The journey through the fjords of Chilean Patagonia
A four day boat ride through a diverse landscape starting in puerto montt, a harbour town at the beginning of Patagonia where sea lions laze their days away on buoys.
After exiting the harbour of puerto montt we met the ocean, baby sea lions playing and even a blue whale or two. Tons of southern fulmas and petrels and albatrosses. The weather has been pretty horrid - misty all day long, rainy and around 5 degrees but we've been lucky with the swells which haven't passed four metres.
We then moved towards the channel systems of the fjords. Here we're surrounded by sharp-cliffed islands with waterfalls from the peaks right into then channel, leading to small rocks, home to a penguin colony or southern fulmas, among other wildlife.
The narrow English Channel includes a an old shipwreck. When you think of shipwrecks you would generally think the boat was sunken, but in this case the boat got stuck on a rock and sits perfectly perched on the water as if it is anchored. Spooky. On either side the water is over 1300m deep.
With the weather being so miserable, we've had extra time to get to know our shipmates, many of whom are also traveling for months at a time so we trade tips and stories. There's also a science expedition team on board, looking at the habitat of species living at up to thirty metre depths. It was great to have them aboard - we learnt a whole lot!
For instance, the top 5-8m layer of water if the fjords is fresh (7000 mm of rain per year), and from 15-20m it is salty, with a mixed intermediate layer in the middle. The salty layer is a biological hotspot with lots of new species of invertebrates, including cold water coral, and tube worms that are only found in deep sea areas >1000m elsewhere. While there are some robot photos from 200m deep showing new species, there are no samples and no one has ever gone deeper. There is a large threat from salmon farms as well as general litter, which has apparently already driven some blue whales away.
We stopped outside of puerto Eden, the only place along the fjord that is inhabited, with a total population of 90 people. The port is too small for our ferry so the boats come to us. While more cargo and people are loaded, a pod of dolphins play in front of the boat for us. Distinctive from the bottled nose dolphins we{re used to, these guys have beautiful white bellies with grey back. As we leave puerto eden, two baby sea lions jump playfully right next to the boat, trying to chase the white wash. The weather doesn't get these little pups down!
After exiting the harbour of puerto montt we met the ocean, baby sea lions playing and even a blue whale or two. Tons of southern fulmas and petrels and albatrosses. The weather has been pretty horrid - misty all day long, rainy and around 5 degrees but we've been lucky with the swells which haven't passed four metres.
We then moved towards the channel systems of the fjords. Here we're surrounded by sharp-cliffed islands with waterfalls from the peaks right into then channel, leading to small rocks, home to a penguin colony or southern fulmas, among other wildlife.
The narrow English Channel includes a an old shipwreck. When you think of shipwrecks you would generally think the boat was sunken, but in this case the boat got stuck on a rock and sits perfectly perched on the water as if it is anchored. Spooky. On either side the water is over 1300m deep.
With the weather being so miserable, we've had extra time to get to know our shipmates, many of whom are also traveling for months at a time so we trade tips and stories. There's also a science expedition team on board, looking at the habitat of species living at up to thirty metre depths. It was great to have them aboard - we learnt a whole lot!
For instance, the top 5-8m layer of water if the fjords is fresh (7000 mm of rain per year), and from 15-20m it is salty, with a mixed intermediate layer in the middle. The salty layer is a biological hotspot with lots of new species of invertebrates, including cold water coral, and tube worms that are only found in deep sea areas >1000m elsewhere. While there are some robot photos from 200m deep showing new species, there are no samples and no one has ever gone deeper. There is a large threat from salmon farms as well as general litter, which has apparently already driven some blue whales away.
We stopped outside of puerto Eden, the only place along the fjord that is inhabited, with a total population of 90 people. The port is too small for our ferry so the boats come to us. While more cargo and people are loaded, a pod of dolphins play in front of the boat for us. Distinctive from the bottled nose dolphins we{re used to, these guys have beautiful white bellies with grey back. As we leave puerto eden, two baby sea lions jump playfully right next to the boat, trying to chase the white wash. The weather doesn't get these little pups down!
posted by sam at 4:36 PM
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