Spring Moon of the Southern Cross
We reached 45 degrees latitude this morning and later I will post pictures of what the world looks like in western South America at our latitude. I can’t right now because I didn’t bring good photo editing software along.
At the moment we head west, out of the fjords through the Darwin Channel because the section of the fjords below us end in a long, thick peninsula so we have to go back into the Pacific proper, sail further south, then we can reenter the fjords.
When we woke up, around 7:00 mountainous islands rose from either side of the ship, covered in trees and undergrowth. I’ve not seen any sign of inhabitation since early last night. From time to time small inlets create sheltered harbors and as we left the Channel Isla Rivero showed a thick line of water separating it from the western most island at this point, Isla Garrido.
Robinson Crusoe’s island, I forgot to mention, was off to our west by about 3 degrees longitude, roughly around Valparaiso. That was in an area of considerable population relative to these stark and lonely rocks. Darwin called them a green desert.
In Puerto Montt we picked up a Chilean pilot who will be with us well into Tierra Del Fuego. Since the depth of the fjords rose to 170 feet at one point and the fjords become narrow, it seems like a good precaution.
After 3 weeks of encountering new cultures and nations, the fjords have refreshed me, cleansed the mental palate.
Our journey will now take us along the western face of the fjords until we hit Peninsula Arenas.
As we have gotten further out of the Darwin Channel, the swells have increased and the prow of the ship rises and falls, sometimes shuddering as it comes into contact with the water after rising over a swell. At the very beginning of the cruise similar swells sent my stomach into nausea land, now I have my sea ears and my body sees this as understandable motion rather than a violation of the rules of a stable earth.
The fjords have waters of different colors, shifting from sky blue to a light dark green. This reflects glacial melt and discharge into the channels of large amounts of cold fresh water. The melt has increased of late and a time when this phenomenon no longer exists may come.
This trip and who knows how many others was partly influenced by a desire to see the world as it soon shall have been. Journeys before the ecoalypse.
