Day 6 — Ushuaia, Argentina
Early in the morning we took the flight planned by Hurtigruten (the Norwegian company with which we were about to depart for the expedition cruise). We were given the full day in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, until around 3 p.m. when we were supposed to check-in on the ship.
The Tierra del Fuego town didn’t really offer anything special other than a nice view of the small harbour and surrounding mountains. As soon as we got on the Ms Fram, the Hurtigruten ship, we were assigned our cabin and we were briefed about our two weeks on board. The nationalities on board were probably approximately 45% Norwegian, 30% German, 15% American, and the rest pretty much from all over the world. The passengers were just over of 200 and, admittedly, the average age was quite high (but you would be surprised to find out that elder people could still be much fitter than you during hikes!).
Day 7 — At Sea
First day free to rest and prepare for the rest of the cruise. The following day we were to arrive to the Falkland Islands (or Islas Malvinas) capital, Port Stanley. We were also given our water resistant boots which were biologically cleaned in order to let us get off to South Georgia and Antarctica, in the following days, without contaminating the environment. They weren’t required to get down to the Falklands.
Day 8 — Port Stanley and Bluff Cove Lagoon, Falkland Islands
Just after breakfast we disembarked to the capital’s harbour and we were driven by 4WD vehicles to a two hour excursion to Bluff Cove Lagoon, where we enjoyed one of the largest penguin colonies of the islands.
We then had the full afternoon to explore the very small capital town of Port Stanley. Everything was clearly influenced by British style and, curiously, my father with an Italian SIM card didn’t have any reception whereas I had full signal with my English SIM card. Interestingly, we were also told that the locals are considering the possibility of renaming the city to Port Margaret. We departed towards South Georgia in the evening.
Day 9–10 — Scotia Sea
A couple of days at sea before reaching South Georgia. They were spent relaxing on the outside deck or listening to a series of lectures given by the crew about the fauna and historical fact of the areas. We were also briefed with more details on how to behave in case of danger and in the presence of animals, such as Fur Seals, Sea Lions, and the various kinds of penguin.