February 5-6: Ushuaia and Punta Arenas

Ushuaia (oo-shwiy’-a), Argentina lays claim to being the southernmost city in the world. Chile disputes that claim because it has a small village just south of Ushuaia. In either case, it’s a lovely city with mountains and water all around.

We missed visiting Ushuaia 8 years ago. The night before we were supposed to visit this city, the captain announced that a huge storm was brewing in the Drake Passage – dangerous to passengers AND to the ship. Thus, he was changing course, skipping Ushuaia and heading straight for our primary location to visit on that trip – Antarctica. It worked, because our crossing of the Drake Passage was very smooth.

Back to this year: The Tierra del Fuego National Park abuts the city of Ushuaia. We took the “train to the end of the world” and enjoyed the nice but not spectacular scenery, including a small part of the national park.

Mary has come down with a bit of a cold, so she is laying low. Thus, in Punta Arenas, I went on our planned shore excursion and Mary stayed on the ship. The tour included a lot of history related to Magellan and his discovery of the appropriately named Magellan Straight, a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1520. There will be a big celebration later this year commemorating that discovery 500 years ago. I visited both an outdoor and an indoor museum devoted to Magellan and his exploits.

A sobering thought: We have been keeping up to date on the coronavirus. There have been outbreaks on several of our planned countries, including Singapore and Australia. We also note that a significant number of cruise ships have passengers affected by the virus and/or have been denied entry to various countries. How all of this will affect our ship is anyone’s guess. We do have confidence that our captain and Holland America will do their best to keep us safe.

Edited on February 13 to add 5 photos.