Starting last night, and more so this morning, the reality is hitting that the real journey is about to begin. We’ve been lulled into a relaxed state by the laid-back Buenos Aires summertime environment. Antarctica has been there in the background, and in “theory”, but it has felt anything but real. But now we realize that life is about to change! And the expectant level begins to climb. At our 3 am continental breakfast, everyone is quite energized! Hard to imagine another situation in which you would have so many people uniformly lively as they show up for their 3 am breakfast!
After breakfast, our bags are loaded onto waiting busses, we get our plane tickets, and we are ready to board. There is a bit of a delay, and we must wait in line before getting on the bus. It seems an interminable wait, but then we are allowed on, and we are on our way, through darkened BA streets. Soon we are at the airport, we claim our bags from the busses, check in at the airline counter, and then wait at the gate. People are getting more and more pumped up, ready to get on with this next important phase of the trip.
After a short wait at the gate, we board the flight for Ushuaia. Shortly after takeoff, as we climb into the sky over Buenos Aires, we get a view of a near full moon, big and red, hovering near the horizon over the city lights below. A neat view…. Worth a try at a picture.
The flight is smooth and comfortable. As we reach Ushuaia and dip down below the clouds, we get a view of some dramatic mountains, obviously carved by glaciers, some covered in snow, and the waters of the Beagle Channel below. We land, claim our luggage (fortunately, both bags continue to show up through all of this transition!), and put them into a big Peregrine pile. The Ushuaia airport looks more like a ski chalet than an airport terminal building. Looking at the surrounding mountains, I am actually surprised by how little snow there is in the mountain tops. Some, but not a lot. However, it still makes for a great scenic spot… mountains towering behind the town, which sits on the edge of the harbor.
The Beagle Channel from the plane, on our approach into Ushuaia.
Our bags arrive in Ushuaia. Rocky oversees the work to gather them.
We get on a bus which takes us from the airport down to the harbor area, and get out in a parking lot right at the shoreline. There is a long concrete wall across the street with the emblem: “La Fin Del Monde” - i.e., “The End of the World” – the motto that the town has adopted in recognition of its southern-most location of any city. They seem to like to play this up big here. It is about 9:30 am, and we will now be on our own, free to wander the town. But we must be back at this parking lot by 4 pm to ensure that we don’t “miss the boat”. From the parking lot, we can see our ship, the Akademik Ioffe, with its name printed in Russian characters on its bow, next to the dock that extends out in the harbor. We all take a long look at the ship, realizing that this represents the next stage of our trip, and our future home for the next 10 days.
In Ushuaia, at the public area at the waterfront. We can see our ship docked across the bay. That is it, the Akademik Ioffe, behind Joan.
In the picture of the Ioffe below, note the height of the bow above the water. Compare it to the size of the truck on the dock behind the boat. We will refer to this later in this journal, when we are experiencing waves crashing over the bow of the ship!
This is what "Akademik Ioffe" looks like in Russian characters:
The town of Ushuaia, as it faces the waterfront. I translate the sign on the wall as saying something to the effect that Ushuaia is the "End of the World", but central in importance to all!
From the waterfront, looking at the town of Ushuaia, with the mountains as a backdrop:
We set out to explore. We stop first at the visitors info center on the waterfront, and get a map of the town. Then we go to the 2 most highly recommended museums. La Fin de Monde museum has very interesting displays of native peoples from the area, and a history of the European settlers, shipwrecks, etc. in the area. The Yamani Museum focus on the Yamani peoples, one of 4 different groups of indigenous people who inhabited the area at the time the first Europeans came. This group was very interesting. They built canoes and lived off of the sea. Unbelievably, they wore no clothes, even in the very harsh wintertime. Instead, they covered their bodies with fats and oils from whales, and that protected them better than cloth…. Especially when they were soaked in the cold waters.
After the museums, we went further into the town. The feel of this place is that of an old frontier town. Informal, a bit rough and tumble and rustic, a sense that creature comforts are not that important and that the physical elements are never very far away. We choose one of a number of restaurants for lunch, then buy water for the marathon, and candy as a gift for the Russians at the base we will be using as “home” on King George Island. We make it back to the parking lot by 3:30, and stand around talking with the others that start to converge. It is starting to get cold and windy, and we are glad to get on the bus at 4 pm.
