature gets colder, the forests along the narrow change dramatically, the animals become more abundant and we remind ourselves how fortunate we are to be seeing and experiencing all this, in the company of others who have become, in a very short time, our friends.
We awoke to a glorious morning. Though the sun was yet to rise, the moon was a lovely crescent as we passed through the famous English Narrows. The moon had arisen about 4am and was still rising above the snow-covered mountains to the east as we traversed the deep and treacherous waters that Pilot James Kirke of the HMS Beagle named in 1830. As the sun rose, we passed by the picturesque fishing village of Puento Eden and several flightless Steamer ducks, paddling across the inlet. An escort of Peale’s Dolphin and flights of Blue-Eyed Shag announced our arrival through English Narrows.
We traveled through narrow passages and watched as the beautiful Coigüe (Nothofagus drombeyi) large broadleaved trees that had dominated the forests of the Taitao Peninsula disappeared from the steep, shallow-soil slopes to be replaced by other Nothofragus species as well as the very hearty conifer - Ciprés de las Guaitecas – Pilgerodendron uniferum. The transition between these botanical regions spanned a region of less than 10 miles.
We entered the Fiordo del Indio and steamed south through the Paso del Indo until turning due north into Seno Eyre and traveling to Pope Pio XI Glacier. This glacier rises nearly 50 meters at its calving front, and extends across the fjord about 3500 meters. The glacier plunges approximately 60 miles from the Patagonia icefield – Campo de Hielo Sur to the fjord where it noisily calves off gigantic ice masses at a rate of one every several minutes.
We loaded the Zodiacs about 10:30 AM and headed for the face of the glacier to witness one of the true spectacles of nature: the calving of glaciers. We spent nearly two hours listening to the sounds of shattered ice and the slam of tons of ice into the cold waters of the fjord. Many crew of the Endeavour, including the Captain, mentioned that they had never seen such a beautiful day in these waters.
After a lovely lunch back aboard the Endeavor, we went ashore by Zodiac to hike the lateral moraine of the ice field. We hiked through seepages of rushes, grasses, small angiosperms and bryophytes and saw the scaring of the schist rock over which the glacier had recently receded. Flights of Blue-Eyed Shags followed us as did Chilean Swallows and we observed Rufous-Collared Sparrows, a male and female Speckled Teal and four new hatchlings in a glacial pond, and several Ashy-Headed Geese.
We departed about 5pm and headed back to the inland passage to traverse the nearly 200 miles to White Narrows that we will enter late tomorrow afternoon.
Each day as we travel south, the day length gets longer, the temperature gets colder, the forests along the narrow change dramatically, the animals become more abundant and we remind ourselves how fortunate we are to be seeing and experiencing all this, in the company of others who have become, in a very short time, our friends.
