Morgan Mare

Punta Del Este, Uruguay The Drake Passage lived up to it infamous reputation on our return trip, with gale force 9 winds and sea swells of 10 to 15 meters. After this passage, it was a relief to return to Ushuaia and fly Punta Del Este. Punta Del Este is located on the Altantic Ocean, with kilometer upon kilometer of sandy beaches, beautiful homes and gardens, lots of good restauants and it is relatively safe to walk around durning both the day and evening. We stayed at Hotel L'Auberge, a small five star hotel, with each room being different, lovely grounds, a good size swiming pool and helpful staff. The distinquishing feature of the hotel is its tower. Our stay at L'Aubege was totally a rest holiday, without Mare and I doing our usual exploring. The ... read more

Former Whaling Station --- Tuesday, January 29, 2013 The weather is terrible today as we disembark for a former whaling station that was used by 13 nations and abandoned at the time of the First World War. The station sits upon an active volcano. If you put your hand into the water and scratch away a couple of inches of gravel you will have to pull your hand back quickly, it is so hot. The large tanks in the picture may remind you of the large storage tanks for fuel. They were used to store whale oil, so this will give you some idea of the number of whales that were killed; this was only one of several whaling stations in Antarctic at the turn of the century.... read more

Antarctic Circle – Detaille Island --- Saturday January 26, 2013 The Antarctica Circle is one of 5 major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It lies 66* 33’ 39” south of the equator. We proceeded a bit further south to the former British base on Detaille Island. The Brits were not very imaginative when it came to naming their stations. Here on Detaille Island is former Station W. The base was abandoned after 3 years since sea ice had made relief so difficult for each of the 3 years it was open. The British at their bases used huskies for much of their exploration around their bases. Some of the passengers were brave or foolish enough to take a plunge into the ocean. Later we took the smaller boat out to cruise around ... read more

Hope Bay – January 23, 2013 On our way to Hope Bay we passed through an area known as Iceberg Alley. The 48 km long passage can be difficult to penetrate and is known for its large and small ice flows. Our first stop was the Argentine base in Hope Bay. The base was originally opened by Argentine in 1951 with the idea of laying claim to the Antarctica Peninsula. To improve their claim they brought a pregnantt woman who had a baby at the base. In the 1970’s they began to bring women and children to the base. At the time of our visit there were 18 students attending school on the base. The bay is named Hope Bay in memory of 3 men from a Swedish South Pole Exhibition in 1901 who spent a ... read more

Buenos Aires – Ushuaia January 20-21, 2013 Greater Buenos Aires is a city of about 14 million people, and one that we probably should have allocated more time to. However we still managed to visit the historic Plaza de Mayo scene of political demonstrations. The plaza is surrounded by the Government House best known the “Pink House”, some walking around the “Caminto” with its painted houses, the Recoleta cemetery where many of the rich and famous Argentina’s are buried including Eva Peron. We also visited the Colon Theatre considered to be one of the 5 best opera houses in the world due to its excellent acoustics. The hall has a capacity for 3,000 spectators. Late in the evening we went to a Tango and dinner show. We were told that we had to have beef since ... read more