Yesterday was a cruising day – timing was good. I stayed in with a cold, watched the lectures from the cabin and was good to go on the 8th.
The backstory on this nature reserve is pretty interesting. It’s located almost at the southernmost point of Chile. There used to be a logging operation, they went bankrupt, Goldman-Sachs assumed the debt and then donated the land to the Wildlife Conservation Society. It’s a private park of about 105 square miles and we had a pre-trip talk by the director, Melissa Carmody, who ended up marrying one of the naturalists, who’s with us on this trip, on a Lindblad ship. She and their 7 year old son were with us on today’s hike. It was a pretty mucky hike, but no elevation gain. We passed by elephant seals and walked to a lovely waterfall. The only downside is that for some reason of current and wind, this is the first place we’ve been with a considerable amount of plastic. Much of it is from the fishing boats who don’t have the room to store their trash after having been at sea for 3 months. Melissa said she’s been working with them but it’s slow going.
View from our balcony after we got back and got cleaned up:
