February 17-22: Back to South America
Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
February 17
Passengers walking through the Penguin Room signaled the end of sleep. I went down to the dining room and, since the rolling wasn't that bad, plus I could see the horizon through the big windows, decided to have a nice breakfast. After a couple of minutes, I decided that maybe had not been the best idea. I told the waiter to cancel my order, got up on deck, and flopped onto a chaise lounge. While I was settling down, a lady passenger came out, one of the paying ones in her official Lindblad Explorer red windbreaker, poised, neatly coiffed. She looked about for a few moments, then turned the loveliest shade of green and lunged for the side. Even though I'd been seasick on the way down, I still thought "turning green" was only an expression.
Meanwhile, I wasn't about to lay outside in 30-degree weather for two days, and I hadn't been fortunate enough to be able to double up with a crew member. I finally found a cranny off the medical room where I could flop down. I spent most of the time there; it was warm and empty. I was even able to read; the only thing around was James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small, which I hadn't read.
February 18: Cape Horn
By late afternoon on the 18th things had quieted down and I went to the forward lounge. The weather was crummy as usual, but good enough to give us a view of Cape Horn.
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February 19-21: Usuiaia Again
Ushuaia is exciting when you're about to jump off for the Antarctic, dull when you're there waiting to get back to the rest of the world.
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I heard from one of the local contacts that there was an archeological dig down the coast: "you can't really miss it." So I walked about five miles or so down the coast to take a look (nothing else to do). It was supposed to be right about where the coast road turned inland. Nothing obvious. I continued on down the coast a short way, found some big shell heaps (probably human in origin) but no dig. Well, it was a nice hike.
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February 22: Flight to Buenos Aires
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Left: looking east down the Beagle Channel |
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Left and below: rare glimpses of the southern Andes from the air. |
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Coming in to Buenos Aires. The Rio de la Plata is the water in the background. Much to our disappointment, we landed not at the main airport but a small domestic airport instead. That meant we couldn't get our tickets changed to go to Santiago. The result was an extremely frustrating next day. |
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Created 15 February 2000, Last Update