Today we set sail!  Before that happens, there is a lot of hurry up and wait. I have to have my bag ready and check out of the hotel by 10am.  Then I need to meet the group to depart for the ship at 3:30.  That leaves the better part of the day to fill.

To help pass the time I decided to go to Tierra del Fuego National Park for a little while.  The bus let me off, literally, at the end of the road and only 17,848 km from Alaska!

Tierre De Fuego National Park was created in 1960 and protects over 68,000 hectares of the southern Andes.

Laguna Verde – the green lagoon – is appropriately named and very beautiful.

While photographing the laguna, I heard a tap tap tap coming from a nearby tree and was very fortunate to see this female magellanic woodpecker, the largest South American woodpecker & one of the largest in the world, looking for lunch.

And later, a gossling showing off for me…

It started  to rain heavily so that was a good time to head back to town for a bit of lunch and to meet up with the group.

Once on board and settled into my cabin,  it was time for sail away.  Unfortunately it was cloudy & rainy, so I couldn’t get any good images of the Beagle Channel.

After that, it was time to meet the expedition team – a great bunch, all ages, mostly from Canada and Australia.  Then the mandatory lifeboat drill followed by the distribution of our Quark Parkas.

8 o’clock was dinner time and the food (so far) is very good.  A pleasant surprise, wine with dinner is included!!!  Seasickness patch is on, fingers crossed that it works…