The ship Ushuaia
Wednesday 3 November 2010
The ship M/V Ushuaia sits alongside the pier surrounded by a flurry of
activity. Truck after truck after truck pulls alongside – unloading
begins of provisions in boxes, crates and huge sacks. Shouts are heard
as crew form a human chain tossing fruits, vegetables, meats, and
goodies for the bar from one person to the next. Tank trucks of fuel,
hoses running every which way, officials coming and going, engineers
running from one end of the ship to the other … the town, the pier, the
crew is preparing the Ushuaia to sail south to a crystal fortress of ice
– Antarctica! The weather today is a foreboding, dull gray overcast. The
dark forest, the gray mountains, even the white of the snow and glaciers
are subdued, flat almost. Flat is hard to comprehend in this mountainous
region of the world.
From the shouting crew my attention turns to excited yet gentle
conversations within groups waiting to board. Portuguese, Spanish,
German, Chinese, American English – English English – South African,
Kiwi and Aussie English all chat about expectations! You can hear a
little fear for the ocean crossing ahead, but mostly excitement
about expectations and possibilities.
Once on board with the formalities out of the way, we set sail. The
dusty chaos at the end of the world gave way to a gateway of wonder as
we pull away from Ushuaia, steering a course east in the Beagle Channel, with
Argentina to port, Chile to starboard. The weather has continued to
close in, the mountain tops disappearing beneath the clouds, a light mist moistened the air.
Our first night on board started calm and peaceful. However, after
midnight, it turned into trying to sleep in a swing… rolling from side
to side in our bunks. We had entered the great southern ocean.
Thursday 4 November 2010 – The Great Southern Ocean
The morning sky brightened the walls of our cabins. Surprisingly gentle,
yet persistent – the great southern ocean, – rocked us like a sibling
might do to wake us – “Out of bed lazy bones! Get outside and see the
world!” OK OK…. And what a wonder it was to see…. blue sea and sky
stretched beyond my simple imagination into forever.
Sea birds, masters of the wind, swarmed the ship. Pintado petrels –
(painted one in Spanish) painted black and white like swirling
snowflakes were the most common and closest visitors. Black eyes
sparkled in black heads as they skittered close to the rigging. Their
large dark brown cousin, the giant petrel dwarfed the pintado as they
circled the ships superstructure. And larger still the shocking black
and white black-browed albatross with an 8 foot wing span sliced the air
gliding in close enough that we could see the lovely eye-brow line that
gives them their name.
Appearing from beyond the horizon, I see a white patch stand out like a
spotlight against the rising and falling sea. Still at a distance, yet
clearly now I could see, the largest flying bird in the world coming
Hi, I am the photographer of the above photo taken from my trip to Antarctica mentioned above, please feel free to view more on my website of Antarctica and other countries, cheers, Jaime