Another Suitcase in Another Hall: Patagonian Peregrination Part 4

Finally the end to DAY 2 in Ushuaia.....what did I do to end such a thrilling day you ask....simple really, I went for a sail! That's right I got on a huge Catamaran and sailed through the Beagle Channel!! How freaking cool is that?? I saw sea lions, Cormorants, and PENGUINS!! This trip is how I justify this being NOT a vacation and part of my studying as well. For those of you who don't know in addition to my major in Nursing I also have a Minor in Marine Studies....so this jaunt through the Beagle Channel was not for sheer enjoyment at all. Having to sit aboard such a big boat and take pictures of beautiful scenery and see real live Penguins was all adding to my collegial education in marine studies...and that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

The Beagle Channel....where do I even begin....I have no idea! For my geography incompetent....no offense just a fact....the Beagle Channel is a strait of water that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is one of the first ways that early explorers found to get around the continent of South America. Eventually others were found and considered less dangerous so it got rarely used. Most famously the Beagle Channel is where naturalist Charles Darwin first traveled on his famous journey where he laid the foundation for modern Evolutionary theory and science. So was I excited to sail on the Beagle Channel??? ABSOFRIGGINLUTELY!

I got on the ship and immediately headed for the top of the ship. I have been on enough naturalist boats in my life to know that being on the top of the ship like that is really where you get some of the best views of everything, landscape and fauna. There I was on a fairly chilly day sitting atop a ship in the Port of Ushuaia....sometimes I really can't believe my life. When we finally took off I was so happy to once again be heading toward the ocean. It is quite a constant and true theme in my life that somehow I always end up back at the ocean. At the worst points in my life and the best I have always had the ocean....so I was sooo EXCITED that I did actually get to share my experience in Patagonia with the ocean.....okay I'm done I swear back to the trip.

We finally take off and I couldn't help but snap pictures like crazy. It was just so beautiful, plus now that I know how to use the panorama tool on my camera I could get some great shots of the whole island and the mountains and the ocean....

Without further ado I guess here are the pictures:

These are NOT penguins....they are in fact a type of cormorant....although all of the tourists kept screaming "Penguinos" or "Pingon" or some other word that no doubt meant penguin over the captain telling us that it was los cormorones....It was at this point that I realized that penguin is one of those words that in almost every language sounds hysterical....I mean you get a pretty good image of what kind of a bird you are going to see just by the sound of the word penguin if you ask me.

Sea lions resting at the shore of the island.

I found this bird to be hysterical. I have no idea what kind it is but it just kept sort of bopping along on the boat right behind all of the people taking pictures of all of the other animals...I just got a kick out of it that's all.

Doesn't this look like it should be a painting out of Maine or something...well it 's not its a Lighthouse in the Beagle Channel in a picture that I took!

Me....I hate pictures of me....I attempted to get more of me in the last few days to appease a certain member of my family who claims I am never in any of my pictures (cough cough Mom)