Buenos Aires to Ushuaia

After the glorious weather of yesterday, we woke up to a wet and thundery day. The taxi arrived on time and after a thirty minute drive, we arrived at the airport. We soon found a German couple who were taking the Silversea cruise and we waited with them for the Silversea representative to arrive and give us our boarding passes.

Waiting to check our bags in at Jorge Newberry Airport

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 Waiting to check our bags in at Jorge Newberry Airport

After about half an hour, we checked our bags in and went through to the departure gate. There were about fifty of us on the plane and we learned that the boat would have about 6o passengers in total. As we were waiting at the gate, who should come up to us but Daniil!! It was great to see him again. He is such an enthusiastic member of the expedition team.

The flight to Ushuaia took just over three hours and we landed about noon in beautiful sunshine. We were taken by coach to the restaurant next to the national park. We had previously been there for lunch in 2008 at the start of our Antarctic cruise.

The snow-capped mountains that ring Ushuaia

We went into the Patagonia Mia Casa de Te-Restaurant which is set in gardens with hundreds of very colourful lupins.

Patagonia mia Casa de Te-Restaurant

Lupins in the gardens

More Lupins

The lunch was good with a vast amount of lamb!!

Following lunch, we were taken to the ship. We drove past the centre of Ushuaia, which brought back great memories of our previous visits.

 

Views of Ushuaia

We entered the port and drove along the quay to the Silver Explorer. It was great to see the ship once again!

Silver Explorer at the quay

There was the usual boarding procedure, where we were given the passes we have to use when leaving and returning to the ship. We then found we had been ‘upgraded’ from our Suite 309 to Suite 413, because 309 had been damaged when the bridge windows were shattered in January by a giant wave and the room was still being repaired.

As it turned out, we liked the larger windows in 413 and an added bonus was being on the same deck as the dining room.

We had a few hours to wait until the ship departed, so I took the opportunity to walk back to see the 'Fin Del Mundo' sign on the quayside. This sign is where we took photos with Colin back in 2001.

Fin del Mundo

Close by were some beautiful flower beds. Being late summer in the southern hemisphere, it made a welcome change to the lack of flowers in Northern Europe.

 

Ornamental Flower Displays

As I walked into the docks, I saw this sign stating that Ushuaia was the "Capital de Malvinas" and that the UK was illegally occupying the Falklands and South Georgia!

The Illegal Occupation of Las Malvinas

We left Ushuaia thirty minutes late, at 6.30pm, as the ship waited for the delivery of a suitcase that had been left behind in London by BA. We sailed down the Beagle Channel in sunshine and dead calm waters. Everyone was out on the stern deck enjoying champagne and a welcoming speech by our expedition leader, Stefan Kredel. It was a great way to start our cruise.

Stefan greeting us

Our chef, Grant, and the sommelier, Mike from Mauritius, and, just visible, the maitre d', Fred from Holland.

Chef, sommelier and maitred'

Heading down the Beagle Channel and out into the South Atlantic on our way to the Falkland Islands.

On our way!!

In the evening, we had our first meal on board with Susan and Cris from San Diego, Herman from New York and Glenna from Las Vegas. We had quite a lively discussion about American politics! It was a great start to the cruise and we went to bed excited at what lay ahead.

Our first port of call will be New Island in West Falkland, a journey of about 250 miles.