Adventure – Page 67 – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Maritime Government

Another Hero

September 1, 2020September 16, 2020 MichaelStephenWills15 Comments

At the foot of the port island a Maritime Government building for the Iquique region. This and the other photographs of Iquique city were taken from the tour bus using a Canon dslr and the Canon EF 70 – 300 variable “zoom” lens.

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“Red, White and Blue” Note the brass ship’s bell on the left entrance column.

Shaped as it is, Chile needs an agency devoted to the coast. Littoral, the geographic term applied to this area of control. By definition of Chile it’s littoral begins “80 meters inland from the line of beach” to 200 miles from the point of low tide, a broad definition that works without too much conflict as, to the west, is the enormous Pacific Ocean. As with all countries there are interesting disagreements over maritime borders and rights at the borders. Chile and Argentina’s complex border in the far south among the islands and channels of Tierra del Fuego are legend.

“Flag of Chile” with two men on the steps clutching smart phones. Port security is apparent in the identification cards on lanyards.

Iquique is one of thirteen (13) Maritime Governorates. From north to south we can mention those of Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta, Coquimbo, Valparaíso, San Antonio, Talcahuano, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Castro, Aysén, Punta Arenas and Navarino with the Chilean Antarctic Territory. Our cruise touches up, or passes through, all of them.

Larger than life busts of two Chilean heroes flank the entrance. We learned about Prat in an earlier post. While Captain Prat lost his life during the Battle of Iquique, Carlos Arnaldo Condell De La Haza, Captain of the schooner Virgen de Covadonga, escaped a larger and heavier gunned Peruvian ship, the armored frigate Independencia, sailing south.

Captain Condell, through tactics and seamanship, pinned the Independenia on a reef. The Covadonga blasted away until driven off by the monitor Huáscar. Condell went on to other naval successes and succumbed to illness at the young age of fourth four (44) years.

Click me for the first post of this series.

References

Wikipedia – “Carlos Arnaldo Condell De La Haza”

Click me for a spanish language pdf file on Chilean maritime governance.

Iquique first steps

On Dry Land

August 26, 2020March 19, 2025 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

Our tour tickets and bus designation ( “number 2” ) firmly in hand, Pam and I walked the gangplank from the tender (see yesterday’s post), into the Iquique International Cruise terminal, then out to the sunshine to find out bus, following the crowd.

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Touring this way can feel link a rodent maze, it was not our feeling at all. The groups maxed at 15, the guides friendly and knowledgeable, the tour buses luxurious. We enjoyed ourselves immensely. Here we are, later that day, dressed for adventure.

Mike and Pam Wills on tour at the Pintados Geoglyphs, Tarapacá, Chile within the Atacama desert.

Our itinerary for the day is to navigate through the city, across the desert to visit a World Heritage Site, Humberstone, and ancient geoglyph sites, touching on local ecology.

Another view of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception among the downtown high-rises of Iquique.

Here is our tour, time to hop on the bus, get going.

Click me for the first post of this series.

Here is a slide show of our day so far.

Iquique Tender Views

From Ship to Shore

August 25, 2020March 19, 2025 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

Ninety minutes after docking our assigned tender pulled away from the Regatta for a twenty minute trip to Iquique. A tender is a boat with an enclosed seating area designed to transport about twenty persons in quiet waters from an anchorage to port. I recall the morning announcement from the ship Captain advising use the winds were high (or the waves), and he negotiated a mooring with the port, instead of the planned docking, in order to save our visit to Iquique.

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The approximate anchorage of the Regatta marked with a pushpin. The tender transported use from the Regatta to the base of the island port.

Above is a screen capture from Google Earth, the entire Iquique harbor is pictured from Punta Negra (see photo from yesterday) to the base of the island port connected to the mainland with a road. The tender port is at this base, on the shore side. If you wish, download the following PDF document with a clearer image. You will need a PDF viewer.

regattaanchorageiquiqueharbor Download

Shipping containers being unloaded from the container ship San Christobal.

Here are some of the sights visible from the tender. I recall sitting next to the large rear window. Above is the large red container ship. From earlier posts, the San Christobal is docked at the outer berth. The ship is being unloaded, you can see a yellow shipping container on the crane.

Today, aneconomic reason for Iquque’s prosperity is the status as a duty free zone the government dubbed “ZOFRI.” Another is tourists flocking to this “Miami of South America” for duty free shopping (there is a mall), the shore lined with tall hotels and condominiums. Adventure-seekers love the surfing and hang gliding from the escarpment.

Notice the fishing nets in the stern with yellow floats

This is the scene close to the tender port, past mooring for smaller fishing and other boats.

