In Joshua Slocums book “ alone around the world “ he recounts his trip though Tierra del Fuego,( land of fire), on the passage founded by Magellan. On Slocum’s 2 month journey, or should I say battle through the straits, he tells of many hardships and adventures he had in one of the harshest places on earth. Everything from being chased by Indians to being blown away from his anchorage in the middle of the night by the williwaws , the savage winds that blow at gale force though out the region. From February to April of 1896 Joshua tells of a bleak and barbaric world inhabited by marauding Indians and rugged immigrants.

These were not the tales of a paradise or a place of great riches. Yet, since I was a teenager it has always sparked my imagination. I have wanted to see this land of extremes for myself. To see the beauty of this bleak world. Where few people had ever been and were so many adventures ands sailors of old had lost their lives. Now I’ve been given the chance to explore this wondrous land. Starting with Sandy Point known as Punta Arenas today. Joshua Slocums first stop after entering the Straits of Magellan.

On July 11th 2008, I finally arrived in Punta Arenas or just PA to everybody that works here. And it was just a bleak and dreary as I had imagined. Slocum did a good job describing this place. The airport is a fair ways out of town so the ride into town was a chance to see some of the landscape. I was starting to have bad feelings about wanting to be here. Rainy , foggy, cold what was I thinking. But once we got into town it all changed. I was dropped off at my hotel down town at about 3:30pm. That meant I had about an hour of sun light left. The sun sets early at this time of year at the bottom of the world.

I was exhausted after non-stop travel for what seemed like a week but was actually about 2½ days. It seemed that the only flight that actually went as it was scheduled was the flight from Dallas to Denver. It all went down hill after that. The flight from Denver back to Dallas for my connection to Santiago Chile was cancelled all together. They booked me another flight that arrived 15 minutes before my Santiago flight departed. Yes I ran like the wind as soon as the doors opened on my plane from Denver. It wasn’t much fun at all. Then of course my flight to Santiago didn’t take off on time, it just sat at the gate for hours it seemed. I was hoping to get some much needed sleep on this flight, NOT. I had a full plane, so there was no where to stretch out. On top of that my seat was up against a bulk head so it didn’t even recline. So once again a long miserable flight.

We arrived into Santiago at about 6:45. It was truly amazing. The Andes snow capped peaks on one side and the coastal mountains all around. It looked as if Santiago was built in a valley. I don’t know for sure there was fog in the valley and I couldn’t actually see the city until we came down through the fog and low-and-behold there was the run way. And I’m not talking being able to see the whole runway . I ‘m saying we came out of the fog and touched down. Pretty cool flying.

Once on the ground I had a person from the company expedite going through custom , which was really nice. There was about 8 of us traveling to Palmer Station on this same flight. I was the only Raytheon employee. The others were all scientist ,1 from France. They were all Micro biologist. They turned out to be a great bunch of people. They accepted me as one of their own and even asked for help from me on some of there projects. It seems they need a lot of plumbing to collect there samples. More on that as we get to it in the weeks ahead.

We left Santiago and flew on to PA aboard a local carrier . That was miserable also. Packed plane , screaming kids and everybody in the isle wondering about.

So , finally I at my a hotel. The group decided to meet for drinks and then dinner. I knew that after my shower if I even looked at the bed I would be out and miss dinner, so camera in hand ,I started walking and exploring the city. The first thing that struck me was how much this place reminded me of Spain. The architecture, the city lay out , the cobble stone streets, the people. I fell in love with PA.

Of course we stayed out way to late and drank to much trying to unwind from the flights. The next morning we were issued our equipment and checked in aboard are boat the Lawrence M. Gould (the LMG as referred to by every one here). We were scheduled to depart at 8am . Going out on the tide.

We didn’t actually leave until about 3:30p because of some equipment that missed it’s flight. But we had a beautiful day in port. The sun actually shined down on us. Apparently that doesn’t happen much, And I got to walk around town some more . This delay wasn’t a bad thing.

