Our hotel was at the top of the hill north of the city and gave us a commanding view of the Beagle Channel.
Hanging in the hotel's lounge are the famous photographs taken by Frank Hurley during Ernest Shackleton's voyage on the Endurance.
A morning look eastward down the Beagle Channel.
We will not be boarding our ship until late afternoon, so first we are given a tour of the city, followed by a trip westward to the Tierra del Fuego National Park.
While called "The End of the World" by the locals, the city was not without modern amenities.
The birders in our tour group insisted on stopping at a customarily avian rich area: the local landfill. Susan and I were hoping for more scenic offerings.
This is Argentina's Tierra del Fuego National Park. This is the absolute end of the Pan American Highway. It does not cross the channel into Chile. It does…
The obligatory tourist photo of Susan.
And then of me.
View across the channel to the Chilean portion of Tierra del Fuego.
Striding out in the park.
Late in the afternoon we finally get to board our ride to Antarctica, the Akademik Ioffe.
As we leave the quay, another Russian vessel stays behind.
Susan looks ahead with anticipation. And with some trepidation as crossing the Drake Passage is said to be often quite rough going.