The Lemmers Lynns, Lachine, QC, CA - SA Cruise 2004, Ushuaia

The Lemmers Lynns
Lachine, Quebec, Canada
Bienvenue! / Welcome!

South America / Antarctic Cruise 2004
Thursday, February 5, 2004 - Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuega, Argentina

To provide an insight into the locations of the southern places we visited, the following map is included. The large version is larger than our norm (227 kB) in order to make the names readable on the screen.
Punta Arenas, our last stop, is near the upper left and Ushuaia, today's stop, is near the lower right. Cape Horn, tomorrow AM, is at the bottom right.
Note: In some browsers the large photo will automatically resize to fit the screen. To see it full size pick the outward arrows logo that appears at the bottom right corner of the photo when you move the cursor over the picture.

Overnight we backtracked along the Strait of Magellan and the Cockburn Channel to the Pacific Ocean to sail east into the Beagle Channel, reaching the scenic Romanian, German, French and Italian glaciers this morning after we were awake.
Skies were grey so the photos are not as spectacular as they might be.

A sign on shore as you approach Ushuaia (oosh-wye-a) , Argentina, reads "End of the world - beginning of everything". It is the most southerly city in the world. Chile's Puerto Williams, on the south side of the Beagle Channel, is actually further south, but is just a small village.
As seen in the first photo, Ushuaia is nestled between a bay in the Beagle Channel and the mountains - sort of a miniature (population 40,000) Vancouver. The buildings are rustic but many are painted pastel colours to liven them up. It is summer there, but our Craig red jackets are welcome. (The third photo is from a post card.)
The new development houses in the last photo don't have the charm of the older buildings.

On leaving the ship we were greeted by a giant penguin. Kay and Marg look on while Sandra and Ralph Shipton get photoed.

After a brief walk around town Marg boards a bus for a tour to the Tierra del Fuega National Park. It's more than 3000 km from Buenos Aires and almost 18000 to Alaska!
In the park there are campers, lakes, forest, birds, flowers, etc. One of the most striking sights is the beaver dams. Beavers were brought from Canada in 1947 to start a fur industry. The industry did not fluorish but the beavers did. Their huge dams now create considerable destruction in the forests.

While Marg is on the park tour, Bill boards a Catamaran for a look at some sea lions and some cormorants. (The beasts in the first photo might be seals). The sea lions in the centre photo are almost the same colour as the rocks .

This evening is Dutch theme at dinner. We catch a shot of table mates Lorna and Bill Switzer, and Marg (Dutch hat in hand) with one of the ice sculptures that appeared many evenings.
Our table is at the rear (sorry - stern) of the ship. As we eat we realize that the ship is rotating around us to head out from port. Brings home the manoevrability that never ceases to amaze the ice pilot (Capt. Toomey) mentioned previously.
Tomorrow we head for Cape Horn and then cross the Drake Passage to Antarctica.