Finally at 3:30 we departed the world and started our trek South. Because we left so late in the evening , we didn’t get to see much of the Straights of Magellan. And I missed some key land marks that I had wanted to see, like Cape Virgins. This is where the straights open up to the Atlantic ocean. By the time we woke the next morning we were in the Atlantic heading south down the coast. We could see Terra del Fuego from a distance. What a rugged land that looks to be. I always thought it was flat lands, but isn’t. It has many high jagged peaks. But it was bleak, I don’t think there was a tree one. At least from my vantage point. The Captain of the ship would call down to the day room, where we all were hanging out , when ever there was something to see, like Dolphins or Albatross. You can get excited about anything out here. We all would run for are coats and cameras and head outside . We were playing the tourist part pretty good.

On our second night out we” rounded the Horn“. Again something I wanted to see but didn’t. We started our trip through Drakes Passage. The roughest seas in the world. We got lucky and the weather was pretty good. Only 8 to 10 foot swells and 20 knot winds. It had the boat rocking pretty good for about 24 hours. This part of the trip was just a matter of keeping from falling down and busting your head open. It was to cold out side to spend any time on deck and there was no visitors to photograph. We just stayed in bed or in a recliner in the dayroom and read books. And most importantly we ate. Life revolved around breakfast , lunch , and dinner almost as soon as we left the docks in PA. It was kind of funny, we were like a pack of trained dogs , the bell rang and we were instantly ravenous and heading for the Galley. Even those who were sea sick. People can be so funny sometimes. It’s not like we were

doing work or anything that actually would build an appetite. We ate good and often.

Third day at sea and once again the boat had calmed down to a nice gentle rock. The Drakes Passage has calmed down to a glassy sea. The crew call this condition the Drake Lake. It doesn’t happen often they say. During the night we passed into the Bellinghuasen sea. This is the bottom of the Drake below S60 deg. mark. There is still 24 hours left in the journey to Palmer Station.

The morning sun rise brought many new surprises. There was a full moon rising on one side of the ship and the sun rising on the other, Smith island off our bow, and fields of pancake ice all around us. We also had some new visitors, the Cape Petrils. They danced around the boat fishing in our wake. A constant source of movement around the boat. And a constant source of frustration when it came to photographing them. It was a nice change to the cheerless day before.

As the day went on we slowly moved closer to Smith Island and watched as a storm front was building south of us. We were heading right in to it. We had seal to watch and a few different type of Petrils gliding around. And the smooth rock of the boat over the placid sea.

It’s now 11:30pm I’ve just returned from the bridge of the ship where I have been for the last 2 hours. We are in the ice now , big ice. Its dark out but with the big spot lights on the ship we can see good. Amazing, beautiful, like nothing I ever seen. I sat there with the first mate, listening to Phill Collins and Frank Sinatra playing on the stereo in total awe. We live in an amazing world. And as Frank Sinatra’s “ I did it my way” played I had to smile a big smile. A lot of people have asked me why I wanted to do this and I guess I had some good reasons but that song summed it all up into a feeling in side me that I can’t describe. It was one of those moments when it seems that all that you are, all that you want to be comes together just for an instant. A warm moment that builds inside you then burst out in a smile that run bone deep.

Now I’m off to bed. Tomorrow’s the big day. We should get into Palmer around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. This Journey’s finally coming to and end, or maybe this is just the beginning.

Up a 5am this morning. Today is the big day. We are in a winter wonderland. A land of ice. It’s even been snowing a little. By 10 am it’s finally light enough to take pictures. We have a pretty good amount of fog so visibility is only a few miles ( Yesterday when we first saw Smith Island it was 75 miles away and clear as a bell.) There was no sunrise this morning. Everybody on board is pretty excited about getting to station and finally having something to do. I don’t know what it is about being on this ship but I’m starving all the time. I just need to get off here and start burning some calories. It’s the cold I think. The Temperature for the last 2 days has been in the low 20’s. It has dropped into the teen’s in the last hour or so. That’s pretty cold for a Texas boy. We have a ETA of about 4 pm at Palmer. So I don’t think we will be off loading the ship today.

It’s hard to believe that I started this trip 8 day’s ago. And finally a week and a day later I’m here. I’m at the bottom of the world. And yes I’m very cold. I probably won’t warm up again until I get back to Texas. Enjoy the Pictures.

Note: Because of the short band width of the internet here it may take me a while to get all my pics I want up on the site. So check often, I got some amazing photos to show you all. National Geographic here I come.Lol