Celebrity Infinity Postcard #7 – Ushuaia, Argentina

Today was a very long day and also our first on land for 3 days.

We were up early because Mickey Live is doing an early morning session called The Sunrise Club in the Constellation Lounge each day during the southern most part of this cruise. This morning it was at 5:30 which was around the time we started our transit of Le Maire Strait which passes between Tierra del Fuego and Isla del los Estados, here we were able to see hundreds of birds and it’s where we caught a glimpse of our first penguins. I was really surprised to see how many people made the effort to get up that bit earlier.

Following breakfast we went to both the morning talks, Mickey Live’s being the most popular as it was all about Penguins. Again it was standing room only at the back. It’s like being back at school but the information being shared is so good and has certainly been beneficial to our making the most out of this cruise.

Our transit along the Beagle Channel provided some spectacular scenery and again many penguins were visible swimming in the water. They were impossible to get a photo of as they surfaced only briefly to get air before diving under the surface again. It was almost if it was a game to them.

We arrived at Ushuaia at 3:45 and again the scenery around the town was stunning. We had booked a trip back up the channel to get closer to the wildlife, catamaran on the way up and by road on the way back. The photo opportunities were plentiful and between Pip and I we could well have filled a 32GB memory card between us.

We paused at several points along the way to view small islands which have been made home by flocks of cormorants and sea lions. The prize though was the 20 minutes we had at Isla Martillo to view the penguins. We weren’t allowed to get off the catamaran but the front was pushed on to the beach so we had a stable deck from which to take our photos. There are two species of penguin there, Magellanic and Gentoo, the former being the most prevalent.

10 minutes later we disembarked the catamaran at the Harberton Ranch which was a homestead set up in 1886 by British missionary Thomas Bridges. It’s now a protected National Historic Monument and retains much of its original structure.

There is also a small museum and laboratory (Museo Acatushún) which is dedicated to the study of the region’s wildlife. Part of the museum is the casa de huesos (house of bones), which has skeletons of South America’s rarest creatures. Quite a fascinating place and strange to find something of this nature so far off the beaten track.

Our way back to Ushuaia was by road through the Andes which took just under 2 hours, we passed some stunning scenery along the route and darkness had fallen when we eventually got back.

As for the weather, the wind was really chilly while we were on the water but from then on it was really pleasant, the winds got stronger as we reached Ushuaia but were actually quite warm.

Back at the ship we were all tired and hungry, fortunately the buffet had remained open so we managed to get a quick bite to eat before hitting the sack.