After 30 hours of air travel,
it was nice to be back on solid ground ... especially since I was shortly
going to be onboard a small ship for 19 days. Most Antarctica cruise ships,
such as the Ocean Nova,
depart from Ushuaia Argentina so arriving a day early is a good idea
in case of any delays.
The weather (late January) was nice - high temps were ~60°F with mostly
sunny skies & scattered clouds and fortunately no major winds or rain.
Ushuaia Argentina from the airplane window just before landing
I stayed at a downtown B&B, but the "official" hotel for the Antarctica Cruise was pretty nice
The hotel was on a bluff with very nice views
The bathroom was just a wheee bit fancier (and bigger) than what was onboard the ship! ;-)
We gathered that evening for a pre-departure meeting
The expedition leader Conrad was great
A view of the people I would spend the next 19 days with - it was a fun group
Lots of smiles - people were excited about cruising to Antarctica!
Fellow travelers Paul and James with docked cruise ships at Ushuaia in the background
Close-up of Paul & James with National Geographic Explorer in background
The keys to my B&B - much cooler than a digital passkey!
Rainbow over Ushuaia - picture taken by fellow traveler Isaac
Because of the far South Latitude (54.8°S), there was sunlight until
quite late in the evening. After walking around town, it was finally
time to hit the sack for a couple of hours of sleep, and then spend the
day in Ushuaia, Argentina before our 5:00PM departure to Antarctica.
I met up with the group at the main hotel the next morning, and two
of us decided to head out to
Terra Del Fuego Park