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I have finally gotten around to doing a TR of a Patagonia and Antarctica travel combination that I did in November-December 2013 that may be of interest to some folks.
The plan: PER-xSYD-SCL for nearly two weeks in Patagonia (Chile and Argentina), followed by a 10-night cruise from Ushuaia to the Antarctic Peninsula and return, flight to Buenos Aires on the day of return (20 December), overnight Buenos Aires before heading back via SCL and SYD to be home the night of 22 December in time for Christmas.
It went according to plan until arriving back in Ushuaia to be informed that an Argentine ATC strike had forced the cancellation of my USH-AEP flight. Flight out will be the next day - too late to make the SCL connection to my SYD flight.
Uh-oh. Christmas is fast approaching and QF doesn’t fly every day SCL-SYD. Phone QF. Next SCL-SYD flight is Monday 23 Dec. – but it’s full. Next one is Christmas Day and plenty of seats. Sweet!
While I would rather have had the enforced layover in Buenos Aires than in Santiago because IMO Buenos Aires offers a lot more, I think it’s prudent to get to SCL ASAP. Industrial unrest was a bit rife in Argentina in 2013, so I didn’t want to press my luck. LAN is brilliant at juggling me onto one flight EZE-SCL, then later another as undoing the ATC shambles in USH doesn’t quite go to plan and further within-day delays ensue. Ushuaia is flat-out with Antarctic cruises at that time of the year and many people are struggling to get home to all parts of the world by Christmas. Not to mention that there must have been plenty of incoming people who missed their cruise. Dangerous to fly into USH on the day your cruise is due to leave, IMO.
I can’t complain too much, but dang! - those striking ATC people caused me to miss planned dinner at my favourite Parilla in BA. This was the thing that p!ssed me off the most! Anyone going to BA, I recommend don’t miss Cabana Las Lilas: Cabaña Las Lilas Restaurant. La parrilla argentina en Puerto Madero. Great steaks form their own estancias and a sensational wine list. It’s an easy walk from the city centre.
Anyway, I take four nights in less exciting SCL on the travel insurance, get out on Christmas Day and arrive in PER on the night of Boxing Day.
The first map schematically summarises the whole trip. Obviously all lines except that USH to Antarctica are air sectors. The second map shows the regional trip routes, again schematically as the flights don’t follow the Great Circle Route, and the third the Patagonia region in more detail. The border between Chile and Argentina is a bit complex. They are not the best of friends and the air sectors weave along the borders. The other maps show the cruise route and landing locations.
After overnight in SCL, it was a LAN flight to Punta Arenas, rent a car and head to Torres del Paine. The country in the south is mainly tussock grassland with extensive sheep-grazing enterprises. I didn’t really think to take photos, as it looked much like grazing land in S Island NZ and a bit like the highlands in NSW or central Tasmania. English names are quite common in the region because many of the early settlers were British graziers.
After exploring the Torres del Paine National Park, I dropped the car in Puerto Natales and took a bus to El Calafate in Argentina. El Calafate is quite touristy, but a nice enough town despite that, IMO. It’s the jumping-off point for the famous Perito Moreno glacier in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, accessible either by road or by day cruise-boat trips on the enormous Lago Argentino. I did both. Perito Moreno is one of the few glaciers in the world that is still advancing, or at least ‘stable’.
The LAN flight from SCL-PUQ passed along the Chile-Argentina border just to the west of the glacier and fortunately it was a clear day at that point and I was on the left side of the aircraft. The view of the glacier was sensational. The ice advances across the lake to collide with a peninsula and dam the lake. After time (some years), the water level on one side of the ice barrier rises until periodically it breaks through and the resultant ice bridge eventually collapses spectacularly.
From El Calafate, I took a bus to El Chalten, a cute little town that is the centre for access to Cerro Torre and Monte Fitz Roy in the northern part of Los Glaciares NP. Following that, I bussed back to El Calafate airport (FTE) for the flight to Ushuaia for an overnight stay before joining the Antarctic cruise. As with LAN within Chile, the Aerolineas Argentinas flight kept within Argentina, flying SE over Rio Gallegos before turning S to USH. No Great Circle Route stuff down there!
In hindsight, instead of flying SCL-PUQ, I would have gone SCL-xBuenos Aires-FTE and used El Calafate as a hub, rented a car there and used the vehicle to go to all destinations. I saw plenty of Argentinian-plated rental cars in Chile and spoke to people who said there was no problem going cross-border. The busses were fine, but I do like the independence of having my own vehicle!
