Once packed I took my bags down to reception and picked up my name tag, met some of the ecology staff and struggled to find a seat in the dining room for breakfast. It was quite apparent that many of the passengers know each other. After breakfast I boarded the photography bus and we headed into Tierra del Fuego National Park. It was a lovely park with lots of tall trees and lakes. We did a few short walks and then stopped at the visitors centre to look at the exhibitions on show. From what I gather, many people on this trip have done it before; some are up to their 11th trip!
After the visit to the park we headed back to town and had 2hrs to ourselves so I went to the supermarket and stocked up on snacks for the cruise. We then met back at the bus and had to be transported through to the dock, even though it was just across the road from the hotel. I sat next to an American guy called Gary and all I can say is I hope everyone else on this trip are not like him because he was a little bit creepy. We boarded the ship and found our cabins. I am on the 3rd Deck (from the bottom) in room 340 sharing a room with Francis from California and Eva from Canada. Both are divorced and at a guess in their mid 50’s. They both seem ok. I took the top bunk because it was easier than fighting for a bottom bunk. The cabin is a reasonable size with two port holes and 4 beds. We don’t appear to have much storage space so we have decided to use the fourth bed as storage.
We had a welcome meeting in the bar at 1700. The bar is just down the hallway from our cabin. We were introduced to all the staff and had a brief about seasickness and how to prevent it. After the ship cleared customs we set sail. I met a few people up on the 5th deck as we pulled out of port from Ushuaia. There seems to be a good range of ages amongst people and many people travelling without their husband/wives as they didn’t want o go on the trip. There are 7 other Australians on board and all seem really nice. At 1830 we had a mandatory lifeboat drill which was interesting to say the least. It took a while for everyone on the port side to work out how to get up to the lifeboats and then we had to cram into the lifeboats and experience what it would be like if we had to use it. Fingers crossed we don’t need to use it because you are literally packed in like sardines.
Dinner was at 1930 and unfortunately I had Gary sit opposite me at dinner. Dinner was ok but nothing fantastic so I hope it gets better as the trip goes on. We celebrated New Years Eve at 2100 (GMT local time) and were given wine for the occasion. It was a bit of a let down because everyone went to bed straight after that. So really, not a very eventful NYE.
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