Ushuaia and Sylvia Earle embarkation

Linda's last post advised of the curve ball thrown in our last leg of transit. I've come to understand on this trip that I am no longer the relaxed traveller of yesteryear. In those days, when faced with something like the prospect of unexpectedly ending up in Vienna when my intended destination was Florence, I'd respond with 'Great, I've never been to Vienna' wielding my passport at the ready. These days I respond with a little more angst, especially on a trip where not arriving on time.means you forfeit the entire itinerary...

The site of more of the spectacular Andes mountain range as we fly into Ushuaia compensated for my exhaustion as we landed.

Picked up by Aurora and delivered to our lovely hotel Acebos. We spent the remainder of the day eating various things, catching up on missed sleep, and wandering our mountain road, to explore our immediate surrounds in the short time we have in Ushuai. 

I was thrilled to find I had a bathtub, and even the fact that the water is pretty damn yellow didn't deter me from having a soak and loving every minute of it.

We've met a few of our fellow passengers. One couple is on a rescheduled trip they had booked last year - where they made it as far as Ushuaia but were tested for covid and, to their surprise, they both had it. So no expedition for them, they were unceremoniously turned around and sent home. Luckily mandatory testing is no longer a thing so our trip is more certain. 

We spent today wandering the streets of the city centre, punishing our credit cards with last minute panic purchases followed by a catamaran cruise around the Beagle Channel (which sounds like the big ol' channel when said by Argentinians) and Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse. 

We found out populating Ushuaia to its current levels started with setting up a penal colony because the harsh conditions weren't very attractive prior to establishing infrastructure and services. We feel a sense of kinship with our Ushaian brothers and sisters.

It's a tour largely focused on nesting birds and sea lion sightings so I was in my happy place. 

It's a pleasant way to spend the afternoon and when we returned to port we walked just a few hundred metres to our expedition ship. Pure joy. We checked into our rooms - which are stunning withblittle extras like half of the floor to ceiling windows can open, and the bathroom floor is heated. We had safety briefings, expedition briefings, and snorkel briefings, and found out our departure is delayed to the morning to avoid big seas -  we're totally OK with that. Dinner and a celebratory champers and now we await adventure!