So last night we enjoyed our final night on the Vavilov with our friends on the team and their guests. The dinner was an extravaganza with Beef Wellington followed by Baked Antarctica (Baked Alaska, polar style!). We enjoyed one final evening in the bar before tumbling into our bunks for the last time.

This morning I woke up to Woody’s 6.30am wake-up call and within minutes I felt like something wasn’t quite right. Last year we arrived in Ushuaia at a similar time and sailed the final few miles to the port over breakfast in the morning. When I woke up this morning however I realised that the engines weren’t running and as I tentatively pulled back the curtain I realised why.  There would be no gentle sail back into Ushuaia for us, we were already in dock at the port in Ushuaia with coaches and supply trucks parked along side – argh! I guess all good things must come to an end!

Rainbow at the world's end - Ushuaia

We had a quick breakfast and ceremonially deposited all of our smelly penguin gear (which was frankly beyond any washing machine miracle and was certainly NOT being packed in my suitcase) in the skips at the back of the ship. After saying our thank you’s and goodbyes to our friends on the team, we loaded up our trolleys and walked out of the port L.  

 

The rest of today has been spent pottering around Ushuaia. We had a leisurely ‘second breakfast’ at Ramos Generales, an old fashioned cafe with a fabulous French pastry chef. This is just at the entrance to the port and as such is frequented by the yachties and expedition teams during their precious few hours on shore between expeditions. Needless to say we saw a few faces we recognised which somewhat softened the blow of being back on terra firma. We also spotted several of the yachts which had visited us at Port Lockroy in the marina. So strange to think that these small yachts now anchored peacefully in the harbour, have battled their way back and forth across the Drake so many times over the course of the season.

Star Princess and Amsterdam anchored next to the Vavilov (small white ship next to my head!) at Ushuaia port

It wasn’t long before the port had some unexpected new arrivals too. Not unexpected to the port authorities I’m sure (!), but late morning two enormous cruise liners arrived at the dock. These being the ‘Star Princess’ and the Holland America Lines ‘Amsterdam’. These ships carry circa 3800 and 2000 passengers and crew respectively. We had seen each of them cruising through the Neumeyer Channel at Port Lockroy however ships of this size are not permitted to land passengers in Antarctica so it is therefore more of a scenic tour. They have always been an awesome site even at the back of the bay several miles away, but seeing them up close anchored next to the Vavilov, we realised just how enormous they were! I’m sure they have all sorts of amazing creature comforts on board including the HUGE outdoor plasma screen on the top deck of the Star Princess (which I could incidentally view from my hotel window back in town!), but we wouldn’t have swopped the Vavi for the world!

For those of you who have followed the blog since the beginning, you may recall me mentioning a slogan written across one of the walls in Ushuaia which I believe summed up my experience following my trip to Antarctica last year, ‘Ushuaia – end of the world, beginning of everything’. This faces out to the Beagle Channel and I had only ever seen this from a ship so we couldn’t resist taking a stroll to investigate further. Whenever I visit famous landmarks in cities they always seem to be covered in scaffolding, and typically this experience wasn’t so different. When we eventually found the sign there were cars parked in front of it, but having trekked that far we couldn’t resist a few snaps to mark our journey’s end .

 

The slogan that got me thinking!

Other than that we have mooched around the shops, sorted out accommodation for the next three days in BA, eaten pizza and ice-cream and even braved a peek at email! This evening we’re going out for Argentinian BBQ, then tomorrow the three of us girls will wave goodbye to Rick and head north to Buenos Aires on the next leg of our journey home.