After our late departure from Ushuaia, all morning shore excursions in Punta Arenas were cancelled. It turned out to be a cold, windy, cloudy day with a high of 11 celsius. The sun did come out after lunch, so we were able to enjoy our long walk. This was one of the ports where wind was a major factor in determining whether or not we could drop anchor. Fortunately we were able to do so and we were once again tendered ashore. Our overnight trip was rough and turned out to be the only time we encountered choppy seas.
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| Punta Arenas |
Punta Arenas (or Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antartica Chilena. The city was officially renamed as Magallanes in 1927, but in 1938 it was changed back to "Punta Arenas". It is the largest city south of the 46th parallel south. As of 1977 Punta Arenas has been one of only two free ports in Chile.[4] (Note that Punta Arenas itself is not a "free port", but rather outside of the city, there is a small "zona franca" where certain products can be imported into the country under a reduced-tax regimen.)
Located on the Brunswick Peninsula north of the Strait of Magellan, Punta Arenas was originally established by the Chilean government in 1848 as a tiny penal colony to assert sovereignty over the Strait. During the remainder of the 1800s, Punta Arenas grew in size and importance due to the increasing maritime traffic and trade traveling to the west coasts of South and North America. This period of growth also resulted from the waves of European immigrants, mainly from Croatia and Russia attracted to the gold rush and sheep farming boom in the 1880s and early 1900s. The largest sheep company, controlling 10,000 square kilometres in Chile and Argentina, was based in Punta Arenas, and its owners lived there.
Since its founding Chile has used Punta Arenas as a base to defend its sovereignty claims in the southernmost part of South America. This led, among other things, to the Strait of Magellan being recognized as Chilean territory in the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina. The geopolitical importance of Punta Arenas has remained high in the 20th and 21st centuries because of its logistic importance in accessing the Antarctic Peninsula. (taken from Wikipedia)
By the time we docked and waited for a tender boat, it was well after 1 pm. There was good wifi at the dock and we were able to catch up and log our geocaches from Punta Arenas. The last three cruises were not able to dock here, so we were pleased to be able to explore the town. One cruise this season had such rough seas and high winds that the tender boats got stuck ashore and over 1,000 people were stranded at the dock until 11 pm.
We set out on what turned out to be a 11 km walk looking for geocaches (found 3). The town was busy as this is the Chilean port for expeditions to Antartica. Here we ran into the first of the stray dogs that seem to be everywhere in Chile. Eric named them "Chile Dogs".
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| "Chile Dogs" They were quite tame and apparently well fed |
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| Our first view of the Andes |
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| Our ship on what turned out to be a sunny day with calm seas |
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| View overlooking the port |
After a long afternoon of walking, we returned to the ship and had an early night. We wanted to be prepared for our cruise through the Chilean fiords and the Amalia Glacier the next day.
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