At Sea to the Beagle Channel and Ushuaia, Argentina
As if we had been sailing blissfully for many days through another universe and were now going through a strange sort of reentry, today brought tastes of the “real world” in the form of brief rain squalls, windy whitecaps and the final mountainous turf of Tierra del Fuego where our amazing voyage was coming to its end. During the morning our ocean horizon soon gave way to the darkened hills of Staten Island and the larger Isla Grande del Tierra del Fuego to the north. We were returning once again to the shores of Argentina.
Midmorning we were treated to an enjoyable presentation by National Geographic Photographer Flip Nicklin who spoke about “How Stories Happen; How Ideas Become Stories & Adventures,” relating Flip’s own adventures and unusual anecdotes from his many years shooting stories with National Geographic Magazine.
Soon the winds “freshened” and were forcefully ripping water from the wave tops and spreading white drifts across the sea. Rains washed the ship, then abated. Seabirds arced high into the oncoming gale. Throughout much of the day our winged friends, the black-browed albatrosses, were soaring along with the ship, as if following us homeward and guiding us safely towards our final port. The mountains of Tierra del Fuego loomed higher as our course headed towards the eastern entrance to the Beagle Channel. There, we took on a local pilot for the transit of the channel leading us to the port town of Ushuaia. “The End of the World,” as Ushuaia is often referred to, seems aptly named as our own magical world of calm sunny days -- amidst right whales, throngs of penguins, albatrosses, elephant seals, snowy peaks and many wonderful shipmates -- was now coming to its end.
