The storm from last night blew through and left us a beautiful day (it was a howling downpour for most of the night). There is a ton more snow on the mountain tops, but a beautiful sunny, albeit colder, day has dawned (oh, dawned at 4:16am btw). We take our time this morning. There is nothing on the agenda and we can’t board the ship until 4:30. So, a late breakfast, lollygag in the room with the last internet we’ll see for a while (and even that internet access wasn’t all that great!), then check out at 11:00. Since we have nothing to do – we spent an hour or so lounging in the lobby reading and staring out at the now snow covered mountain peaks.
Around 12:00 we take our leave of Leyendas with a big hug and farewell from Maia – and a cute commemorative box with the Leyendas logo on it. Fabulous place to stay, would absolutely stay there again. The level of service – really caring – for you is just incredible – you feel like one of the family by the time you leave. But leave we must. We have our Great White Continent adventure ahead of us…..and lots of hours in between our boarding time.
4 and 1/2 hours to kill in Ushuaia. Hmmm…..we park down at the port and wander up through town – as usual. We figure we should have something to snack on to tide us over until dinner so we peruse all the little cafes and bars around the main shopping street. We settle on Cafe Bar Banana. Yep, Banana! Apparently a local place because we are the only ones speaking English here. Hey – we can pick ‘em. Ed has been craving a Hamberguesa completa (hamburger, lettuce, tomato, ham and egg), I just snacked on a torta mixta (basically grilled ham and cheese). The hamberguesa did not disappoint – neither did the beer and wine. And, finally someone thinking ahead. Included in the little basket with condiments is a small set of scissors designed to open the ridiculously impossible packets, saving fingers and teeth. Ok – one hour down. Oy!
We wander around town, and end up at the Ramos Generales for cappuccino and double espresso. This is the same place we had cappuccino and submarino the first day in Ushuaia. It’s just a fabulous place to hang out, get warm and drink coffee. And while we can’t post the pix right now, they had great old memorabilia, including some device from “alexanderwerks” of which we have a picture.
After wasting as much time as we can at Ramos Generales, we head back to the airport to turn in our car. Then we queue up for the taxi and end up at the pier around 3:00. A little early. We hand over our luggage – and the porter tells us to go on up to the ship. Unfortunately, we’re a tad early, and Sarah, the Head purser tells us we’ll have to wait until at least 4 – but maybe 3:45 (she’s not even had her shower yet, she’s still in her sneakers, and well, we’re way too early – but she’s a doll baby – so we’ve at least made one nice acquaintance!).
We sit on the pier (Ed wanders and takes pix and watches the luggage being individually hauled up the steps to the ship. Oh my, these guys are beasts! They are hefting these huge, heavy bags on their shoulders and walking up the stairs….my back hurts just watching them! We check out all the other ships – and you know? They are all – well – like cargo ships. The l’Austral is like a huge luxury yacht –and way bigger than even the biggest of these other ships. We’ve never really questioned our choice, and being here on the pier, watching them all (and yesterday seeing a whole bunch of other smaller little ships getting ready to sail), we’re really not having any 2nd thoughts.
4:00 finally arrives and we head up the gangway and are welcomed aboard by every officer and staff of the ship beginning with Captain Lemaire. Our bags are – of course – outside out door – so we organize and then head out to explore the ship. It’s a beautiful ship – small, intimate, yet spacious. The lounges are beautiful, all leather and wood. The theater is small and lovely – not a bad seat in the house – and they actually do have entertainment. Dancers, singers, the whole kit and kaboodle. Should be a great trip – on the ice during the day, entertainment and French cuisine at night.
We unpack – then attend the briefing with the CD who explains the cruise and what we can expect for the next 11 days – in 2 languages. OMG – he is great – switching from French to English effortlessly and funny as all. He has us rolling in the aisles –well some of us – Ed and I – and 4 French speaking folks. The rest – well – not so funny to them…maybe we’ll hang out with the French group…who knows?
Next – we’re off to our lifeboat drill. That’s pretty comical too. But we get all the particulars. And this cruise, you really want to pay attention to the abandon ship information. They are making light of it – for obvious reasons – but there is still a seriousness about the whole procedure.
By now, it’s 7:30 and it’s dinner time. Open seating – there are 2 dining rooms – the main dining room for “elegant” service and the upstairs casual buffet where you need to make reservations (because of the limited seating). We hit the main dining room, table for 2 only, and have a fantastic meal of soup, salad and chicken with morel sauce for me, tagliatini with bacon, asparagus and cream for Ed. All excellent, and all white glove service – literally. Plus all the wine you can drink – and beer – because they did bring Ed a beer without charge. If the food continues, it will be so sweet to come back from landing on the ice – to this type of service and style. Totally a different expedition!
After dinner, we sit out on our balcony, never expecting the warmer temps and the sun shining on us (remember, it doesn’t set until after 11p). We hang out long enough to see it set behind the Chilean mountain tops, then head to the lounge to listen to the piano and female singer duo. We can sleep when we get home (as our CD has pointed out) because – this is totally different – oh and – they will c all you on the loud speaker when they spot whales and Orcas and such – so really – there might not be so much sleeping anyway!
Tomorrow – the mandatory Antarctica briefing about how to conduct yourself on the ice, and our parka allocation! Yay – we’ll be official then!
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