We were eagerly anticipating our arrival in Ushuaia .... especially since we wanted to do the most southern geocache in the world. We did 3 geocaches and lots of travel bug trading. Now that we have this over with .... on to spectacular Ushuaia.
Ushuaia is a resort town on Argentina's Tierra del Fuego archipelago, the southernmost tip of South America, nicknamed the "End of the World". The windswept town, perched on a steep hill, is surrounded by the Martial Mountains and the Beagle Channel. It's the gateways to Antarctica cruises and tours to nearby Isla Yecapasela, knows as "Penguin Island" for its penguin colonies.
Its backdrop of beech trees and towering mountains has a distinct adventurous appeal and it is hard to believe that it was once a former penal colony. The inmates constructed the town's railway, hospital and port. When the prison closed its doors in 1947, the city had a meger population of over 3,000 inhabitants. Currently, Ushuaia's population has steadily grown to around 70,000 residents.
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| Map of the Town |
It was a very busy port and two expedition ships to Antartica were in port. The wind was very strong as we walked down the dock to our boat tour of Beagle Channel. This was one shore excursion that we did not want to miss. This is the point in our trip when the scenery started to become spectacular.
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| The busy harbour |
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| Two of the expedition ships in harbour |
We boarded a catamaran to begin exploring Beagle Channel. The vistas were superb as we navigated the channel, under the shadows of Mount Olivia and Mount Escapade. We cruised alongside Sea Lions Island where we saw the South American Sea Lions and the Blue-eyed Cormorant (which can fool you into thinking they are penguins). We did not know which way to point our camera.
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| Approaching Seal Island |
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| Seal Island |
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| Blue Eyed Cormorants |
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| Blue Eyed Cormorants .... look like penguins from afar |
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| Sea Lions with seagull |
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| The children |
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| Another lovely panorama |
After our tour of Beagle Channel, we walked through the town. It was a beautiful little town with interesting architecture .... all aimed at the tourists. The local provincial workers were on strike for the day, so none of the information kiosks were open. We went to a nice cafe for free internet ... along with some of the crew. We walked around town for several hours, enjoying the local culture and doing our geocaches. What an interesting place, right in the middle of nowhere.
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| The Striking workers' protest parade |
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| Some photos from around the town |
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| Our ship |
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| The town - taken from our balcony |
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| The airport - taken from our balcony |
The wind was very strong all day (4 celsius with sun, wind and rain), in fact it was so strong that it was pushing our ship against the dock and we could not cast off. There are no tug boats in Ushuaia, so we had to wait for the winds to calm down before we could pull up the anchor and leave. It was about 8 pm before we left. We had reservations at one of the specialty restaurants that night and the photo above was the view we enjoyed while eating our dinner. Once we cast off, it was a bit rough overnight and into the next day.
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