Ushuaia - Really The End of the World.

After an evening of Bingo (I lost), Trivia Reveal (we lost... though the answers were wrong and the quizmaster told me in a weak moment that we had the same amount of points as the winners, not that I'm competitive...), and just general revelry to celebrate a great trip - we moored overnight in Ushuaia port. Kind of a let-down after all the rocky eventful nights at sea! In the morning everyone disembarked and we headed for the town.

Ushuaia itself is a quaint small little village with the requisite tourist eateries, postcard shops and tour operators...and a marathon? Yep - the day we arrived they were having a marathon smack through the middle of town (well...on the ONE main road through).

Since we couldn't check in immediately when we arrived, we decided to throw on our walking gear and head for the chairlift to take us up to the local glacier. After 4 days of ice, we were simply gagging for more! The hotel receptionist kindly informed us that it was a 20 minute walk up the road, so we decided not to bother with a taxi. 45 minutes later, we finally made it to the chairlift after a long slog uphill in increasingly cold weather.

Having spent 10 minutes at the top realising it was another 2hr hike up to the where the glacier ice-cap would begin...and that we'd all seen plenty of ice recently and are inherently lazy... we made use of our chairlift tickets for the return trip and headed to the quaint little tea shop for a (well-deserved) hot chocolate and piece of cake. All that fresh air...

On the way down we decided to take the "hiking route" back to the hotel and must have missed a turn-off or other sign on the path as we promptly got lost in the middle of nowhere on a field. Lots of hilarity ensued as we all tried to navigate the muddy track with varying degrees of accomplishment (film clips available upon request and payment). It wasn't until we realised that our ENTIRE FAMILY was lost, no one knew where we were, and mobile phones didn't work that the laughter stopped...temporarily. :Luckily we backtracked and finally found the inconspicuous trail... (see picture below right with BRIGHT YELLOW MARKINGS).

After all that fresh air it was finally time to check in to our wonderful hotel in Ushuaia, the Las Hayas Spa & Resort hotel. I have to say up front that the name is a little misleading, but then Ushauaia IS AT THE END OF THE WORLD! They are a little too fond of their floral patterns, though the curtains in front of the bath are a nice touch... The Spa had a swimmingpool, hairdresser, mini gym and Squash Courts. My brother even convinced me to try out the latter. I am not a fan. Mainly because the stupid ball doesn't bounce, he's a great player, and I had to run into walls to try to hit the ball in time. Niiice.

Cape Horn!

We finally made it! We’re at Cape Horn. After another eventful night on rocky seas (why is it always between 3 and 4 am that the boat goes a-rocking?), we anchored just off Cape Horn Island at 6am. Mummified and without breakfast, we all scrambled towards the Zodiacs for the expedition to Cape Horn Island. This time, we finally managed to be at the head of the queue, even in front of the Spanish Armada and the German Battalion. All three Peeks made it onto the first boat out to the landing site, the first group up to the island walkways, the first group to the seagull memorial, the first group... you get my drift. Did make for some rather nice pictures sans other pesky tourists! There is only 1 dwelling on the island, that of the man and his family running the lighthouse. Apparently they have cable TV and Internet, their two daughters are home schooled, and they get frequent visits from the tourists that come to clamber all over the island. On top of that, they sell postcards for USD $4 each, which the lighthouse man will stamp with the Cape Horne symbol if you part with your cash. Hmmm, yep, I still wouldn’t trade with them!

