Disembarkation day. A great night last night. Up early to see the last vestiges of the Beagle Channel, pulling into Ushuaia as we awoke at 5:59.
Finalised the last of packing and watched us do a 360 turn to pull in to the wharf at Ushuaia.
We met for last breakfast at 6.30 and were joined by Sue and Jeff, a lovely couple from Sydney. Sue had an Alpaca farm at Lardner for a while and Jeff is a life coach, having them join us for our final one was special.
Disembarkation from 8am. Mary and Phil came up to our balcony to watch the process. We also had great views up to the mountains. The beech trees have changed colour and look stunning.
We had garbage being unloaded and passengers with flights on bus 1 first to disembark.
Our luggage was to be left outside our door prior to breakfast and our cabin staff took them away. (We had labelled according to instructions with colour coded label, hotel or flight no)
The whole E team was lined up too see us all off.
We watched as bus one and two were farewelled, identified their luggage for dockside stevedores to place on the bus.
We were bus three- for transfers to hotels in Ushuaia. We said further farewells and thanks to the E team, id’d our cases and onto the bus for a quick trip up and across a couple of blocks. Checked in, left our luggage and then went walking around and down to find a view of the mountains in the light. Then a cuppa and time to get our technology reconnected to the world. We decided to try and get out to see Lake Esmeralda and booked a shuttle to leave at 12:00 and return at 3:00 or 5:00.
Then we needed to buy some lunch for the walk and Phil needed a new lens filter for his camera and I got a new phone cover (one that doesn’t stick to everything in my pocket, bag etc)
The shuttle all worked fine and the walk was looking good but got muddier and muddier as we went. We started in the beech forest with beautiful mosses etc. eventually we broke into a space beside a creek with the first of many magnificent views of the mountains with the autumn colours of the trees creeping up their sides.
The walk was messy and we were trying so hard to keep clothes and shoes clean (to no avail). More importantly we were trying very hard not to slip and do an injury or fall in the mud. We saw several people who’d obviously taken a tumble.
The conditions got worse as we went and it was a challenge to pick out the solid rock or wood in the mud.
There were some new boardwalks over some boggier creek sections. We saw a beaver dam and the views were spectacular, we were clicking away, but needed to push on to get to the actual lake and back for our shuttle which was now definitely going to be 5 rather than 3pm.
We reckon it was a 9km walk and coming back these are my attempt to describe it succinctly…
Laguna Esmeralda. “Autumn on steroids with a sound of music backdrop minus the green grass (mud) and Julie Andrews.”
Back to town about 6pm and then we needed to walk uphill back to hotel to try and tidy up, shower, some pre’s at the bar – the boys with their go to Quilmes beer and Mary and I had a delicious G&T (Brighton gin) while we tried to variously sort our tech issues. Flexiroam had worked for us, but the set up has been problematic for both Mary and I. The jury is still out for Steve on his android as he still hasn’t had success.
Dinner tonight was at the thrice recommended La Estancia – a Parilla/bbq and OMG it was amazing. We ran into Gary and Maria from the ship (New Yorkers) who advised that the meals were large.
We chose to share the Lamb, Tenderloin, and sirloin with a salad and mashed spud, it was so good – tender, tasty and delicious. We all didn’t know which to leave for that final bite you want to finish with. Of course there were the obligatory beers (another Malvinas brew – Oshovia) Mary and I had a Pisco sour and later another Brighton G&T.
BTW – after we left Ushuaia for the cruise the I started getting notifications from the bank app we are using for ‘Kitty’ we were receiving deposits from all the places we’d eaten or drunk in Ushuaia – it seemed we were making a profit. Some sort of tax refund to encourage spending in the area. Our kitty was in a healthy condition again by the time we returned today. Pretty cool we thought.
We walked home to hotel arriving about midnight. Some of us went upstairs to see if we could see the Sylvia Earle at dock – we didn’t have a view, so unsure if she’d left since we walked to dinner about 8.30pm.
A long day, with lots packed in. We are all a bit stiff and sore from walk but completely satisfied with the scenery we were rewarded with and the food we’d been recommended.
The room door lock is a bit dicky, we had trouble getting in and were both about to lose the plot – being well after midnight and we just wanted to sleep. All good eventually.
Travel adventures with Nicola & co. 