📍Isla de Los Estados (Staten Island), Argentina

Mother Nature has not quite been our friend since the beginning of our expedition. Severe weather conditions have delayed our voyage through the Beagle Channel and thus delayed our arrival to Isla de Los Estados. In order to head from the Beagle Channel to Isla de Los Estados we headed towards open water. I’m not sure I had a clear understanding of “open water” until last night. I woke up at 2:30 am (just like everyone else on board) to things sliding across my cabin. The door to my closet, which I forgot to lock, was sliding back and forth, back and forth as the boat swayed (this sounds too gentle for what was happening) all night long. When I chatted with the captain the next morning he responded with a huge smile, “9 feet swells. Just a little bit.” According to the Douglas Sea Scale, 9 feet swells are considered phenomenal. I had considered heading out of my cabin to view the swells as I knew they must look truly magnificent. To put it into perspective, it felt like I was on the pirate ship ride at Canobie Lake Park (but the Cedar Point version) and you can't get ooff. Spoiler alert on the way back we reached 12-14 feet swells.

View of the National Geographic Explorer from the Lighthouse at the End of the World

After our eventful night at sea, we made it to Isla de Los Estados and finally took our first zodiac ride to shore. We have special permission to visit Isla de Los Estados which in a conservation effort by Argentina has largely been off-limits to travelers since 1923. It is barely touched and only in recent years has it been visited by a few scientists and the staff of the tiny naval observatory. It’s so remote there is not even a Google Earth view for it. A fact my students could not believe. Google is everywhere, right?

After a short hike, we saw the replica of the Lighthouse at the End of the World which was the one inspired by the Jules Verne novel. We walked in the southern beech forests and experienced the four seasons in a matter of minutes. The weather and wind here are no joke. "Patagonian Weather" truly is its own thing. Do not be fooled by these sunny pictures, we were snowed on and even pelted with hail numerous times.

After our hike, we headed back to the National Geographic Explorer for lunch and our ship headed to another location on the island. For our second landing on Isla de Los Estados, our expedition leader said there was a king penguin waiting to greet us on the beach. We all thought he was joking given it was unclear whether we would see a king penguin this expedition (although I will admit I was really really really hoping too). Seriously, we asked him if there was actually a king penguin statue and some didn’t even bring their cameras out on the zodiac. Sidenote if you are ever on an expedition the motto is definitely, “Always be prepared”. Sure enough, as we zodiaced to shore there he was!

Right 📸 credit: Andy Coleman (our National Geographic photograph expert on board) 

After saying a quick hello, we hiked across the island from bay to bay. Again we experienced a multitude of seasons in a matter of minutes. When our zodiac ship landed we were greeted not only by the king penguin but also by the sun. We hiked and viewed beech trees, tree avalanches, and tons of moss (more on all of these later when I have more time). By the time we reached the other bay we had hail, snow, and wind squalls that all you could do was turn your back to and wait it out. It truly was a magical experience.

PS posts are slightly delayed due to limited wifi which is struggling to upload photos. Check out @explorewithmissklipfel on Instagram for more updates.