The cruise departed Ushuaia in the early evening. It takes several hours to get out to the ocean along the Beagle Channel, under pilot control. Then it’s out into what can be some quite rough fun in the Drake Passage on the 3-night voyage to the Antarctic Peninsula. The first night was well above average rough and there were very few people at breakfast on the first morning. Fortunately, I don’t suffer from sea-sickness. The bacon and eggs went down a treat as the horizon went +/- 20-30 degrees!
There were plenty of activities during the day to fill in the time when only ocean (but plenty of spectacular pelagic birdlife) was outside. They had an excellent complement of people expert on the Antarctic (fascinating history and political background, the extensive scientific work done there, its wildlife, the ocean birdlife) who gave morning and afternoon talks. One was the retired deputy director of the British Antarctic Survey and who had represented Britain on the Antarctic Treaty. He knew the unique governance system for Antarctica and its history inside-out (more here for those interested: Antarctic Governance - Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition).
Two highly-accomplished wildlife photographers were also available to coach people with their photography. This was not really for me with my dinky pocket camera but there were plenty of passengers who had outlaid big bucks (maybe I should say even bigger big renminbi for some) for heavy-duty photographic artillery, and who definitely needed help in driving their gear.
There was also a gym and yoga classes each day. So there was plenty to do - as well as just relax and read a book (which suited me after some heavy-duty trekking in Patagonia in previous days), and fellow passengers to meet.
The passenger complement was just over 90. This was good because it is only permissible to land 100 people at a time on Antarctica, so it meant that everyone could go ashore at each stop. The ship was built as a Russian survey vessel. It was not a ‘luxury’ cruise-liner but it was certainly solid, very comfortable and the catering was very good. The smaller size, and bow and stern thrusters, was also an advantage in getting into smaller bays and channels where larger ships may not venture.
Once we reached Antarctica, the usual daily activity schedule was a Zodiac ride each morning and afternoon to either land on an island or, eventually, on the Peninsula proper or to cruise looking at the scenery or whales. For some of us, the Peninsula landing was our seventh continent visit experience.
OK, that’s a wrap of the overall trip. Now the pics will do most of the talking.
The route and destinations.
The sun doesn’t set on 1K at that time of the year
.
Setting eyes on Torres del Paine. Note the rental car: HiLux dual cab 2WD. Suggested to me but as it turned out, not necessary. You can see that the dirt roads are good. Guanacos are quite cute.
Cont...
The plan: PER-xSYD-SCL for nearly two weeks in Patagonia (Chile and Argentina), followed by a 10-night cruise from Ushuaia to the Antarctic Peninsula and return, flight to Buenos Aires on the day of return (20 December), overnight Buenos Aires before heading back via SCL and SYD to be home the night of 22 December in time for Christmas.
It went according to plan until arriving back in Ushuaia to be informed that an Argentine ATC strike had forced the cancellation of my USH-AEP flight. Flight out will be the next day - too late to make the SCL connection to my SYD flight.
Uh-oh. Christmas is fast approaching and QF doesn’t fly every day SCL-SYD. Phone QF. Next SCL-SYD flight is Monday 23 Dec. – but it’s full. Next one is Christmas Day and plenty of seats. Sweet!
While I would rather have had the enforced layover in Buenos Aires than in Santiago because IMO Buenos Aires offers a lot more, I think it’s prudent to get to SCL ASAP. Industrial unrest was a bit rife in Argentina in 2013, so I didn’t want to press my luck. LAN is brilliant at juggling me onto one flight EZE-SCL, then later another as undoing the ATC shambles in USH doesn’t quite go to plan and further within-day delays ensue. Ushuaia is flat-out with Antarctic cruises at that time of the year and many people are struggling to get home to all parts of the world by Christmas. Not to mention that there must have been plenty of incoming people who missed their cruise. Dangerous to fly into USH on the day your cruise is due to leave, IMO.
I can’t complain too much, but dang! - those striking ATC people caused me to miss planned dinner at my favourite Parilla in BA. This was the thing that p!ssed me off the most! Anyone going to BA, I recommend don’t miss Cabana Las Lilas: Cabaña Las Lilas Restaurant. La parrilla argentina en Puerto Madero. Great steaks form their own estancias and a sensational wine list. It’s an easy walk from the city centre.
Anyway, I take four nights in less exciting SCL on the travel insurance, get out on Christmas Day and arrive in PER on the night of Boxing Day.
The first map schematically summarises the whole trip. Obviously all lines except that USH to Antarctica are air sectors. The second map shows the regional trip routes, again schematically as the flights don’t follow the Great Circle Route, and the third the Patagonia region in more detail. The border between Chile and Argentina is a bit complex. They are not the best of friends and the air sectors weave along the borders. The other maps show the cruise route and landing locations.
