Welcome to our first BIG adventure for 2011. We have loved the time we have previously spent in South America and feel very lucky to be able to be on one of the last cruises that will be allowed to cruise Antarctica.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Ushuaia

Sunday, February 20th
The morning was beautiful as we entered the Beagle Channel on our way to Ushuaia.
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We arrived in Ushuaia a day earlier than planned.  We were able to change our tour to Hammer Island to today.  While we were waiting for the tour to start, we walked around town and checked out the shops.
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Our tour to Hammer Island began with a 2 hour drive over mostly unpaved roads….not as bad as our ride in the Falklands but not very good either.  At the Estancia Harberton, we boarded a small zodiac for a short ride on the Beagle Channel to Hammer Island.  This is a preservation area and Pira Tours is the only company that is allowed to bring tourists to the walk on the island.  Many other tours bring tourists in boats but they can not land.  It was really neat to walk among the penguins. The penguins are primarily Magellanic penguins but there were also a few Gentoo on the beach.
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We really had a great day.  The scenery in this part of the world is just beautiful.  We never tire of this place.  Charlie said he could live here.(I’m tempted to leave him!!!!!)  Don’t think he could handle the winters!!!!
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Monday, February 21st
Today was not quite as warm and much more windy.  We were very glad we did our tour yesterday.  We decided to just walk around and donate some more dollars to the Argentina economy. 
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This is a view of the Infinity with the yacht “The Octupus” owned by Paul Allen, who cofounded Microsoft with Bill Gates, along side.  They were waiting for the weather to clear to head to Antarctica.  Maybe I should have asked to ride along……

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We did find a pub to try the local beer.  It was an Irish pub but there was nothing Irish on the menu….guess you really can’t expect cottage pies in Argentina.

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