Seno Agostini and Seno Hyatt

On Jan 30, for seemingly the first time during this trip, we experienced the wild elements for which this part of the world is notorious. Welcome to Seno Agostini.

The morning sun sneaks through the clouds in Patagonia.

The scout boats hit the water as gusts of wind howled down the fjord. You can soak in the scene in the video below.

After much consideration, National Geographic Resolution sent Ice Pilot Johan Bernekorn to map the depths of these uncharted waters with the bathymetric-sounding Zodiac. The work of the navigation crew had mapped this inlet and excursion for future cruises. This part was cool for us to learn. With an infinite number of inlets and fjords in Patagonia, each journey was truly unique in its set of landings.

Once this new, safe path was set, Johan led the ship into the protective bay of Ensenada Kahn, and we were able to stretch our legs onshore. We bushwhacked through the brilliant green forest, muskeg, and cobbled beach. The mapping exercise opened the door for our expedition to enjoy this lush space, and the scouting efforts added to Lindblad's excursion database.

Yes, in fact we do enjoy long walks on the beach!

This was our first landing in Patagonia since Ushuaia. As we were now sailing northward, we enjoyed an increasing variety of plant life and color. Even the mussel shells on the beach were a brilliant purple.

We spent the afternoon in Seno Hyatt, making quite a splash with a Zodiac cruise, braving the weather to closely observe the tidewater glacier and scenery. In this sound, we rolled the dice a little bit to brave major wind gusts, a steady rain, and very thick sea ice. Deep in the ice, a few elephant seals were spotted but we were not able to navigate to clear enough spot to get a clear view. In the video below you can hear the wind, see the chop on the water and get an idea of how thick the ice was. We had to stay on the peripheral so as not to jam the Zodiac motors with ice chunks. Too bad we couldn't get closer to the glacier and seals, but the views were still second to none.

The glacier at Seno Hyatt on the other hand, was absolutely massive and the view was worth the choppy boat ride. Very consistently during this excursion, we heard calving (the natural breakup of the glacier as it collapses piece by piece under its own weight). In the distance it would look like a miniature avalanche faintly in the distance.

After a few attempts to change views and navigate the sea ice, moving closer to the glacier just wasn't going to work today. It's all good though, and we pivoted in the sound to take in several waterfalls.

Parallel to one of the waterfalls was a small cave, where we decided to take a peek. We met a small friend there gathering some food, it was a remarkable interaction that allowed us to exercise some new photography skill 😁. I love this little bird. I think it's a grey-flanked Cinclodes but could be wrong, if you know - let us know!

We loved the contrast between the morning and afternoon activities. The expedition team always did an awesome job of finding fun ways to see and experience the terrain.