After overnight in SCL, it was a LAN flight to Punta Arenas, rent a car and head to Torres del Paine. The country in the south is mainly tussock grassland with extensive sheep-grazing enterprises. I didn’t really think to take photos, as it looked much like grazing land in S Island NZ and a bit like the highlands in NSW or central Tasmania. English names are quite common in the region because many of the early settlers were British graziers.
After exploring the Torres del Paine National Park, I dropped the car in Puerto Natales and took a bus to El Calafate in Argentina. El Calafate is quite touristy, but a nice enough town despite that, IMO. It’s the jumping-off point for the famous Perito Moreno glacier in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, accessible either by road or by day cruise-boat trips on the enormous Lago Argentino. I did both. Perito Moreno is one of the few glaciers in the world that is still advancing, or at least ‘stable’.
The LAN flight from SCL-PUQ passed along the Chile-Argentina border just to the west of the glacier and fortunately it was a clear day at that point and I was on the left side of the aircraft. The view of the glacier was sensational. The ice advances across the lake to collide with a peninsula and dam the lake. After time (some years), the water level on one side of the ice barrier rises until periodically it breaks through and the resultant ice bridge eventually collapses spectacularly.
From El Calafate, I took a bus to El Chalten, a cute little town that is the centre for access to Cerro Torre and Monte Fitz Roy in the northern part of Los Glaciares NP. Following that, I bussed back to El Calafate airport (FTE) for the flight to Ushuaia for an overnight stay before joining the Antarctic cruise. As with LAN within Chile, the Aerolineas Argentinas flight kept within Argentina, flying SE over Rio Gallegos before turning S to USH. No Great Circle Route stuff down there!
In hindsight, instead of flying SCL-PUQ, I would have gone SCL-xBuenos Aires-FTE and used El Calafate as a hub, rented a car there and used the vehicle to go to all destinations. I saw plenty of Argentinian-plated rental cars in Chile and spoke to people who said there was no problem going cross-border. The busses were fine, but I do like the independence of having my own vehicle!
The cruise departed Ushuaia in the early evening. It takes several hours to get out to the ocean along the Beagle Channel, under pilot control. Then it’s out into what can be some quite rough fun in the Drake Passage on the 3-night voyage to the Antarctic Peninsula. The first night was well above average rough and there were very few people at breakfast on the first morning. Fortunately, I don’t suffer from sea-sickness. The bacon and eggs went down a treat as the horizon went +/- 20-30 degrees!
There were plenty of activities during the day to fill in the time when only ocean (but plenty of spectacular pelagic birdlife) was outside. They had an excellent complement of people expert on the Antarctic (fascinating history and political background, the extensive scientific work done there, its wildlife, the ocean birdlife) who gave morning and afternoon talks. One was the retired deputy director of the British Antarctic Survey and who had represented Britain on the Antarctic Treaty. He knew the unique governance system for Antarctica and its history inside-out (more here for those interested: Antarctic Governance - Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition).
Two highly-accomplished wildlife photographers were also available to coach people with their photography. This was not really for me with my dinky pocket camera but there were plenty of passengers who had outlaid big bucks (maybe I should say even bigger big renminbi for some) for heavy-duty photographic artillery, and who definitely needed help in driving their gear.
There was also a gym and yoga classes each day. So there was plenty to do - as well as just relax and read a book (which suited me after some heavy-duty trekking in Patagonia in previous days), and fellow passengers to meet.
The passenger complement was just over 90. This was good because it is only permissible to land 100 people at a time on Antarctica, so it meant that everyone could go ashore at each stop. The ship was built as a Russian survey vessel. It was not a ‘luxury’ cruise-liner but it was certainly solid, very comfortable and the catering was very good. The smaller size, and bow and stern thrusters, was also an advantage in getting into smaller bays and channels where larger ships may not venture.
Once we reached Antarctica, the usual daily activity schedule was a Zodiac ride each morning and afternoon to either land on an island or, eventually, on the Peninsula proper or to cruise looking at the scenery or whales. For some of us, the Peninsula landing was our seventh continent visit experience.
OK, that’s a wrap of the overall trip. Now the pics will do most of the talking.
The route and destinations.
The sun doesn’t set on 1K at that time of the year
.Setting eyes on Torres del Paine. Note the rental car: HiLux dual cab 2WD. Suggested to me but as it turned out, not necessary. You can see that the dirt roads are good. Guanacos are quite cute.
Cont...
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