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Published: January 17th 2007
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camping wild
sing along with the 2 Eminem´s Arrived late Friday 22nd December in Ushuaia from Puerto Natales, another long bus journey with another border crossing this time being the third time entering Argentina. Had to get a ferry as well because Ushuaia is on an Island, Tierra del Fuego or Land of Fire.
We hurried out of Puerto Natales so as not to be stuck there for Christmas and although we didnt know what to expect in Ushuaia, we were pleasantly surprised. It´s a main port serving many cruise ships, but the town is small enough not to be too impersonal and large enough to have everything you want and with snow-capped mountains as the backdrop, it was a nice place to spend Christmas.
Christmas day and we had met an English guy travelling on his own, we had also met up with 2 Canadians that we had been to the Manu rainforest with, so the 5 of us walked around town looking for somewhere to eat. Everywhere seemed closed except one seafood restaurant which specialises in King crab, so we all ordered varieties of King Crab and drank red wine, not quite the traditional turkey but it was good!
On Boxing day we found
Penguin
in Antartica out that we had got a place aboard the Antartic Dream, leaving for Antartica on Friday 29th December for an 11 day trip, we were thrilled!!
The next day we met 2 American guys who had hired a 4x4 truck and were going camping for 2 days, they asked if we wanted to join them, we said yes. We spent the next 2 days camping with lots of food and drink and the Americans were so funny keeping us amused the whole time.
Now it was Friday 29th and we were boarding the ship, the accomodation, service and quality of food far exceeded any expectations I had. We had 2 days to cross the Drake´s passage, known for it´s rough sea´s, I spent the whole time in my room, even travel sick pills couldn´t save me this time. As we reached the Antartic Peninsula the waters became calm and we made our first landing at 7pm New Years Eve. We were then treated to cocktails with the Captain and of course our first of many sightings of Penguins, before returning to the ship for dinner and New Years Eve celebrations.
The next five days were spent island
hopping, landing 2 or 3 times per day to see the local wildlife which were mainly penguins,Gentoo, Adelie and chinstrap, but also sea lions (which I nearly tripped over one!) and when out at sea the occasional humpback or minki whale was spotted. It was really nice to sit and wait for penguins to walk right past you, they are very amusing to watch trying to jump up onto an iceberg and cling on but no matter how hard they tried they would slide off maybe taking a couple of others with them too. A highlight was watching 2 brown Skewers snatch a baby penguin from its parent and take it back to their nest to eat, it wasn´t very pretty to some people but fascinating nonetheless.
Towards the end of the 5 days we were heading further and further south, further than the ship had ever been, we wanted to cross the Antartic circle and were pushing hard to make it, but the sea was becoming more and more filled with broken icebergs slowing our progress, but the scenery got more and more spectacular, huge icebergs in mirror-like water that was so calm and with white mountains everywhere
you looked. We got within 22 nautical miles of reaching the Antartic circle but then we had to return to stay on schedule. On the way back we stopped at Deception Island for a quick dip in the icy waters but with the heat from the dormant volcano coming up through the floor to keep you slightly warm.
The return crossing of Drake´s Passage was equally rough but maybe this time I was more accustomed to life on a ship because I was able to play cards and dice and at meal times watch the other passengers as they were flung to the floor from their chairs when the ship rocked from side to side - even Rachael had her moment falling of her chair!
Back to Ushuaia and we had a plane to catch to Buenos Aires.
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