Ushuaia and Beyond
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| Don practicing his life jacket skills |
We’ve had our emergency evacuation drill on our cruise
ship, the Silver Explorer, and can feel the engines vibrating as we prepare to
leave Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. Don and I were here almost 15 years ago,
before it became a special economic development zone and was still much like a
frontier town. Today, it has 70,000
inhabitants and an economy that thrives on manufacturing and tourism. The city is on a small beachhead on the
Beagle Channel, surrounded by water, mountains, and glaciers. The snow line is only about 700 feet above
the sea.
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| Mountains surrounding Ushuaia |
You arrive in Ushuaia, if by plane,
by flying down a narrow glacial valley between two rugged, snowy mountain
ranges, then glide above the Beagle Channel into the airport. Glaciers abound in the high valleys. Several years ago, my son, Jim, and I were
here hiking and enjoyed a wonderful trek up one of these valleys, along a rushing
river, and on up a steep mountainside to a large glacier. Stunning!
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| Lookiing west from the Beagle Channel |
We are now underway, have met the
crew, and are in the calm of the Beagle Channel for at least another few
hours. I have my seasickness patch firmly in place,
but am grateful for the smooth ride, at least for now. This is quite a ship, with beautiful cabins,
lots of windows, and plenty of service, including a butler staff to take care
of anything anyone needs. The expedition
crew is from all over the world and each has a specialty, ranging from marine
biology to ornithology to geology and history.
The scenery is absolutely gorgeous, as we are surrounded by mountains and glaciers. There is a little agriculture and several estancias along the Beagle Channel, but the terrain is too rugged and the weather too chilly to sustain much farming. We walked on deck after we left Ushuaia and soon retreated to our cabin to dress up in fleece and down as the wind chill required. We're very excited about seeing this part of the world and will continue to report on what we see.
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