Since we boarded the ship a few days ago, we’ve had a trivia competition delivered to our lunchtime table every day with random questions. Some questions are about the trip itself, some geography and some culture. Of course my brother is reining King Supreme of all answers...but when he’s in a bit of a quandary, it helps that I packed a world map showing all countries (and more importantly that Belize is clearly larger than El Salvador), and a 3kg South America Lonely Planet. Since we were joined with another table, and we know that the Peeks (Roger) had all questions right in the first round, I made it my mission to go inform Mathias that he had to count our answers if we had more correct than the table we ended up joining. Me competitive? No, never, totally not my bag... aherm. Just count the points OK. :)

This afternoon we moored in Wulaia Bay for a nice long uphill hike. After a 7am start and freezing weather at the cape, of course we were all psyched to be “tree climbers” and climb a hill above the bay for an amazing lookout. The bay is essentially owned by Cruceros Australis - they bought the only house and the land around it for conservation purposes and...what else... to turn it into a lodge for future passengers. The house is large and the surroundings are truly beautiful. Not sure I'd want to stay there for days on end, but then I'm not a bird fanatic or a professional photographer! Fun was had by all - but mostly my brother, who had this great idea to have me crouching in the tall grass / grain for a truly unique photo... unfortunately also meant that I spent the following 4 hours (until I could take a shower) itching all over with creepy crawlies and bits of hay and other imagined things... Turns out the hike to the top of the hill wasn't all that bad - quite a nice path (if a little slippery in the mud) and an amazing view of the bay, ship, and afternoon sun from the top. We even managed to get just over 40 passengers to shut up completely for more than 5 minutes of absolute reflective silence.... ooooohhhhhhhmmmmmmm!

Glaciares, Glaciers, Ice Everywhere!

After an eventful day at Pia Glacier, and once again de-layered (it's getting easier and easier to just sling the 5 layers on and off at the drop of a fleece hat), we were all in the main deck lounge for the cruise down Glacier Alley. And they weren't kidding when they said we'd see a lot of glaciers. Funny though, even though it's all ice, they all have their own distinctive shape, colour or just "vibe". I guess a lot of that was created by the crew who played Mozart as we passed the German glacier and served little snacks typical to each country as we passed!!!

Won't bore you with all the many many details, mainly because I don't remember them. Thickness, width, length, advancing, receding, blue ice, black ice, etc etc etc. Instead, I will just shut up and let the pictures do the talking... then again, you probably had to be there for the full effect (nah nah nana naaaah!). we passed the Romanche Glacier, German Glacier, French Glacier, Italy Glacier, and last - but not least - Holland Glacier.

I don't remember which pics belong to which... but here are some of them!

Pia Glacier - up close and personal

OK, I officially love, LOVE, LOOOOOOOOVVVEEEE this trip!

Due to the continued rocking and rolling during the night - so much so that my glass of water slid off the night table, but I woke up at the sliding sound and caught it just before it toppled - we got up somewhat refreshed if a little sleep-deprived. Since we had a long way to go to the disembarkation point for the day at Pia Glacier, we first played our one (and as it turns out ONLY) game of UNO. Roger dragged the cards with him all the way from London. I quickly ended up with my fair share (80% of the total?) of cards, which had my mother and brother chortling. However, fate is fickle, and they both soon felt the cruelty of "no green card because Marisa's holding them all in her hands" and had to draw, and draw, and draw... Who's laughing now?! After an hour, "we" decided to give up and pack up to be ready for the main attraction of the morning - a tour of the Engine Room! Yeah! yeah. Apparently their disenfranchisement did not go unnoticed as two other passengers commented on how "easily your mother and brother gave up. Boy, that game really got to them, huh?" End quote. Har har har.


I got to the tour meeting point in time to snag some of the scarce headphones - my mum close behind. Seeing as they were going fast, I asked for another for Roger. Patrizio (he of the "catwalk show with many models") promptly asked "where is your husband?" Husband? Ewwwwww. Yes, BINGO, the lack of resemblance strikes again. Unfortunately, I patiently explained that he is not my husband, neither of us are married, and - believe it or not - Roger is my brother. This had its repercussions later that day... But anyhoo. On with the tour.

Not much to tell, or maybe just not much that stuck :) 3 engines, 2 main ones, one back-up for inside the harbour area. 850 horse power each. They recycle and treat all the water before chucking it overboard and have a massive tank to store much and waste. Lots of important looking switches and signs and a bit LOUD. I took some pics and then made a hasty retreat to the bridge where I soon made myself comfortable in the Captain's chair. Much more my area of expertise, non?

