Day 29 - 11/04/23 - Ushuaia, Argentina
We had hoped that we would reach Ushuaia early, but our late departure yesterday from Punta Arenas was a delay. But the morning cruising down the Beagle Channel (named after the ship that carried Charles Darwin down here in the 1800's) in what's nicknamed Glacier Alley was spectacular. We cruised by 5 major glaciers (Spanish, Romansch, Alemania, Italia, and Polania). There were numerous scenic waterfalls and other glaciers tucked in behind the mountains. It was so scenic, we missed Jeremy's port talk on Ushuaia at 11am.
But we didn't miss lunch! We cruised down the Beagle Channel and made a sharp left turn and sailed into the bay Ushuaia is located on. We passed the new airport and the older smaller airport before joining three or four expedition type ships at the pier. One of them was a Hurtigruten ship which had an enormous side entry door that a semi or a container could be stuffed through.
I arranged for our group to assemble at 1:45pm and most of the group was there by 1:30 since we had arrived at around 1pm. It took a bit to get tied up and obtain clearance, but as soon as clearance was given just after 2pm, I sent those who were there down to disembark, walk the long pier and find the tour operator. I waited for a few stragglers and they were soon there and I accompanied them off the ship.
By the time I got to the area outside the port gate, only guide #2 was there. He was difficult to deal with and not friendly at all. Finally, guide #1, Gabriel, finally showed up after taking a large group down to his van. The remainder of our group then followed him to the purple van and 16 of us boarded it and several who were on the van were transferred to van #2 where they were supposed to be.
We headed out on our city tour first and made a stop at the old airport for some scenic pictures and then to the Ushuaia sign for more pictures. We then headed for the Tierra del Fuego National Park, the entrance to which was only about 15 minutes from the city. But first we made a stop at the very cute train station to use restrooms . The roads were paved until just before the park entrance and they were compact mud thereafter. The tour pretty much followed the tour we took 6 years ago with a stop at the post office and viewpoint. There I added my sticker to the side of the building and Angela mailed a postcard to her brother. We went from there to a really nice little forest walk along side the river that drains a lake where we saw several types of birds and blueberries and currents. We then drove to the boardwalk area at the Alakush visitor center with a photo opportunity at the end of the famous Panamerican Highway sign and also viewed the little museum there. Afterwards we made a final stop and walked out to an overlook of the river with a large beaver house located on the bank of the river.
I had noted to Gabriel that we needed to be back before 7:30pm and it was pushing 6:30pm and we were at least 40 minutes out from the port. We headed back into town, and he took us to another high scenic point where we could see the ship and take a few pictures. It was also fun to observe one 737 taking off and another landing shortly after.
We were then dropped off at the port about 7:15 and bus #2 arrived right after us (they skipped the last scenic overlook). If and when we ever return to this port, we'll skip doing any tours and just walk the town as there's so much to see and today's tour was a repeat of what we did 6 years ago.
We did a little shopping included buying some chips for our stewards before reboarding the ship.
The LIDO was still open and many tours had arrived so it was very crowded. The evening's entertainment was a movie in the World Stage called Whiteout about a US Marshall tracking a killer in Antarctica. It was a strange movie to say the least.
After the movie we went up to the deck 11 forward and did some star gazing and I got a pretty nice picture of the Southern Cross at around midnight.
The voyage plan was to head to Porto Williams and spend the night there and do some paperwork formalities to enter and leave Chile. Then in the morning there would be scenic cruising circumnavigating Cape Horn. Oh, and did I mention it was pretty cold, but the weather improved throughout the day from rain to clear skies at the sail away. It was a pretty nice stop visiting the southernmost city in South America.
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