66°33′ South

Started off the day by leaving my wind breaker at the hotel. Sure hope it’s not raining in Ushuaia where we have a four hours to kill.

A few years after the Soviet Union fell in 1991 there was an uptick in Antarctic tourism as Russian polar research vessels, sitting idly by, were leased out for capitalist pursuits. After 2008 or so the ships we recalled for reasons unknown (perhaps arctic oil exploration/espionage?) and purpose built tourist ships appeared. In 2010 it was the Russian research vessel Akademik Vavilov. Today I’m setting sail on the good ship Ultramarine pictured above, when it was first born 5 years ago in Croatia. Without its clothes on, it looks like an evil Bond ship.

It will carry 199 passenger, 140 crew, 20 zodiacs, 2 helicopters and sundry kayaks and paddleboards. There’s a lecture hall, dining room, lounge, library, cafe, gym, sauna and spa – a little fancier than my previous Russian ride.

Yesterday on my food tour there was another couple sailing to Antarctica with a different company. Their ship carried a tourist submarine instead of helicopters – not sure I would opt for that in such a remote location.

Touched down in a wonderfully sunny yet cool Ushuaia at noon. Picked up some new gloves and went for a waterfront walk

Quite a few ships in port today – the big ones won’t be heading any further south…the one with the yellow Q is ours.

This is a *fancy* ship as my niece Hannah would say.

On board had a snack, a ship briefing, a coat fitting and best of all, a helicopter inspection.

Typically the two copters are housed in sheds adjacent to the helipads to protect from salt water and are only taken out for flights.  Today they made an exception and had one out on display. Chatted with one of the pilots about some of the safety features such as inflatable emergency pontoons, salt water sensors that send out a beacon and inflatable rescue rafts to name a few.

At dinner the other pilot sat with us and regaled us with tales of world-wide flying. Waters are calm and are expected to be so tomorrow…also, saw a massive pod of dolphins. Happy days!