Kninja Knitter

It’s wild for me to think that we’ve only just past the halfway point of this adventure! The number of sea days probably factors in there, but I’m also doing a number of different things every day, so it feels like more time has gone by.

Travel Tales

When I woke up this morning, we were already in port at Ushuaia, Argentina. But my excursion had a later start – I definitely confused my cabin steward as he poked his head in around 8AM. I was awake, but hadn’t started moving yet. Because a lot of people apparently had early tour times, the dining room was fairly empty. I had a table all to myself.

The excursion was a catamaran cruise through the Beagle Channel, specifically looking for wildlife. We didn’t get a large variety of wildlife, but it was still very enjoyable. The weather was cool but not cold (except when the boat was traveling at a higher speed to get us where we were going, lol). At first, I was sitting inside and was joined by a group of people from Paris. They were quite pleased that our tour guide spoke French – each spiel was given in English, French and Spanish.

As we made our way across the channel, our guide explained to us that we’d be seeing quite a few Imperial Cormorants – these black & white birds are often mistaken for penguins. But they can fly. Yep, lots of them; someone remarked after my photos on Monday about the smell of the penguins, but I still haven’t had trouble with penguin odors in the wild. But this island, covered in birds, was pretty foul (see what I did there? 😉)

We continued on to the most famous island in the channel, distinctive because of its lighthouse – known as the Lighthouse at the End of the World (thanks to a book of that name written by Jules Verne), but for us it was most entertaining because of the wildlife sprawled along it. South American Sea Lions were lounging about in veritable napping nests. A handful of them came out of the water as we made our way around the island, and again, they entertained us. Pinnipeds are so fun to watch.

After we cruised away from that island, I heard our guide say there were penguins swimming around our boat, but I didn’t see them. Alas. The city of Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, reminded me a bit of Ketchikan, Alaska, though not quite as kitschy. Nestled in the mountains of Tierra del Fuego, it’s simply beautiful. And the weather really cooperated with us!

After our tour I returned to the ship for lunch and we set sail as I was dining. We then proceeded very slowly through the Beagle Channel, and made our way to Glacier Alley. Much to my disappointment, my reservation at the Pinnacle Grill (one of two specialty dining options on the ship) coincided with most of this tour. I did manage to see the first and last glaciers in the sequence though. And my dinner was amazing.

We have more scenic majesty to come in 2-3 days, and I know that others will share their photos. A couple people shared their pictures with me at Knit Night tonight, and I saw another woman skimming through pictures on her phone.

It’s ridiculously late now, so I need to sign off and get to bed. I’m debating whether or not to step off the boat tomorrow in Punta Arenas; I haven’t booked any excursions, so I might just take it easy here on the ship. The only reason I might do otherwise is if we’re anchored far, far away as we were in The Falklands (couldn’t see the ship from shore). So stay tuned. And tomorrow I’ll probably share some of my foodie photos, too.

Knit on. 🧶