In the afternoon we finally arrive at our destination. Pia Glacier. Pia Glacier. Yes, Pia Glacier! Pia Glacier makes everything better. It makes sleep uneccessary, cold showers fun, and breakfast buffet scrums an activity to enjoy and delight in. Seriously - NOTHING compares to laying anchor in front of a huge wall of ice, then hopping in a Zodiac to go WALKING on rocks just 20 metres away from said wall of ice... hearing it crackle and pop. Nothing! Well, maybe driving a tank, swimming with whale sharks, walking the wall of China, and sitting on an elephant. But Pia Glacier definitely ROCKS...also. :)

Oh yes, and Roger showed me how to use the Panoramic picture setting on my camera, so you will see that newfound knowledge being abused from here on!

Once again, they were a person short on an earlier Zodiac and I quickly volunteered to get that space. I ended up in a boat almost filled with a German group who were all very friendly and concerned that I was without family! For about 10 minutes. :) The "landing" was onto an outcropping of rock about 30 metres in front of the main wall of the glacier. Being in an earlier boat also meant I could get a prime shot of my mother making a rather dignified descent from the boat with my brother gallantly helping her (ehmmm, or is he taking a picture or me taking a picture...shame on you!) The pictures speak for themselves, so I'm just going to plaster the post with pics rather than words! Enjoy!

(Picture below on the left is by my brother - Roger Peek - newly contributing photographer to the blog!)

After some gawking at the ice wall, we then clambered up onto the nearby hill to a look-out point. Not even Patrizio-the-expedition-leader-and-entertainment-director's chatter could ruin it. I suffered an exhausting 2 hours of "Holland, are you single?", "Holland, why don't you come work on the ship for a year?", "Holland! Happy Single!", "Holland, I was once in finance and a stock trader, I wasn't always a guide" (accompanied by much chest-puffing), and "Holland, you left without me!" after I walked back down off the hill-top viewpoint back to see the glacier up close and personal. It appears that I have been renamed “Holland”. Great. Due to the frequent and loud use of that monicker by Patricio both on board and off, now even other guests are starting to call me “Holland”. As in, "Did you take any more pictures of seals, Holland?". AAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH.

Pia glacier was awesome, but the pictures cannot do it justice. The crew brought whisky and hot chocolate onto the shore for us to enjoy - whisky on the rocks, courtesy of Ice by Pia! (That's the Brazilian bartender pouring Scotch into my mother's hot chocolate by the way!) After a cup of delicious hot chocolate (without additives), the sugar shot to my head and I spent the next 10 minutes jumping in the air while my brother tried to capture it on Megabytes. My wild escapades got me noticed by someone else though... There was a professional photographer on board the cruise, as a guest, and after seeing my blonde hair flapping up and down in front of the glacier, he asked me to pose in front of the glacier, though thankfully standing still! I was Chosen...because I was the only one with blonde hair, and he needed something in perspective that wasn't dark. Yeay, whatever! I might end up gracing the cover of the BBC nature magazine!

Now you see it, Now you don't!

After a refreshing afternoon getting used to hopping in and out of the dinghies...ermmmm... Zodiacs (respect, please) we were treated to lunch and then promptly got mummied up EVEN MORE for a trip around Tucker Island.

Tucker Island is a wildlife preserve housing penguins, cormorants and possibly lots of other cute and nasty wildlife, but we don't know, because we can only circle it in the Zodiacs. Having taken the warning "you will freeze, wear lots" to heart, we all waddled aboard for our 40 minute exploration. I got a prime seat, NOT, right at the end - or start - of the boat next to the "Chauffeur". He's not a captain, so what do I call him? driver??? My position meant that, as everyone turned around to face the front of the boat and oohed and aaaahed over the cutesy little Penguins hobbling about on shore...then pushed even more to get in prime picture-taking position, I was persistently being edged backwards and thus off the boat. I managed to partly cling onto the very nice british woman in front of me, who seemed to sense my frantic struggles to hold on, and turned round to say "are you alright there, I am a bit worried about you". Worried or not, the rest of the passengers weren't going to give up even a millimeter of space and I spent most of this memorable excursion claw-like, hoping I'd make it back to the ship while still INside the Zodiac.

