December 25 and 26
A Visit From Santa and We Visit The Almost Bottom Of The World
December 25
Having Christmas Day being Day 3 of 3 sea days worked out well for all the little kids on board ship. Lots of games and a visit from Santa, who had a little something for every kid under the age of 17.
December 26 – Ushuaia
At long last, we are docked again!
We have a multi-hour excursion booked – a combo of a bus tour of the national park in Tierra Del Fuego plus a boat ride on a catamaran through the Beagle Channel. The tour groups were split into two parts – one part took the bus tour first, the other half took the boat ride first. We were assigned to the bus ride first.
One of the things I noticed right away was the way the tour guide pronounced the word “Ushuaia”. I was pronouncing it “oooshhh-why-yah”. Apparently, it’s really “OOOS-why-yah”. Learn something new every day.
Living up to its reputation for a rainy place, it drizzled the whole morning. Never really reached soaking rain status, but enough to be annoying and make the ground muddy.
We drove through the forest and stopped at several scenic spots. Because of the misty rain and humidity, it was almost impossible to see anything through the windows.
Our first stop was at Ensenada Zaratiegui
The ground was quite muddy and slippery. And when I came back from a bathroom break, the bus was no longer in the spot where it had been 5 minutes previously. I am inordinately proud of myself for being able to say “I am looking for bus 15” in Spanish and was actually understood! Apparently the bus driver pulled our bus into the exit queue. Getting to the bus required scrambling over a muddy embankment.
This was the second stop, which looked pretty similar to the first. I was too busy watching my feet in the mud to remember what the tour guide said the name of this place was. Possibly Senda Costera
Next stop was a pit stop in Alakush.
Next was Lago Roca, a lake that has three names. It’s Lago Roca on the Argentinian side, Lago Errazuriz on the Chilean side, and Lago Acigami – the indigenous name.
Our bus tour was coming to and end. The next and final stop was at the meeting point for the catamaran. The tour guide said it would be a “5 minute walk”, which of course turned out to at least feel a lot longer than that.
It was now noon. The excursion description had said nothing about what was happening with lunch. There was a little food stand on the catamaran, but the choices were ham and cheese or some dessert-something. I chose a giant chocolate cookie with a caramel center and a hot chocolate.
We had some scenic sailing in the Beagle Channel until we reached The Lighthouse At The End Of The World
And here we are at The Lighthouse At The End Of The World!
Cormorants and more cormorants, everywhere are cormorants, a mixed colony of two different species. The more the merrier.
And so many sea lions! Doing absolutely nothing.
We had another 30 minutes or so to get back to the port by 2:00 p.m. We found out afterwards that there was supposed to be a catamaran only excursion at 2:10 p.m., but it was canceled, because the winds picked up to a dangerous level.
I thought I was prepared for the winds – I had many layers on under my winter coat plus my favorite ancient neck gater. I should have been good to go. Unfortunately, the catamaran had docked at the furthest end of the dock away from the ship. I started walking, got about maybe 1/4 of the way there and just stopped. I was almost walking backwards.
We decided it would be better for me to stay put while Andy went ahead and got a wheelchair to wheel me back to the ship. While I waited, I took some photos
Watching Andy attempting to push the empty wheelchair in the fierce winds was amusing. The chair kept going everywhere but straight. He eventually gave up and picked it up to carry it. At least the wheelchair did the job – we were back on board the ship in just a couple of minutes.
The high winds delayed the ship’s departure by several hours. We were supposed to leave by 5:00 p.m., but didn’t get underway until sometime after 9:00 p.m. The wind conditions will determine exactly when we’ll arrive at Cape Horn in the morning.
Tomorrow: Scenic sailing to Almost the Bottom of the World!
Maryland Meshugas 