This is the final Blog Post from the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica trip. The previous Blog Post covered the large Whales and a few Birds that were seen as we entered the outer part of the Beagle Channel. We still had the rest of the afternoon and early evening until we were in sight of the port of Ushuaia. I stayed on deck, barring a quick dash for coffee, biscuits and a toilet break until I could see Ushuaia. I had missed the final late afternoon's drinks with the Captain and the starter at dinner, before I finally raced into the restaurant for my final dinner. I was hoping for a repeat sighting of Barna's Burmeister’s Porpoise, that he had seen and photographed on the first evening, but it didn't happen. Another reason to consider another trip to the Southern Oceans.
Hungarian Wildlife Guide Barna: Barna photographed a Burmeister’s Porpoise in the Beagle Channel on the first evening of the trip which was an excellent sighting and a frustrating dip for the rest of us who were still socialising at dinner. I will do my best to avoid making that mistake if I can get back to Ushuaia again
The Azamara Pursuit heads down channel to Antarctica: With the capacity to carry seven hundred passengers and another four hundred crew, this ship is far too large to allow the passengers ashore. But would they want to be distracted from the onboard casino and other attractions
The Argentinian side of Tierra del Fuego
A distant lighthouse on the point of the Chilean Barlovento Island
Another view of the same lighthouse
As we carried on up the Beagle Channel we passed the historic Estancia Harberton area, where there is a large Magellanic Penguin colony. This excellent site can be visited by road or on one of the many tour boats that can be booked from the Ushuaia waterfront.
Magellanic Penguin: Adult
Magellanic Penguin: Juveniles don't have the black face of adults
The Argentinian Mountains to the East of Ushuaia
Black-browed Albatross: I saw about four hundred Black-browed Albatrosses in the Beagle Channel
Black-browed Albatross: The boats to Estancia Harberton must be one of the most accessible ways to get great photos of Black-browed Albatrosses
The historical Cemetery at Mejillones on the Chilean Navarino Island: This cemetery dates to the first half of the 20th Century and contains the remains of the indigenous Yahgan people who were associated with an Anglican mission in this area
South American Sealion colony: These colonies can be easy seen on one of the Ushaia boat trips
Chilean Skua: We were back in range for Chilean Skuas
The clear highlight of the Inner Beagle Channel were the pods of Dusky Dolphins. Many of the closer pods came into bow wave and swim alongside the sides of the Plancius. It was an excellent finale to a fantastic trip.
Dusky Dolphin: They are a small Dolphin no more than two metres in length with a very short, black beak, dark eye, distinctive markings and a pointed falcate dorsal fin with a paler grey rear edge to the fin
Dusky Dolphin: They were clearly identifiable underwater
Dusky Dolphin: They occur around the coasts of Western South America, Tierra del Fuego, the Falklands, the Southern-most coast of South Africa, the coasts of the Southern half of Australia and New Zealand
Dusky Dolphin: These two Dusky Dolphins were just logging at the surface
Finally, everybody else left for the free drink with the Captain and I had the top deck, the Dusky Dolphins and the Black-browed Albatrosses to myself.
Finally, Ushuaia comes into view: It was time to race to the restaurant for my final dinner
Although we were docked in Ushuaia, we stayed onboard that night and didn't disembark to the following morning. I spent the morning in an internet cafe catching up with the news after nearly three weeks of no wifi connection. The wifi was prohibitively expensive on the Plancius and I can't see why I would want to be online, when I could be on the bridge wings. Early afternoon, I headed off to the airport for my evening flight back to Buenos Aires. I had a pre-paid hired car booked which I had to collect at an airport hotel. I got to the hotel to find that car company had pulled out of using the hotel several months earlier and were only in the city centre, over an hours' drive away. With no prospect of a hired car, I booked into the hotel for the night. The following morning I returned to the airport, but the handful of other car hire firms had their cars booked out. So, the rest of the day was spent at the airport catching up on my Birding notes. After several months, the pre-paid car hire money was finally refunded by my credit card.
A final photo of Tierra del Fuego from the Plancius: It's tradition to finish on a sunset. But this out of focus photo, which looks a bit artistic, will have to do. As I was sorting my photos, I found a number of distant photos were out of focus. It wasn't to a week into my next trip to New Zealand, that the problem was identified. The mounting bracket on the 100 - 400 mm lens was lose and sometimes the camera wasn't focusing properly at infinity. Fortunately, this was an easy fix and my glasses screwdriver also works on the camera lens