But fret not, mission accomplished and I managed to take some pictures while clinging on for dear life. After all, I know you all care ZIP for my safety, all you're interested in is results. And cute they are...

Back on dry deck, we lost all the padding (I WISH! Just the layers we added) and headed for the bar. Yes, even me. Since there's only 4 Zodiacs and 100 passengers, we were watching as the Spanish speakers went for their turn in the Zodiacs. So while they were getting wet - the waves had picked up a bit since our little excursion earlier - we spent the time in the bar watching seals frolic in the water beside the ship. When I say sealS, I mean I saw a seal on more than one occassion and cannot be certain if it was the same seal multiple times, or multiple seals separate times. Suffice it to say, I was SO excited to have spotted it, I spent a good hour with my nose plastered against the window and my camera at the ready. As luck would have it, every time my camera did "click!" it caught the slight disturbance of the water's surface left by the seal's quick dive. I ended up with over 30 pictures of water, sans seal. So I decided to just try to film it - and Eureka! In 30 odd seconds of filming, I caught its appearance twice (total visible duration approx 0.0002secs on film). the other passengers and barman really sympathised - mainly because I was so loud when I finally caught him on film and showed anyone that was interested! I guess the seal felt sorry for me, and as I was about to give up, it jumped out of the water just as the Zodiacs with Spanish Speakers returned. A spectacular leap which I finally caught on memory card!!!

We set off as everyone went for a nap / shower / triple whisky straight-up before dinner. Just as we're getting used to being just the 3 of us at a table for 8 - and having fun playing musical chairs and confusing Ramon the waiter, the table next to us take pity and decide that they will adopt us from the next meal forward. After lots of discussing between waiters, head waiters, more uniforms and guests - AND an explanation to those that were unaware, that the tables are indeed bolted to the floor and cannot be moved, so 11 must squeeze onto a round table meant for 8 - it is decided that we will forgo cutlery by the side of the plate so we can fit in 11 plates. Sensible solution...

It is at this point that I claim a momentary lapse in sanity. Whether due to Ramon's swarthy good looks, the impending table-crush at breakfast, or just plain exhaustion from so much wildlife excitement in one day... whatever it was, it affected my judgment. The 2 entertainment reps / expedition leaders trap us at the table just as we are about to leave after dinner, asking for models for the International Catwalk to show Australis garb. I quickly volunteer Roger, and his name is promptly noted on an EMPTY piece of paper. Hmmm. I then inquire how many other models they have lined up. I don't think I ever got an answer, but somehow I agree to join in the farce and be a model. As we say in Dutch "samen uit, samen thuis" (out together, at home together? Sort of - stick together, wherever). I get to model the itchiest, most horrible scarf known to man. Apparently that's just my opinion, because on my way upstairs to the main deck and the awaiting audience, a woman comments "what a lovely scarf, is that one they sell here?" My brother, on the other hand, doesn't get off so easily. He gets to model a sweater, a Captain's hat, and a coat. He pulls it off with aplomb and is the star of the show. Out of the 3 models (including my brother and me), he was without a doubt the SUPERmodel. No great piccies, because my mum had obviously been at the wine and Pisco Sour!

The evening was capped off with a forgettable round of Bingo (I won nothing,

even in the "last person standing without a number called" round... I lost THAT one by suddenly going on a winning streak. The Brazilians cleaned up - they won ALL the prizes! Although, given that Mathias and Patrizio (the entertainment / expedition guides) made constant jokes about being completely open to bribes, I personally suspect foul play. That penguin keychain should have been MINE!

