Jim Schroder's Travel

Home
Trips

Select Page

Chile and Easter Island

HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, one of more than 100 ships of this class. The vessel was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames.

We boarded the MS Skorpios III, our home for three nights as we cruise the Chilean fjords. This family owned vessel is uniquely designed with a reinforced hull for navigating ice and a small size for treading through the narrow fjords and bays.

Los Flamencos National Reserve is a nature reserve located in the commune of San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta Region of northern Chile. The reserve covers a total area of 180,000 acres in the Central Andean dry puna eco region and consists of seven separate sections.

This reserve, created in 1990, consists of seven areas located in the town of San Pedro de Atacama. Each one of them has a different geography, flora, fauna and hydrography.

Valle de la Luna proves aptly named—very much a "Moon Valley" in its extraterrestrial appearance, all cracked earth and unfriendly terrain, pillars of salt torturing the thirsty soil. Valle de la Muerte is also appropriately christened—"Death Valley"

Tiny brine shrimp are super abundant in these waters! It's by eating these critters that the pink Chilean flamingos are able to maintain their definitive pink color,

More graffiti on buildings.. painted sideways

Our wait staff. Great service

The main collection of the museum is the full-size replicas of historic ships on display along the Straits of Magellan.

El Tatio lies at the western foot of a series of strato volcanoes which run along the border between Chile and Bolivia. This series of volcanoes is part of the Central Volcanic Zone, one of several volcanic belts in the Andes, and there are no recorded historical eruptions at the Tatio volcanoes.

El Tatio is also part of the Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex, a system of large calderas and associated ignimbrites which have been the sources of supereruptions. Some of these calderas may be the source of heat for the El Tatio geothermal system.

El Tatio itself is a geothermal field with many geysers, hot springs, and associated sinter deposits. These hot springs eventually form the Rio Salado, a major tributary of the Rio Loa river, and a major source of arsenic pollution in the river. The vents are sites of populations of extremophile microorganisms and have been studied as analogs for the early Earth and possible past life on Mars.

Presently, the field is a major tourism destination in northern Chile. It was prospected over the last century for the potential of geothermal power production, but such a project was discontinued after a major incident in 2009.

Street art.. graffiti

We depart Puerto Natales and sail through the Kirke Narrows toward Bernardo O"Higgins National Park, home to the furthest flows of the massive Southern Patagonian Ice Field.

The museum is privately owned. The museum's goal is to be interactive and offer its visitors the experience of interacting with replicas of the ships that contributed to the discovery of the area, colonization of the territory, or have a special and historic heritage significance for the Magallanes Region of Chile. The replicas were built using traditional shipbuilding techniques.

Early morning breakfast.... snacks really.

[Show slideshow]

◄ 1 ... 15 16 17 ... 30 ►

© 2025 Jim Schroder