Through Usuaia to the sea

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From the flight they sent our bags straight to the boat but we had three hours that day to wander around Ushuaia. The town looked charming; like a ski resort surrounded by snow caps and a beautiful bay. Columbines and pansies bloomed in many yards. We went to a supermarket and stocked up on great wines for the trip which was a good plan since the store had terrific wines for $4 a bottle, about 1/3 the price they got on board the ship for worse quality. The Argentine red wines (especially Malbecs) are terrific and a great buy. I got my passport stamped with the Antarctica logo at the town office before going through Argentine security (giggle) and onto the Academik Ioffe for the voyage.


The Ioffe is a scientific research vessel with a vague cold war heritage. It is a sister ship with the Vavilov which serves as the receiver for its long distance acoustic transmissions and sonar ocean floor mapping. We could see the mile of rolled cable near cranes to lower the three transmitters through a 10 foot hole in the center of the ship’s main bay. Half the year the Ioffee is a tourist ship but a week after our trip it would load up with Russian scientists for their studies. It repeats the cycle the other half of the year in the Northwest passage. We later saw clips from that voyage and it appears as fascinating as the upcoming journey proved to be. The ship and its Russian crew gained our respect over the 10 day voyage. The ship is rated for all weather and can break up to 6 feet of ice. Such preparations are highly desirable for passages across to Antarctica.

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Photos

View from the airport
Here I am on arrival in Usuaia

Goodbye to Usuaia
Our view as we set off to Antarctica