It is 4:30 in the morning here in
Ushuaia, Argentina and this is the second time that I'm writing this blog. We have to be at team breakfast at 7:00 am, so I need to hustle and get this completed. I would like to get some sleep, but I wanted to ensure I was caught up with my blog chronological order before I get on the ship tomorrow.....here I go again.
I am now in
Ushuaia, Argentina which is the southern most port on tip of South America. It is an absolutely stunning city. As you look out over the harbor from the picture above, the country of Argentina is on the left and the country of
Chile on the right. The mountains seem to
jettison from the water. On all sides you are surrounded with mountains that remind me of the
Sawtooths in Idaho. Some of the expedition members from Europe have mentioned that
Ushuaia has a
Swiss Chalet feel.
Tomorrow, our expedition boards a Russian scientific vessel and will head south out of this harbor and into Drake's Passage (see Drake's Passage posting). As you look out at the harbor, behind you a high jagged mountain and glacier tower above the city of Ushuaia. The picture 
above was taken from my hotel room during the tail end of a rain storm. The rain has dramatically cooled the temperature and provided a new layer of snow to the mountain peaks. The wind also provides a wind child that doesn't keep me warm in my Mountain Hardware Winderstopper jacket unless I 
have a thermal and shirt underneath. The change in the weather ironically will probably be better preparation for Antarctica.
March 14th - We met Robert Swan and the expedition leaders today for a short briefing. He was late for the meeting because he rode his mountain bike back from the airport. Now that might not seem like much, but if you look at the pictures, the airport is down by the harbor (next to the water) and the hotel is quite a bit up the mountain. On top of that, Robert is 54 years old...and by the looks of it, tough as nails. He is a very strong and commanding speaker and he challenged us to take time to consider what this adventure is going to do for us and how it will change our lives. The expedition leaders then outlined what we would be doing before boarding the ship and heading to Antarctica. One of those tasks was a mountain glacier climb. The leaders gave us 15 minutes for a kit check (gear inspection). If we did not pass, they would provide enough time for you to go into the city and purchase those needed items before departure. My expedition partner and I both passed....nice!
After inspection some of us went into town for dinner. We found a nice Argentine BBQ house and of course ordered a nice thick steak.
Domingo in the white shirt is from Spain and acted as our interpreter. Ted (the young lad across the table from Domingo) is from England. He is a cricket player and in extremely good shape.
Jannis is the balding chap. He is from Germany and ironically enough spent is junior year in high school on a foreign exchange program in Utah. When I mentioned that I was from Idaho, he hit me on the shoulder and said, "Idaho, no way, I have been to Idaho. We proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes sharing stores. The rest of the evening was spend discussing the differences between
cricket and baseball with Ted.
March 15th - We were up at first light to start our mountain glacier climb. It was cold and windy, but our small team did very well. It was very slick and snowy due to the storm that went through the previous two days. The climb ended up taking half the day.
Well tomorrow is a huge day. My partner and I have our gear packed and we are ready for a quick check out. Then we will spend a few hours in town getting some souvenirs.
The weather continues to be cold, windy and snowy. Team members are wearing so many layers they look like little kids who have moms that won't let them out of the house without wearing every piece of winter clothing possible. Then they over heat after moving around and end up taking half their layersoff in order to cool down.Today, we spent time in Whilamena Bay and from what I understand; Whilamena was a queen in Holland. We were able to observe a number of hump backwhales, fur seal, penguins and a leopard seal. As I have mentioned before,when we need to cross water, we use Zodiac boats. The bay was full offloating ice and you could hear it grind against the propeller when we hit asubmerged piece. As we went around the corner of the bay and entered a small inlet, part ofthe glacier crumbled. The zodiac driver told everyone to hold on as he quickly maneuvered out danger from the oncoming wave of ice and freezingwater. Everyone braced themselves as he turned the bow of the boat to take the impact.It is now evening; around 11:00 pm Antarctic time and 8:00 MST. I'm in our tent typing this posting as everyone is preparing for bed. You can hear idle chatting coming from other expedition member's tents, but it is muffledagainst the wind. The wind has started blowing a bit harder (I wish I couldgive the exact temperature, but I don't have it) and we are expecting tohave another storm hit during the night. The sides of our tent areflapping around like a kite and my expedition partner thinks it is quitefunning that I have my Hewlett Packard (HP) laptop powered up to continue making blog postings. My laptop is functioning quite well in the coldweather and battery life has been decent even with the draining affect thatcold usually has on batteries. My Nikon camer
a batteries are also holding up well. As we entered our planned camp site tonight, we had penguins roaming the area and a leopard seal came off the shore and has made its present right outside our camp area. We have been instructed to be very careful because these seals are quite mean and aggressive. They are fairly large and Iwouldn't want to get to close. It is interesting to me to watch the penguins walk near it. Tonight it was also announced that the Drake Passage is having a majorstorm. Winds at gale force 60 knots. That made quite a few people worried about the trip home. Time for bed..
