Back to Ushuaia

We woke up at 315 am to get packed and eat something to before our 450 am bus ride to the airport. We would grouped in color coded buses but I was not given a bus color and had to ask. There were muffins and croissants and coffee and tea and juices out for breakfast.

There was not much traffic this early in the morning and we arrived at the airport and we given boarding passes by the Atlas personnel and directed to security control after disembarking the bus. We went to the gate and the whole plane was for the Atlas cruise. We flew airbondi.

The flight was good and we arrived in Ushuaia and were told we would be visiting the national Park in buses. We had hoped to have time to go to the RV for our winter gear which we had left in Ushuaia. We also wanted to drop off stuff my parents brought that we didn't need on the cruise.

The Atlas guide said we might have time to go to the RV after lunch.

We bussed through town and past the train station where we had camped for two nights and saw the rigs of the Chilean families we had met. 

Atlas guide stopped to pick up our national Park tickets and we stopped at the visitor center. The kids had some empanadas and hot chocolate and there was a nice view of a lake and the mountains dusted with snow.

We drove to the end of the world sign at the end of the pan am and had our photos taken which was nice bonus. There was a German rig there and a couple BMW motorcycles. We passed by an expedition truck we had seen a few times since Trelew. We stopped at the southern most post office where a clever man would stamp your passport for $5. We didn't do that.

The kids did play on the shore and touched the cold water. 

We then drove back to town to the a restaurant near a ski slope. Chez manu. The chef apparently had gone on tour with U2 at some point. We had a lunch of gazpacho, and scallop au gratin, and a lemon tart which was all not great and I didn't finish any of it. I probably should have taken an Uber to the RV at this point because we were there a while. 

After lunch we went to the ship to check in and I asked if I had time to go back to town and explained our plan. They called a port agent, Jorge, who gave me ride to the RV and back and I still had 10 minutes to spare. I tipped him $20. 

During check-in they served drinks and canapes adding to the wine they offered at lunch. We didn't drink so only my parents had the alcohol. Later while we were doing a meet your neighbor there was more alcohol and snacks. Basically they were generous with their all drinks included price. 

The ship room was so nice. Much nicer than any ship we had sailed with before. There were less than 200 guests. With all the chaos of leaving the ship and being with the kids we missed most of the intro lectures. The kids played in the fitness room and met the one other kid on the boat, Wyatt, from Colorado with his mother and his grandparents. He was on spring break. 

We explored parts of the ship. It was quite windy when were underway and all the chairs and tables were tied up and the pool and hot tubs were empty.

Dinner started at 7pm and we went and enjoyed their buffet. The spread was very high quality and the service was excellent. They had nice ice cream and sorbet and even frozen fruit popsicles. I think many of the guests were wasted at this point slurring their speech having drunk alcohol all day. People hung out in the dining room sipping their wine glasses. 

We headed up to bed. They predicted 25 ft seas for the Drake passage for the next day or two. One of the waitresses said it was 36 ft seas on the last cruise.