Land of the Giants - Terra del Fuego
Last night as we passed out the Magellan Strait we had the first taste of the ferocity of the Southern Pacific Ocean. Although we were still inside the maze of islands, known as Tierra del Fuego. Seventy knots of wind had the Via Australis listing a fair few degrees. Horizontal snow and a pretty lumpy sea state required extreme caution. All of the watertight doors between decks were sealed but the ship handled the storm well and this morning, the storm has passed. To be honest, we pulled the pin at the bar, enjoying some excellent Argentinean Malbec, as the savage storm built up in the strait. Our course was west, beating into the teeth of the tempest, as we had to go around the glacial field which covers this area and the mountains, which reach over 2000 metres in height.
For now the weather is good but conditions change here rapidly. We are now well passed 54ยบ south and the air temperature outside is barely above freezing, snow flurries are now virtually continuous. The landscape is becoming more barren and wildlife much more scarce.
The indigenous population of Tierra del Fuego has been virtually wiped-out, only about 12 people are left. But before Magellan, there were about 20,000 people living in this region. They had probably migrated here from the land to the north, searching for prey. They lived a nomadic lifestyle, travelling alongside prey living out of tents during the summer, before holding up in more substantial shelters in winter, covered in skins from the main diet of lamas. The origins of the name – Patagonia are believed to stem from the meaning 'big feet' and referred to the size of the people. Studies suggest that the Patagonian Indians average height was 40 centimetres more than the rest of the South American Indians.
Terra del Fuego, as this area is known was charted during The Beagle's second exploration but the area was first 'discovered' by Magellan for the Spanish in the early part of the 16th century. Sir Frances Drake passed through the Magellan Strait to become the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe in the Golden Hind in the late 16th century. As he passed through to the Pacific, a terrific storm blew them south and he discovered the ocean, now called the Southern Ocean.
But the Spanish, who charged a handsome levy, to pass through from the Atlantic to the Pacific, controlled the Magellan Strait. William Skelton and Jacob Lemaire decided that they did not want to pay and successfully opened up the route around Cape Horn and named it after the Dutch town in Friesland, called Hoorn.
Our next stop was the Pia Glacier in The Beagle Channel, which is in excess of 50 metres thick and moves at more than 14 metres per day. The Pia Glacier is just a few miles from the most southerly city in the world, Ushuaia. Fortunately we got a break in the weather to witness this marvelous glacier.