The bus takes us a very short way to the entrance to the dock. Signs in Spanish make it clear that only authorized people should pass, and there is an interesting sign referring to the government of the Antarctic territories and islands of the Southern Ocean. (One piece of evidence – we will see others later – that countries have not given up their individual claims on Antarctic lands…. They’ve just suspended them per the International Antarctic Treaty.) The bus passes thru the gate and drives down the long concrete dock to the spot where the Ioffe is tied up. The next few steps seem so significant, but they happen quickly. We get off the bus, walk over to the gangway (which is more like a step ladder going from the dock up to the ship), and we leave South American “soil” and board the boat, knowing that the next soil we touch will be in Antarctica.
At the top of the gangway, we are welcomed by David McGonigal, the expedition leader, and other members of the Peregrine staff. They take our names, check us off their list, and give us our assigned room numbers…. We are in cabin #514. We go up to the 5th deck (signs on each floor are bilingual.. English and Russian), and find our room on the port side. (I will at long last learn the positions on a ship! Port = left, Starboard = right, bow = front, stern = back. I’ve occasionally been accused of talking like a sailor in the past – now I really can!) We enter our room, and see our bags have already been moved in for us. The room is small, but nice and airy. A nice size window lets us look out on the harbor and the Ushuaian waterfront. There is a one single bed perpendicular to the ship’s length, and a sofa that converts to a second bed lengthwise under the window. We have a desk, and a lot of cabinet space. A small refrigerator and a small private bath. This is no luxury cruise ship, but that is not what we were signing up for. It will do just fine!
Entryway to the port area:
Here we are climbing the gangway up to the ship. David McGonigal, accomplished Antarctic explorer, author, and our expedition leader, greets us as we come aboard.
Joan displays our luxurious berth for the camera:
Russian, for "Your life preservers are in here." This compartment was in the cabinets built in next to the bed.
Rocky takes in the view from our cabin window.
A few more aspects about the ship: It is about 300 feet long, and 50 feet wide. There are a total of 6 decks.
The ship's supply of zodiacs -- motorized rubber rafts that would be used for all of our excursions off the boat.
We are delighted to learn that there is a 24x7 open deck policy on this boat. We can essentially go anywhere out on the decks, or even up into the Bridge, at any time, as long as we obey the rules and don’t interfere. The main rule in the bridge is to keep away from the window areas immediately in front of the Pilot, so his visibility is never obstructed. And just not interfere. Oh, and don’t slam the doors! It apparently really gets on the Captain’s nerves. Other than that, we are welcomed, can use the binoculars they have positioned there, and come and go thru the map room or through the doors that lead to the outside platforms on either side of the enclosed Bridge.
We go up to the bridge to watch the captain maneuver the Ioffe out of port. There is steering equipment on each side of the bridge, and he chooses to use one of these as he moves away from the dock, in order to have a better view down the side of the ship.
Once he has cleared the dock and made his U-turn, we are heading out toward the channel, and the captain moves his position to the typical one inside the bridge.
We turn to look behind us, and see the most dramatic view of Ushuaia and its surroundings.
Our life jacket / lifeboat training exercise. We got most things about right.
One of the two lifeboats on board the Ioffe. Fully enclosed, it could be completely swamped in rough seas and still protect its passengers. While survivable, the capacity load of 66 people in there would probably not be having a very good time!
Back to our cabins, we look out, and see that the water continues to be calm and smooth as we sail down the channel, still within the protection of the hills and islands all around us. Dinner time. We have our first meal on board. Then we wander the ship some more, watching the scenery go by from the outside decks. We see the moon rise over the hills to the east. We are definitely heading south! Interesting to think that 99.999% of the world’s population right now is north of us. And as it gets darker, we are getting used to the idea that we are heading out to sea. We get into our little beds, and drift asleep.
Here we are climbing the gangway up to the ship. David McGonigal, accomplished Antarctic explorer, author, and our expedition leader, greets us as we come aboard.
Joan displays our luxurious berth for the camera:
Russian, for "Your life preservers are in here." This compartment was in the cabinets built in next to the bed.
