Ushuaia

When we arrived in Ushuaia the skies were sort of mixed, clouds and rain. We waited about a half hour and then walked into town (taking the umbrella). We hadn’t had time to see any of the town when we were there in December so we wandered around a bit and looked in the souvenir shops. Then we stopped in an Irish Pub and had an Irish coffee… tasted really good. We shopped in a couple leather shops and I bought a new belt and a really cute fur jacket that’s also really warm!

The Valentine’s Day ball was held last night after we left Ushuaia even though it was only the 13th. The Captain decided to hold it when the seas would be relatively calm instead of chancing the Drake passage which we would be in tonight. They decorated the Showroom at Sea (yes, it used to be the Queen’s Lounge) with red and pink and white balloons and streamers… it looked really cute.

This morning (Sunday) Jim got up at about 6:00 to see Cape Horn. We were just rounding the Horn as he headed out to get some pictures. I was a bit too lazy to get out of the nice warm bed and I settled for seeing it out the window and on TV from the Bridge Camera. Smooth seas and almost cloudless skies! The picture doesn't look like blue skies, but it really was that way... this cloud just happened to be in the picture. It was beautiful and almost unheard of weather. The Captain was able to completely circle Isla Horne before we turned south to continue on into the Drake Passage on our way to Antarctica. Right now we are having Drake Lake… a far different experience from our southbound passage two months ago! Keep your fingers crossed for us for good weather! I would love to have some blue skies while we are doing the scenic cruising in Antarctica since we had gray skies most of the time on the last trip.

I’ve forgotten to mention that on many of the evenings the waiters are dressed in theme costumes. Last night for the Valentine formal night they had on red vests with red bow ties and today for he Chinese New Year they are in Chinese costumes. The ship decorates for each occasion…some more than others.