Where to go... Straits of Magellan

[bazzasoft]

It's a bit of a climb to the top of the lighthouse tower.

3013 dungeness baliza.jpg

Fantastic photos, is that your new truck ?
Baz

[bazzasoft]

is that your new truck ?
Baz

Ya po. 2006 Toyota Hilux diesel 4x4. A zona franca vehicle, with red plate and NO LIBERADO on the antecedentes record.
----------------

Why am I not surprised ?
Baz

[bazzasoft]

Can somebody please help me with a copy of the original post which seems to have vanished into thin air.
It was a subject which I found very interesting but didn't have time to read closely.
I assumed I would be able to come back and read it at my liesure.
I have a friend who has recently done a similar trip and I would like to compare the experiences of two very different people.
Cheerz,
Baz

[ryanar]

You should know by now that anything written by any of Lazarus' incarnations runs the risk of vaporising once he reaches around 400 posts.

If only Admin would just delete the offending posts that tipped him over the edge and leave the rest of the useful/interesting ones...

[sqcpcg]

I have seen many people chastized for asking questions that have supposedly
been asked and answered many times before, however when I have searched
for info of interest, I find that many threads have been cratered by the banishment
process, making some of the damaged threads utterly useless as sources of information.

[bazzasoft]

I have managed to save one photograph from the initial report.
It is of the lighthouse at Punta Dungeness, designed by Scottish engineer George Henry Slight.
Slight was buried at the main cemetery in Santiago.
If I could work out how to include the photo here I would do it but I have reached the limit of my technical prowess !!
The Chilean Navy has honoured him by the naming of one of their rescue ships after him.
There are some pictures here http://base.mforos.com/730156/3544690-b ... ht-brs-63/
Cheerz,
Baz

[bazzasoft]

Another picture and description saved - enjoy !!

The first image is of two wrecks on the beach at San Gregorio, along the Straits of Magellan. The wreck that is closer is the Ambassador,
launched in London in 1869. A clipper ship built for trade between the UK and the Orient, it was constructed with a steel frame with wood
plank hull, similar to the famous cutter “Cutty Sark.” Around 1895 the Ambassador was damaged near the Falkland Islands and was run
aground there. It was later sold and towed to Punta Arenas, where it served as a “ponton” or storage vessel for 40 years. It was used by
the Braun-Menendez consortium as a warehouse, for wool and other materials. Rather than being dismantled and sold for scrap it was
taken to the bay at San Gregorio and run aground.

The wreck behind the Ambassador in this picture is the Amadeo. This was the first steam-powered ship registered with the port of Punta
Arenas. It was the property of José Menéndez, who was originally from Avila in Asturias (Spain). Menéndez gave his ships names beginning
with “A” – besides the Amadeo were the Austral, Alfonso, Antártico, etc. It was the Amadeo that was used to start regular steam ship
services in southernmost Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, beginning in 1892. In addition to passenger and cargo services it was also
employed in several rescue and salvage operations. The Amadeo was deliberately run aground next to the Ambassador in the bay in front of
San Gregorio in 1932. It is now a Chilean national monument.



Baz

[bazzasoft]

A little bit more information - hope you find it interesting:-

This is the Chilean Navy lighthouse at Punta Delgada, a little over 100 miles from Punta Arenas. The location also serves as the
continental side ferry terminal for the “First Narrows” crossing of the Straits of Magellan. It is here that the majority of Argentine
truck traffic passes on its way to their side of the island, after passing through Chilean territory. The need to cross Chile in order
to reach Argentine Tierra del Fuego has been a political issue for many years and there is now an effort to develop an Argentine ferry
system from Río Gallegos to some location on the eastern part of the island which will avoid having to cross through Chile with all the
customs and immigration delays. Chileans have periodically blocked passage of Argentines in this region, aggravating international
relations and violating binational treaties. Similarly, Argentines have blocked traffic leading to the main frontier crossing at nearby
Monte Aymond, preventing Chileans from entering or leaving Argentina.

BTW the price for the ferry crossing here right now, one-way, for a pickup truck and its driver, is 13,900 CLP. The price for that
pickup and its driver at the other ferry location (Bahía Chilote, TdF, to Tres Puentes on the continent) is currently 34,900 CLP.

At the Punta Delgada location there used to be a little restaurant, an excellent place to get out of the wind and enjoy a halfway decent
meal. That place has been closed for years, though the guidebooks have yet to catch up. But there is now a quite satisfactory set of
bathrooms on the side opposite the lighthouse, and even a shower that is apparently available for public use (though presumably it was
installed for use by the truck/lorry operators).

The specifications for the lighthouse here say that the light is over 11 metres high and can be seen for 19 nautical miles. The lighthouse
is a military facility and features ten rooms for Navy personnel, and an interesting array of electronic and optical equipment, including
night-vision (light amplification) devices and telephoto equipment.
The light was put into service in 1901. Like nearly all the lighthouses in use along the straits of Magellan and many elsewhere in
Chile, this one was the design work of the Scottish engineer George Slight. Slight participated in the design and/or installation of over
70 lighthouses and other navigational aids throughout the country.

The lighthouse facility at Punta Delgada includes a small museum which is open to the public during daytime. The Naval Museum in Punta Arenas
contains some material about George Slight and his work. Slight married in Chile and had two children here. He is buried in Santiago.
At his grave (Cementerio General) there is a small memorial that says, " Su luz brillará por siempre sobre las aguas del océano Pacífico"
(“His light will always shine on the waters of the Pacific Ocean.")



