📍Ainsworth Bay, Chilean Fjords

Yesterday afternoon we explored Ainsworth Bay, another location in the never-ending maze of the Chilean Fjords. We zodiaced from ship to shore through icy water filled with glaciers and icebergs. We landed on a sandy beach with the Andes and numerous glaciers surrounding us. Truly I don't think I will ever get sick of glaciers, icebergs, or the Andes. As the saying goes these photos don't even do it justice. I find myself numerous times throughout the day just in awe that I get to experience the beauty of this world and contemplating how I can even bring this feeling back to my students. 

At the start of the hike, we made our way to a beautiful weeping willow wall. We stopped for a moment to just listen to the dripping water from the mountains. 

During our hike, we saw the devastation the North American beavers are doing to the beech trees in Patagonia. In 1946, the Argentinian government brought 30 North American beavers to Patagonia in a failed attempt to start a fur trade. In this area, the beavers have no natural predators so they continue to destroy the forests with no one stopping or slowing them down. The Chilean government now estimates that there are more than 100,000 in Chile alone. The government is hunting and trapping them but the beavers have figured out how to set off the snares by placing sticks in them. Not only are they turning forests into wetlands but by flooding the area it causes the CO2 that was trapped in the ground to be released. Another very harmful thing for the environment. This is truly a problem that both governments are working together to try and solve.

As we walked through this area you could not only see the woodchips but smell them too. It looked and smelled like a human had recently used a machine to freshly make woodchips. The devastation to this area by these beavers was evident. 

Left 📸: Southern Cross Right 📸 Jupiter (click to enlarge) 

That evening back onboard, the National Geographic Explorer, we watched the sunset and got a lesson from naturalist Dan on how to navigate by the southern stars. We were able to spot the Southern Cross, Jupiter, and Saturn. It’s interesting to be in the Southern Hemisphere as there are different star groups that we don’t see up north.