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Published: January 24th 2013
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The first bit of good news is that we are here at all, period….. So far, so good, regarding the Argentinians asking this British-registered ship to stay the Hell out of its waters. We have been asked in no uncertain terms by the Captain to refrain from wearing anything referring to the “Falkland Islands” while in this country. We are seriously in the southern latitudes now, as sunrise is at 0530 and sunset is close to 2330. Our tour guide told us yesterday about the “winter depression” suffered by people down here, just like up in the high northern latitudes. It has affected our sleeping patterns just in these few days, and it feels weird to be on the sun deck at 0900 with the sun almost directly overhead, but it neither actually rises in the east or sets in the west.
Breakfast with Jimmy at O’Dark Hundred so we can be on the top deck by 0800 for the “Glacier Alley” show along the Beagle Channel and the Darwin Range promised by the Captain yesterday. Two Captains on the bridge and the entire complement of passengers showed up for this event, and we were NOT disappointed! We even had
an opportunity to see, hear and photograph a glacier calving (see photos) along the side of a steep rocky wall, and it was pretty cool. The mountains in this area arise from sea level to over 3,000 meters right along the channel, so it was a sight to behold. Temperature was in the low 40’s with a steep breeze so everyone was bundled up. When we reached the largest glacier, the Captain did a 360 with this cruise ship so everyone got a close-up look at the walls of ice. Thoughts of the Costa Concordia, but we are sure permission for this little side maneuver was approved by HQ well in advance. Actually, the Captain on this voyage has been here many times, so we got a great show!
Docked at Ushuaia at 1430 right on schedule and headed for town. It is simply amazing how much this town looks like it belongs in Alaska, at the far other end of the planet. It is surrounded by snow-capped peaks and a lot of the structures have a Russian/Swiss flair. The change from Chile to Argentina is quite noticeable. People are much more energized here, and Ushuaia is a pretty
independent little city. There are a lot of outdoors sorts of people here, for skiing, backpacking, hiking, and just touring, as the Pan American Highway, which begins in Alaska at Barrow, ends right down the street from where our ship is docked. We are in summer right now, and the weather is in the mid 40’s, and it got progressively cooler and wetter as the day went on, so winter here must be a real gas! A lot of car traffic and we are back to playing “dodge-em” with the local drivers, who routinely run red lights, drive on the wrong side of the road, and cut in and out of traffic at high speeds, all on slick, wet roads. Sort of surprising in that fuel here is about $8.00 per gallon!
There is a large, prominent sign just at the gate of the port here that accuses the people of United Kingdom of illegally occupying Las Malvinas (we are actually in Las Malvinas Province here in Ushuaia), South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands since 1833. We ended the day shopping for the grandchildren and having a good time in an Irish Pub at the bottom of the world
with an international cast of characters, as there were three large cruise ships in port, plus a National Geographic Explorer, a Russian Explorer, and a British Explorer from Antarctica in port today. Ushuaia grew from about 80,000 people to almost 90,000 just for the day. There is actually a three-masted sailing ship (can’t remember what those are called) leaving got Antarctica tomorrow morning. Now those guys are NUTZ!
The Star Princess sails for Hornos Island late tonight, and we will be around the Horn by 1000 hours tomorrow. We are close to 56 degrees south latitude now, and about 600 miles north of Antarctica.
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