We Made It Through the Drake

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Geo: -54.79, -68.31

After a long trip through the Drake Passage, we made it to Ushuaia, Argentina this afternoon. The crossing was rough, but relatively easy compared to some Drake crossings. It was rougher on the return coming north than it was going south toward Antarctica. We arrived in the Beagle Channel sometime early this morning and docked at Ushuaia at 1 p.m. We are here a day early originally expecting to get here on Monday morning. Since we missed the port day in Stanley, we have been about a day ahead for everything. We are staying here for an unplanned overnight and will get back on schedule when we leave here tomorrow afternoon.

Philip and I had lunch on board and walked off the ship around 3:30 to look around the town. The local tourist information officer who came on board said that most shops are closed on Sunday; they weren't expecting us. The tourist shops opened from 4 – 8 p.m. The two souvenirs that I thought would be all over the place and that I would get, did not exist. I looked for dangly earrings shaped like penguins and for a t-shirt that said "I survived the Drake Passage." None of the shops we checked had either one. Seems like a natural to me.

We checked out a few restaurants in Ushuaia, but decided to return to the ship for dinner. I did laundry after dinner in the Colonnade while we waited for the Cowboys game to start at 10:15 p.m. It is almost time for kickoff.

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