February 13,

I awoke to the 0245 alarm!! Jeff said he’d been up for only 5 minutes. We went down to breakfast by 0315. Wow, hard to write these early AM numbers!!! The breakfast was kind of lame, but it’s three AM. We finished eating and went back to our room to finish packing; back down to the lobby checking out of the hotel; and by 0350 we loaded onto the yellow bus. We were given our boarding passes for our charter flight, and pulled out by 0358. At 0431 we were at the airport; through security; and to the gate by 0500. We were in boarding groups one through four. We were put on four buses (only needed three). At 0515 we loaded onto the first bus to move to the plane. 0530 at the plane… to wait. The plane is ‘AlbaStar.es,’ even though the pass was labeled Flybondi. We were the second couple on board by 0548. Loaded & backed up by 0618. Take off at 0629, 29 minutes late. The captain said the plane had 189 seats, everyone on board should be our boat. We were given a little pack from Atlas: eye shade, toothbrush & paste, and socks. Then service inspired by Paula’s Pantry(a light meal place on the ship): a croissant, blackberry yogurt, and apple cereal bar… better than the hotels.The plane touched down at 0948.

     WELCOME TO USHUAIA, ARGENTINA!!!

We collected our bags – that we haven’t seen since 2000 last night. Then porters whisked them away again. We boarded our yellow bus. We had guide narrate: Ushuaia is the gateway to Antarctica, and the southernmost city in the world; it’s on the Beagle channel; and it has 80,000 inhabitants. It’s also on an island with a national park, Tierra del Fuego, which means ‘the land of fire.’ The national park opened in 1960. The city developed in 1884 starting with a prison – that’s no longer open. On the island are wild horses and lots of lupin flowers, and the River Pipo.

Lapataia Bay (bay of the trees) is our first stop. Native peoples – lived on sea lions, mussels and birds. We were allowed out for 35 minutes to explore. We did the walkway loop along the bay at the end of Route 3. We saw possibly a juvenile some sort of a heron, and geese. The next stop was the Visitors Center for 40 minutes. We did a nice little hike along the water edge – most stayed in the center shopping. Jeff found some berries, maybe local blueberries. Our guide just talked about local berries. She had said you can buy stuff that have the berries in them. The little walk was peaceful. Ensenada Bay was our last stop – used to have the Southernmost Post Office, but no longer. The weather was way cooler here, and much more wind. We saw some ‘Caracara’ birds.

Then we went to a late lunch. We all ate at a French restaurant, Chez Manu. We had Gazpacho soup, scallop risotto, and dessert of ice cream with berry sauce on a meringue crust. We both had Malbec wine. From the window of the palce we could see a couple of peaked mountains: Mt Olivia and the mountain of the Five Brothers.

At 1607, we arrived at the Ushuaia port, and boarded, our Atlas World Voyager ship. We were ushured into the Atlas Lounge on the 4th floor where we were given a champagne drink. Then we were given a brief introduction and turned in our health forms. Then we were escorted to our room where our luggage was awaiting us. Once in a room we unloaded and organized. 1700 we had a Mandatory Safety Drill. 1800 we went to the “Yacht 101 & Expedition Overview. Here we learned our trip is flipflopping. We will be going to South Georgia first then Antarctica due to a storm coming in and it’s prevailing winds. Supper will be a buffet (the only night with a buffet) and 2130 we will have music entertainment.