Replica of the Chilean navy ship Esmeralda sunk during the Battle of Iquique. It is a nautical “living museum.” From the website: “The museum script of the Museum ‘Emerald Corvette’ is represented by thirteen museum scenes that inspire the guided tour, where it was recreated what life was like on board on May 20, 1879, the day before the historic Pacific War day.” The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is to the right of the ship stern. Here is a previous post with more about the Esmeralda in historical context.

After disembarkation, I looked back for this shot of our tender pilot.

Click me for the first post of this series.

Botanic Garden of Belfast

In closing

August 6, 2020July 25, 2020 MichaelStephenWills8 Comments

The Ulster Museum is set among the Botanic Gardens. It was in the gardens on this rainy Saturday Pam and I wandered for twenty minutes to sweep away the cobwebs of our rainy drive from Coleraine.

I do not have an identification for the following photograph. If you know, please comment. Thank You.

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“Tropical” palm trees and bromeliad are found throughout Ireland. Thank You Gulf Stream.

Another unidentified plant…..

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Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Paper Thin and Wet

Poppies!!! Petals like paper

August 5, 2020July 25, 2020 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

The Ulster Museum is set among the Botanic Gardens. It was in the gardens on this rainy Saturday, after the Foxglove flowers of yesterday’s post, flourishing, bright red poppy flowers caught my eye.

Here is a take on poppy flower buds on long stems among leaves.

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Poppy is a storied plant, most species do not produce the narcotic alkaloids associated with sleep and death, pain control. Papaveroideae, the sub-family of these plants, is derived from the Latin for paper, papyrus. You can see the association in the following photographs, petals drenched in water, crumpling like wet paper.

….and more.

..to be continued…..

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Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Foxglove

Approach to the Museum

August 4, 2020July 25, 2020 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

The Ulster Museum is set among the Botanic Gardens. It was in the gardens on this rainy Saturday we needed the umbrellas several times during our twenty minute digression before the museum engulfed us.

The rain brought out this snail, house on its back.

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We found flowers flourishing throughout the island. These foxglove were huge. The common name is after Leonhard Fuchs, who first described it. “Fuchs” is German for fox.

..to be continued…..

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Entrance

Approach to the Museum

August 3, 2020July 25, 2020 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

The Ulster Museum is set among the Botanic Gardens. It was in the gardens on this rainy Saturday. We needed the umbrellas several times during our twenty minute digression before the museum engulfed us.

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A solid fence, more dignified than a “Keep Off The Grass” sign.

I regret not recording the names of the trees and plants

This large, 28 acre, city owned park is free, opened to the public. It is treated with suitable respect by the residents.

The Row Houses on Colenso Parade (street) running parallel to the avenue of flowers we enjoyed.

..to be continued…..

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Gardens

Approach to the Museum

August 2, 2020August 3, 2020 MichaelStephenWills9 Comments

The Ulster Museum is set among the Botanic Gardens. Armed with umbrellas, Pam and I parked on this interesting street, Colenso Parade, on one side these row houses, on the other the gardens.

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Interesting, “no parking at any time” indicated by a double yellow line along the curb. We parked with everyone else, across the street on the Botanical Gardens side.

We parked and walked in, free as you please, taking in some of the beauty on our way to “Treasures from the Girona”, a permanent Ulster Museum exhibit.

I compliment the photography skills of our waitress

Our time strolling the walks was all too brief, 20 minutes, not enough to savor the treasures of knowledge suggested by the words “Botanic Garden.”

..to be continued…..

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Coffee

After the Ulster Museum and Garden

August 1, 2020July 25, 2020 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

After our tour of the Ulster Museum and the Botanic Gardens of Belfast we stopped in for refreshment across the street at Maggie May’s Belfast Cafe. I am wearing a Cortland Line Company fishing vest adapted for photography. I purchased the vest at the company store, Cortland, New York just north of our Ithaca home.

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Our latte’s were perfection. The header photo looks forward to our visit to the gardens.

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Breezemont Manor

math-bhuilich Coleraine and July 2020

July 31, 2020July 17, 2020 MichaelStephenWills

A steady, drenching rain graced the landscape and ourselves during the road trip from Coleraine to Belfast. These are the parting photographs of Breezemont Manor, our lodging for the Antrim Glens exploration (see “A Bit about Torr Head for an entry point).

Before leaving I did a cursory photographic tour, skipping the messy bedroom. We arrived very late, after the posted arrival time. A plain-spoken Ulster Scotsman kindly let us in with a few choice words. After dinner out photographing the very nice room in pristine state was neglected.

The foyer, carpeted in a plaid and photographed below, bore the Scottish identity of the proprietor.

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