On board the ferry across the Straits (Primera Angostura). Tierra del Fuego in the distance.



Cheerz, Bazarus

[HybridAmbassador]

What ever happened to Mr. Lazarus lately? I don't see him posting of late..Sick perhaps.? If you are, get well soon.

[bazzasoft]

The photo here is on the subject of .... graveyards. And that sort of symbolically answers hybridambassador's question as well, since
Lazarus only received one resurrection and we still don't know what caused the administrator to delete his good works. But we can rescue
some of the stories and images surrounding Lazarus' neighbourhood and haunts in the far south where he is undertaking more translation work.

So, here in the photo we have yet another lonesome site along the straits of Magellan. This one is a little ways beyond Punta Delgada,
heading eastward on the muddy roads toward the Atlantic.

Today the area around Posesión is mostly important as an ENAP camp. ENAP being the national petroleum company. But there is still an
operating lighthouse there, and the old graveyard that is sometimes known as the “English cemetery” though there is no evidence of any
British-sounding names there. The cemetery is said to have been for lighthouse keepers.

The previous lighthouse (Punta Delgada) marks the southern portion of Posesión Bay. The lighthouse here at Cabo Posesión is much higher
than the one at Punta Delgada, since the former is on top of a high cliff, 80 metres above the ocean. But the visibility of its smaller
light is only rated to ten nautical miles. The Posesión lighthouse originally operated with a kerosene lamp and had rooms for several
people. Since 1955 it has been unmanned and automated, yet surprisingly it has not been badly vandalised. With recent upgrades
the light is now powered by a bank of solar cells on the north side of the roof, just below the lighthouse tower. The reinforced concrete
and stone walls of the structure are 40 cm thick, in accordance with designer George Slight’s specifications.

It was near here that Magellan's crew first set foot on what was later to become Chile. There is a monument to that event on a hill not far
from here.



Bazarus

[bazzasoft]

More from our man in the cabana:-

The US ship Olympian was a large iron-hulled side-wheel passenger vessel that had traveled through the Straits of Magellan in 1884 to
work in the Pacific Northwest. As such ships went it was fairly elegant in terms of passenger comfort but it could not compete against
more modest ships in that region. So the owner arranged to have it towed back to the east coast of the US, via the Straits of Magellan.
In 1906, during that attempt, the Olympian was wrecked on the beach along Bahía Posesión, only about 5 kilometres from the Posesión
lighthouse. Although the ENAP operations in this area have created a confusing network of dirt roads, my source tells me it is possible
to make your way to the sand cliffs and climb down to get to the wreck.













The lighthouse at Cabo Posesión, mentioned previously



Cheerz,
Bazarus

[bazzasoft]

More information from my local source:-

Moving eastward on the muddy roads past ENAP camp at Cabo Posesión,
you come to a point where the road drops down to almost sea-level.
Not too far in the distance you can see the Argentine petroleum works,
which run right up to within just a few metres of the fence that
separates the countries. The oil reserves are under the fence and of
course both Chile and Argentina want to make sure that the other side
doesn't get any.

The road that was running generally east then turns south, to the end
of the spit. This is Punta Dungeness, which doesn't sound very
Spanish at all and there is a reason for that. It got its name in the
18th century, when there were possibly as many British ships here than
Spanish, something that annoyed the latter greatly. But despite the
conflict between the powers of the day, many of the original
English-exploration names have remained here in the south: Seno
Otway, Seno Skyring, Canal FitzRoy, canal Whiteside, Cordillera
Darwin, Peninsula Brunswick, Puerto Harris, Canal Cockburn, and so on
. But Dungeness? Well, sort of English, since English gets words
from everywhere. And this Punta Dungeness was named after the cape in
the county of Kent, in southwest England, though the two locations
don't greatly resemble one another except in both being prominent
headlands. In fact, Dungeness means "headland" - but in Norse, since
that part of Britain was the scene of a lot of Viking settlement. But
we digress.

The Punta Dungeness lighthouse is 25 metres high and was brought on
line in 1899. It's about 270 km from Punta Arenas, about 3 hours
away. No surprise that the original means of communication between
this lighthouse and Punta Arenas was by pigeon. Since a 540+ km
round trip may be a challenge for the range of some modern vehicles,
there are two refueling opportunities: one is at Phillippi, at the
intersection of routes 255 and 9. The other is a small COPEC station
just south of San Gregorio, which has limited hours. Roads can be
icy here in winter so you may wish to visit Nov-April.


First foto - Hito Cero, the first (or last) frontier marker on the
continent. Technically, it's a crime to jump the fence here, and you
can be fined on both the Chile and Argentine sides if you are caught.



The tower. The Chilean Navy personnel will usually let you inside the
facility so that you can climb to the top of the tower, if you are in
decent physical shape.



The light at the top of the tower. It can be seriously windy up here,
and if you might wish to feel the full effect of the wind, the Navy
officer here will let you out onto the catwalk (which we did, for
pictures of the mixing of the waters of the Straits and those of the
Atlantic -- this tends to form a distinct boundary). BTW, this catwalk
is no place to be if you have acrophobia.



View from top of tower catwalk. Ground control to Major Tom.



and a bit more:-




saludos

Bazarus and friend