Ainsworth Bay - DisemBARK! Hoppen zee in ze dinghy, ja!

Cruise nr. 71 got off to a fabulous start. There are two ships on the Australis line cruising from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia and back – but one is old and the other (ours! Yeay!) is still very new. They’ve "only" completed 71 trips so far, BUT more importantly... the captain was serving on the Mare Australis (the older vessel) for years before he jumped ship! We had a few waves at around 4am, but so far nothing stomach-churning. It’s actually a surprisingly smooth ride and our cabins are outfitted with a big picture window, duvets to keep us toasty at night, and a hot shower to make you think all is normal in the morning. We certainly went down to breakfast feeling energetic and refreshed!


This morning we moored in Ainsworth Bay opposite the Marinelli Glacier. It’s quite disconcerting to see that the glacier used to stretch beyond where we are at anchor, and now it is a white mass in the distance. Makes the talk about receding glaciers all too real.







We had a safety talk last night about life vests, best way to get in and out of the Zodiac and safety precautions we need to take on each “expedition”. So we waddled to the Yamana lounge for pre-disembarkation instructions. I say waddled because I was wearing layers as per instructions, including: underwear (duh), tights, hiking socks, hiking boots, cargo trousers, waterproof over-trousers, undershirt, t-shirt, sweater, outdoor windproof jacket, life vest, scarf, gloves, fleece hat... by the time I had to get my rucksack on with my sunscreen and water bottle... I was feeling just a tad constricted. When we got to the Yamana lounge, we were told to “fasten our tails”. Basically a strap that comes down the back of the life-vest, in between your legs, and then clips onto the front of the vest. Make it too tight, and it can be quite uncomfortable... wear too many layers and it may be virtually impossible to bend over to grasp the tail! I found a method that really worked for me – standing with your feet about a metre apart, start swinging back and forth until the “tail” swings up far enough in front for you to catch it. Since there were lots of people crowing around, armed with cameras, I might make it onto America’s Funniest Home Videos yet...


We're ordered into the dinghies in military (but always friendly!) fashion by the Expedition leaders - Mauricio, Patrizio, Rodrigo and Mathias. Naturally, there's always a few people that HAVE to push. It's not like they're going to leave you behind unless you make it to the front of the queue by brute force... but maybe the German survival /beach chair monopolisation instinct is so well-ingrained that even when the ship is NOT sinking and there's no sunning at the other end, they need to make it to the little boats first. I bet they could even give the average Chinese tourist a run/shove for their money!


There was suddenly one spot left in a boat and everyone was waiting for someone to fill it - but no one wanted to leave their other half or group. So I volunteered to be *gasp* separated from my nearest and dearest (and family) and hopped in to the boat. Means I caught some cool pictures of my brother and mother arriving and scrambling off the boat.

Ainsworth Bay, for all its beauty, doesn't have a lot of exciting things going for it EXCEPT for amazing scenery and an Elephant Seal colony that is purported to be there more often than not in the main season. To be fair, we did see a few of the animals - one dead (the main Man, poor thing), one comatose (his first "wife", sleeping with the occassional yawn that elicited excited "aaahhh!"s from the assorted tourists), and the escapee on the island just off the coast that had presumably seen our ship arrive and legged (finned?) it to the other side to escape camcorders. Sometimes I wish I had a camcorder rather than a normal digital camera - seeing the big mass of the Escapee hump and bump its way out of the water onto the dry was definitely worth standing in the freezing wind!

The expedition leaders are excellently informed and proceeded to give us an overload of information - About the Notofagus Lenga (or dissiduous tall birch? beech? not sure) and its shorter version the Coihue. About beavers and their destructive impact on the forests. About berries that tasted like apples - which we all bravely tried - and the Devils' Strawberries that apparently didn't taste like much of anything, but would create a bad stomach problem - which we all wisely avoided. Too bad, could've been interesting... and just the ticket to counteract all that white bread that they seem to love dishing up here!