DAY-14: Ushuaia - Way Down South
DAY-14: Ushuaia - Way Down South
Day – 14: Monday, March 2, 2020
Starting Location: At Sea Aboard the M.S. Marina
Interim Location: Ushuaia, AR
Ending Location: At Sea Aboard the M.S. Marina
Traversed the Beagle Channel last night arriving in the port city of Ushuaia, Argentina. We were docked early at the city pier, the temporary home for cruise and Antarctic expedition ships.
Today after an early breakfast we headed out for our trip to the "end of the world".
Ushuaia is a city of about 60,000 people most of whom are associated with outdoor recreation, tourism and the business of Antarctica.
The city is located on the Beagle Channel, named after Charles Darwin's ship "HMS Beagle".
This area of Argentina evolved from being a remotely located penal colony to a progressive city. The park we visited and train we rode were related to the Argentine penal system of the early 19th century.
Our first transportation for the morning was via a large power cat.
We boarded the boat just aft of the Marina, so there was minimal walking involved. Just to be clear the boat was Argentinian and proudly displayed the Las Malvinas Son Argentinas emblem.
The boat ride headed back toward the Beagle Channel to a series of small islands and rock outcroppings where the seals, sea lions, penguins, cormorants and other birds had arrived for the daily viewing of tourists.
The seals and sea lions were referred to as Southern Seals and Sea Lions but in listening to their variety of guttural tones nary a southern accent did I hear.
I think today's penguins were designated as Magellanic penguins notable by the black and white butlers appearances. Okay, sounds like the same appearance as all penguins but somehow they must recognize each other. As can be seen in the pictures of their rocky home, the penguins and other birds are painting their outcropping a brilliant shade of white.
Throughout the boat tour we remained on the Argentine side of the invisible border with Chile to the west. This land and sea area have been in dispute over the ages even to the point that geographic boundaries that were marked on moving glaciers are still an area of contention. Nevertheless years back with both countries being good Catholic citizens, they agreed to let the Pope settle the boundary debates and so it was, the boundaries we see today were fixed, more or less.
Our destination on the boat was Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, surely the southernmost national park in the world, check it off, been there, done that.
From the park's boat dock we boarded buses for a brief ride into the park stopping at various view points, glacial lakes and the like, including a stop at Lago Acigami where the "NAVY GALS" posed for a photo op.
The bus ride took us to what must surely be the southernmost train system in the world especially given the name "Train to the End of the World". The train a vestige of the penal colony days coursed through the park providing views of deforested areas and the regrowth of the past century.
While on board the train we dined on snack food as I had been able to buy some Oreo cookies while on the earlier boat ride.
There was little wildlife to be viewed, a few birds and domestic horses and cattle.
Thinking the fur industry would be a good thing and with plenty of streams and lakes in the area locals imported beavers from the far north; the concept wasn't totally thought through as there was no natural predator in the area so the result was an overabundance of eager beavers felling trees in a climatic region where tree growth isn't exactly fast.
The train stopped midway through the tour, but as best I can tell it was primarily to give time for making purchases in a gift shop and have a photo op was stereotypically dressed penal colony cons. Maybe the station stop was necessary for adding more water to the steam engine.
Around one PM we arrived at the northern train terminal, passed through another gift shop and were soon back on our buses for the return into Ushuaia.
The ride back to the pier took us from the undeveloped countryside into the city where the newness of so many high-rise (4-8 floors) buildings was evident. Turned out the buildings were government provided housing, again a feature of the socialist mindset of Argentina. The buildings were mostly constructed with metal frames and corrugated sheet metal exteriors. The buildings looked good as they were new, just wondering how it hold up over time. The downtown has one major "main" street with typical stores, shops, food options and tour operators but no Starbucks. One of the larger buildings in town was the casino; I guess with a high volume of tourists passing through, the concept of gambling is a good source of revenue for the local economy. We were back on the ship around 2:30, had a quick bite of lunch and stood by for the departure.
Around 5 PM we were underway for the chilly waters of Chile. The views along the channels are great with mountainous terrain all around and what is obviously very steep slopes into the sea as the ship passed quite close to the shoreline in several instances.
As we sat down for dinner around 8 PM rain began to fall. After a clear blue sky warm day in Ushuaia the timing was perfect, let it rain.
Today had been a very NAVY, as in USNA, day. For the boat, bus and train rides and through the park we had spent most of our time with two USNA couples, one from 1968 and the other 1964. Along the way we had again encountered Verne Lundquist and amongst us shared Navy sports stories and Verne's experiences with the "big games". Turned out that in Verne's announcing career he had done ten Army-Navy games, and during that period the win/loss ratio was Navy 9 Army 1.
