Today was our last morning in Ushuaia. Our arms and legs were not as our own after yesterday's adventure. Nevertheless we got up, made our morning gymnastics and packed our backpacks. After a breakfast we left our luggage for Francisco to watch after and went on one last walk through Ushuaia. We wanted to buy some souvenirs and a lens cover, because I lost mine in the wild forest yesterday.
After shopping we ate lunch. It was not difficult, because the waiters in Ushuaia speak English, and understand, if you point by your finger to another table and say ''the same''.
The seaport in Ushuaia can be seen from downtown because downtown is above the port. It was about two o'clock, when we saw a new blue and white ship at the pier, and recognized our Ocean Nova. It meant that the time to go for our luggage and say goodbye to Francesco had come.
When we came to the pier, the Ocean Nova was the best one of all four ships standing there. We loved our vessel at a glance. At the welcome cocktail the captain said that she is not luxury, but strong and reliable. It's right. There aren't any swimming pools there, but there are cozy salons and large cabins. The library has a good set of books on geography, the Antarctic and Arctic expeditions, wildlife and others. As we could attest later, the restaurant was excellent. And, the main, all international staff here is friendly and very professional.
At about 5pm our ship embarked. All the passengers, about sixty total, were called for a meeting in salon so that we could meet each other. Many countries were represented here. We recognized at least four Indian, one Italian, several Chilean and many Americans. It was surprising for us, but there were 18 Russians. I thought we would be alone here. To add to that, our captain was also Russian! I asked him if Russians are usually on board, and he said he remembered only a team of scuba divers about seven years before and two girls in 2008. So, our cruise was a special one for him also!
The first stop was the Chilean port, Puerto Williams. Our ship moored to a pier at sunset, in a beautiful harbor, surrounded by picturesque mountains. We had a long time to admire it because the boarder and custom procedures were only just finished at midnight.
Here we had our first landing. A bus was standing by to drive us to the Mayor's welcome cocktail party. A local guide told us that Port Williams is a real city with its own Mayor and government, and it is the southern most city of world. It is the real Fin del Mundo, not Ushuaia. He told us that the population of the city is 2,000 people, and apologized for the small bus, because the second bus of the city was busy. He showed us the main points of city like the school, hospital and navy base. The most interesting thing there, in my opinion, is the memorial of a ship, the rescued Shackleton expedition, which belonged to this navy base.
The highlight of the cocktail party was when they passed out waterproof shoes in bright blue bags.
Adventure Life is my favorite travel company due to their genuine care for their customers. They make every effort to ensure a wonderful travel experience for you. Their personal touch really gives the customer a lot of confidence with their travel plans and the trip leaders are always outstanding. They are truly consistent and accountable with the great service they provide. I can't thank Adventure Life enough for the incredible trips I have enjoyed thanks to them and their attention to detail.
Tim Duffy
1 day ago
Kevin Moore working with me and providing very timely answers to all my questions.
Sharon Worsham
1 day ago
Adventure Life coordinated all our domestic air travel in Argentina as well as
Multiple tours in four cities. Every thing went perfectly smooth. All the local companies were on schedule and very professional. We will surely use Adventure Life on future travels.
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2 days ago
Franny helped us put together a great itinerary, was very responsive and so helpful. We ended up not being able to use Adventure Life for our trip, but would definitely use them in the future.
Sara Grosch
2 days ago
Jess H helped plan an incredible holiday to Costa Rica for us. She was great from the start, she really listened to what we wanted from the trip and took into account mobility issues by arranging different excursions. The whole planning process was easy and stress free even with us being in the UK and them being in the US. I would highly recommend using Adventure Life to anyone thinking of planning a trip. They are also priced very competitively which made it even better.