Karukinka Natural Park

On the morning of Jan 31, we visited Karukinka Natural Park. I think this was one of our favorite excursions on land. It was also the best example of commitment and flexibility of the crew to maximize the experience of the trip.

Good morning and welcome to Karukinka Natural Park! Now let's get on a zodiac and go onshore!

From our previous posts, we frequently mention the conscious navigation of the ship to sweet spots where there is favorable weather. As the channels in Patagonia narrowed and our time remaining shrank, there were less nautical options. In order to make the best adventure, we would need to be flexible in other ways.

We were on a course for Karukinka Natural Park the night of Jan 30th with a forecast on January 31st to become increasingly windy (to the point whereby late morning the projected gusts could easily flip a Zodiac raft). Crew and passengers were game for the adventure and on this day the wake-up call was nice and early. We would need to gear-up, take the long Zodiac ride from the ship in calmer waters, make land, enjoy our few miles hike, and make it back to the Resolution before the winds could overwhelm us. I think we were speeding on a Zodiac not long after 7am that day.

Note the stream - 1 minute calm

The next you see the wind on the water

The expedition team carefully scouted our walking route over the marshy grasslands at the end of the bay, widely skirting the numerous gigantic elephant seals resting tranquility in the vegetation. They lie so still that it is easy to mistake a seal for a smooth glaciated outcrop — until the seal raises its giant head to let out a guttural roar.

It's Friday morning. All she wanted to do was sleep in and all these weirdos with orange parkas showed up on her beach. Sometimes an elephant seal just can't catch a break.

We caught some spectacular images on our ride to shore and the sun welcomed us upon our landing.

Morning cloud catching the cliffs

A sunny welcome

While we're not shy to share the beauty of the places we see, there is an unfortunate reality we have to show as well. The landing in Karukinka is in an inlet where the current funnels garbage from the sea. This was a disconcerting reminder of the impact we have on our planet, as much of the plastic is related to bait bags from local fisheries. Lindblad partners with local authorities to do frequent beach clean ups to help, but the root cause will only be addressed by rethinking our fishing practices.

Stark contrast between the natural beauty and plastic mess. I keep this picture as a reminder to think about how important the impacts of my decisions (no matter how small) are.

Switching gears, there was an abundance of pristine landscape to absorb. We made our way through the forest to a stunning waterfall cascading from high cliffs above. In the days prior we had made it to land and enjoyed beaches, this landing had us in the thickest forest we'd been in for a while. It was a luxury to be insulated from the wind by the thick covering of this South American beech species.

After a stretch of the legs and gaining elevation for a better view of the waterfall, it was time to start heading back. We did have a forecast for strong wind gusts that we had to avoid. So we navigated back across the peninsula.

We accelerated the return hike to beat the impending windstorm. Even at a faster pace, you still do have to stop and soak it all in one last time :).

We came across two more seals napping when we walked back to the shore. We were careful not to disturb our gracious hosts.

Two elephant seals resting at Karukinka

Look at the trees on the left and how the wind has shaped them over time.

Back to the beach and into the zodiacs! The pilots stepped on it to get us back to the ship. The ride was getting gusty and we hit some massive chops and bumps on the way back. Remarkably, we didn't get soaked by the sea water. (At least not this morning.) As we loaded into our raft to head back to the ship, a seal bid us a farewell.

Finally, some peace and quiet.

Back to the ship, just in time as the storm came rolling in. A well-timed hike, if we were 30-60 minutes later, I'm not sure we would have been able to have such a rich experience on this excursion.

The storm arrives...