For dinner tonight we had a table for six and as it would be four continents were represented, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. One couple was from Melbourne, Australia, the other from London, the wife being of Chinese and Mauritian ethnicity. It was a great mix but of course we all spoke the same language. That said the Englishman and Aussies had to debate who had the most British of accents.
Good day all around.
Interim Location: Ushuaia, AR
Ending Location: At Sea Aboard the M.S. Marina
Traversed the Beagle Channel last night arriving in the port city of Ushuaia, Argentina. We were docked early at the city pier, the temporary home for cruise and Antarctic expedition ships.
Today after an early breakfast we headed out for our trip to the "end of the world".
Ushuaia is a city of about 60,000 people most of whom are associated with outdoor recreation, tourism and the business of Antarctica.
The city is located on the Beagle Channel, named after Charles Darwin's ship "HMS Beagle".
This area of Argentina evolved from being a remotely located penal colony to a progressive city. The park we visited and train we rode were related to the Argentine penal system of the early 19th century.
Our first transportation for the morning was via a large power cat.
 |
| "The Falklands Are Argentine" |
The boat ride headed back toward the Beagle Channel to a series of small islands and rock outcroppings where the seals, sea lions, penguins, cormorants and other birds had arrived for the daily viewing of tourists.
The seals and sea lions were referred to as Southern Seals and Sea Lions but in listening to their variety of guttural tones nary a southern accent did I hear.
I think today's penguins were designated as Magellanic penguins notable by the black and white butlers appearances. Okay, sounds like the same appearance as all penguins but somehow they must recognize each other. As can be seen in the pictures of their rocky home, the penguins and other birds are painting their outcropping a brilliant shade of white.
Throughout the boat tour we remained on the Argentine side of the invisible border with Chile to the west. This land and sea area have been in dispute over the ages even to the point that geographic boundaries that were marked on moving glaciers are still an area of contention. Nevertheless years back with both countries being good Catholic citizens, they agreed to let the Pope settle the boundary debates and so it was, the boundaries we see today were fixed, more or less.
Our destination on the boat was Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, surely the southernmost national park in the world, check it off, been there, done that.
From the park's boat dock we boarded buses for a brief ride into the park stopping at various view points, glacial lakes and the like, including a stop at Lago Acigami where the "NAVY GALS" posed for a photo op.
The bus ride took us to what must surely be the southernmost train system in the world especially given the name "Train to the End of the World". The train a vestige of the penal colony days coursed through the park providing views of deforested areas and the regrowth of the past century.
There was little wildlife to be viewed, a few birds and domestic horses and cattle.
The train stopped midway through the tour, but as best I can tell it was primarily to give time for making purchases in a gift shop and have a photo op was stereotypically dressed penal colony cons. Maybe the station stop was necessary for adding more water to the steam engine.
Around one PM we arrived at the northern train terminal, passed through another gift shop and were soon back on our buses for the return into Ushuaia.
The ride back to the pier took us from the undeveloped countryside into the city where the newness of so many high-rise (4-8 floors) buildings was evident. Turned out the buildings were government provided housing, again a feature of the socialist mindset of Argentina. The buildings were mostly constructed with metal frames and corrugated sheet metal exteriors. The buildings looked good as they were new, just wondering how it hold up over time. The downtown has one major "main" street with typical stores, shops, food options and tour operators but no Starbucks. One of the larger buildings in town was the casino; I guess with a high volume of tourists passing through, the concept of gambling is a good source of revenue for the local economy. We were back on the ship around 2:30, had a quick bite of lunch and stood by for the departure.
Around 5 PM we were underway for the chilly waters of Chile. The views along the channels are great with mountainous terrain all around and what is obviously very steep slopes into the sea as the ship passed quite close to the shoreline in several instances.
As we sat down for dinner around 8 PM rain began to fall. After a clear blue sky warm day in Ushuaia the timing was perfect, let it rain.
Today had been a very NAVY, as in USNA, day. For the boat, bus and train rides and through the park we had spent most of our time with two USNA couples, one from 1968 and the other 1964. Along the way we had again encountered Verne Lundquist and amongst us shared Navy sports stories and Verne's experiences with the "big games". Turned out that in Verne's announcing career he had done ten Army-Navy games, and during that period the win/loss ratio was Navy 9 Army 1.
For dinner tonight we had a table for six and as it would be four continents were represented, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. One couple was from Melbourne, Australia, the other from London, the wife being of Chinese and Mauritian ethnicity. It was a great mix but of course we all spoke the same language. That said the Englishman and Aussies had to debate who had the most British of accents.
Good day all around.
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