At various times today I felt like I was cruising along part of the Alaskan Coast. I was up early to catch the sunrise and then decided that one of the best places to watch the coast was from my starboard (right side of the ship when facing the front) balcony. Since I normally don’t invest in cabins this nice, I had to take advantage of it. Well, at least that had been my plan till I realized that the wonderful overhang which protects me from sun, wind and rain while providing an extended pool deck above us also limited my line of sight unless I sat on the deck and stuck the camera lens through the gap between top railing and panel or panel and deck. The over hang also provides a good location for chairs to be dragged overhead, feet to be pounded and the bass from the speakers to rattle the ceiling but that is something totally different.
Where was I? Oh yes, being dressed up with somewhere to go. Today proved why I brought insulated pants, gortex jacket and two hats. The second hat being loaned to the guy who didn’t think about packing a hat. But he had packed me gloves. Two right gloves as a matter of fact. Wonder if the two lonely lefts are on the dining room table?
The minute I can upload photos – you will see an incredible rainbow, towering snowcapped mountains and glaciers. I wish I could say that it was not evident that the glaciers are receding but the marks on the mountain faces clearly show a time period where there was a lot more ice. Added to the fact that the greenery is slowly creeping down tells me that there has been a steady retreat over a number of years.
So after attempting to take more than a few pictures from the balcony I relocated myself to Deck 4 (outside deck) for a photo or hundred. After becoming throughly cold with the wind blowing I went back up to our cabin figuring that if I am careful with the cropping you are not going to know that I cut the upper deck out of some photos…..
We docked in Ushuaia at 2200. Looking out – yep – there is a city there. Lights on the hillside, lights on the dock. Not going out just because it is there. Also because the catamaran run to a couple of penguin locations which had been booked for a reasonable 0800 departure had been moved up to 0630 departure. Not complaining – my tour wasn’t cancelled like a number of others, but still. 0630 is not a problem for being up, but it is 90 minutes before I can claim a free latte in the Elite breakfast buffet.