Rocky takes in the view from our cabin window.
A few more aspects about the ship: It is about 300 feet long, and 50 feet wide. There are a total of 6 decks.
-The first deck has the Presentation room and the “Gift shop”.
-Deck #2 is where all the crew members’ rooms are.
-Deck #3 is the main level, where we came aboard, and the main exterior level. Also on this level are the Dining Room (which will also serve as the general meeting room), Bar, Reception Center, and “Mud Room”, where the boots and life jackets are kept and from where our excursions will begin. This is also the first level of guest rooms as well.
-Decks 4-6 are guest room levels. On Deck 5, where we are, there is the library (just a few doors down from us), the sauna, and most importantly, the lifeboats! Deck 6 is where the Bridge / Map Room are – the location where the Captain and Pilot do their work.
The Library was just a few doors down from our cabin, and provided a nice "quiet room", accessible 24/7.
The ship's supply of zodiacs -- motorized rubber rafts that would be used for all of our excursions off the boat.
We are delighted to learn that there is a 24x7 open deck policy on this boat. We can essentially go anywhere out on the decks, or even up into the Bridge, at any time, as long as we obey the rules and don’t interfere. The main rule in the bridge is to keep away from the window areas immediately in front of the Pilot, so his visibility is never obstructed. And just not interfere. Oh, and don’t slam the doors! It apparently really gets on the Captain’s nerves. Other than that, we are welcomed, can use the binoculars they have positioned there, and come and go thru the map room or through the doors that lead to the outside platforms on either side of the enclosed Bridge.
We get settled, and wander the ship a bit. Then at about 6:15 pm, we watch from the port side as the dock workers untie us from the dock, and we slowly push away. The captain steers from a set of controls on the side, and maneuvers us away from the dock and turns around in the harbor, and suddenly, the water part of this trip is underway. We slowly steam away from the town of Ushuaia, and start heading down through the Beagle Channel.
We were warned that shortly after we set sail, there would be a lifeboat drill, signaled by an alarm of 6 short bells and then a long continuous one. It happens at about 6:45. As we were instructed, we all grab our PFD’s (Personal Flotation Devices) which are stored in our rooms in cabinets with bold Russian writing on them, put on warm clothing, and head out to the lifeboats. For us, we just have to walk down the hall, outside, and down a short set of steps to get to the lifeboat. Outside, the crew is there to inspect us, make sure that we have put on our PFDs correctly, and show us the lifeboats and how they would be launched if this were a real emergency. There are 2 such lifeboats, fully enclosed, so it could be swamped, turn upside down in the water, etc., and still protect us. We are told each lifeboat has capacity for 66 people…. And as we look at them that is hard to believe, unless 33 sit in the laps of the other 33. We don’t get in, but watch as 1 crew member demonstrates getting in. And then they demonstrate how the boat would be launched, by lowering it a step or two. Ok, we are now trained, and hope we never need to know any of this.
Dock workers untie the Ioffe from its moorings, and we are about to get under way.
Dock workers untie the Ioffe from its moorings, and we are about to get under way.
We go up to the bridge to watch the captain maneuver the Ioffe out of port. There is steering equipment on each side of the bridge, and he chooses to use one of these as he moves away from the dock, in order to have a better view down the side of the ship.
Once he has cleared the dock and made his U-turn, we are heading out toward the channel, and the captain moves his position to the typical one inside the bridge.
We turn to look behind us, and see the most dramatic view of Ushuaia and its surroundings.
Our life jacket / lifeboat training exercise. We got most things about right.
One of the two lifeboats on board the Ioffe. Fully enclosed, it could be completely swamped in rough seas and still protect its passengers. While survivable, the capacity load of 66 people in there would probably not be having a very good time!
Back to our cabins, we look out, and see that the water continues to be calm and smooth as we sail down the channel, still within the protection of the hills and islands all around us. Dinner time. We have our first meal on board. Then we wander the ship some more, watching the scenery go by from the outside decks. We see the moon rise over the hills to the east. We are definitely heading south! Interesting to think that 99.999% of the world’s population right now is north of us. And as it gets darker, we are getting used to the idea that we are heading out to sea. We get into our little beds, and drift asleep.
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