Leaving Ushuaia
Antarctica. Antarctica. Antarctica. I have to say it multiple times to convince myself that this actually happened. I did go to Antarctica. I left on the 27th of November 2014, the day of Thanksgiving.
All of the passengers gathered near the port and it was obvious that we were all so excited. Since we were roughly 100 passengers, there were 4 buses taking us to the ship. I just couldn’t wait. One of the drivers felt my excitement, smiled at me and pointed at the bus that would leave first.
I really have no experience at all with ships. I only take small boats to dive sites, and twice I took a 2-day ferry from Italy to Greece and back. Back then, we couldn’t afford a cabin and we slept on the deck or on the floor in front of the ship’s casino. It seems strange now that you would be allowed to do that, but as a growing teenager in the 90s, it seemed like the most natural thing to do. There was also a point in my life when I got quite obsessed with the Titanic, not so much the movie, but the idea that this masterpiece of engineering just sunk. I had a small model of the titanic, I researched the life of its last passengers, I even had a titanic video game. One thing that always struck me about it, was how big and otherworldly the titanic must have seemed to its passengers, and how luxurious everything must have been.
For lack of any better references, that day, the 27th of November, I was boarding the titanic. It felt luxurious in all of its cliches. The ship’s staff was standing in a line in front of the ship to welcome us as if we were some sort of celebrity passengers. They snapped a picture of me as I was walking on the passerelle. I had to sign in at the reception and then one of the staff in uniform showed me my room. I was expecting a tiny room just big enough for a bunk bed and a shared stinking bathroom in the hallway. There was none of that. I was sharing the room with another person, but it was a large room, big enough for two beds, a desk and a closet each. We even had a TV. We also had our own bathroom with a sink, toilet and a shower. The staff left souvenirs, chocolate and a form to order wine on my bed. Someone had magically carried my backpack onto the ship. It felt all so luxurious. I couldn’t believe it. I then raced the different floors of the ship one by one. I wanted to see everything. I soon discovered the library, a gigantic dining room, even a gym (!!), two bars. I ran to the front of the ship, the back, raced up as high as I could to enjoy the view, marveled at the gigantic anchor, glimpsed into the bridge. I had the ship to myself as it seemed everyone else was in the reception area where they were serving soup, small sandwiches and welcome cocktails. As someone who for a long time, traveled on a few dollars a day, I truly had landed on the titanic with all of its glory and luxury. I was so excited about it which, when you think about it, is quite questionable given that the titanic hit an iceberg and sunk, but that was a small detail I wasn’t thinking about right then.
So I went back to the reception, sipping my cocktail and chatting with my fellow passengers. Many of them, I must say, seemed past retirement age, but there were about 30 young people on board from all walks of life. We went out onto the deck and watched as the ship was leaving the harbor. It only took minutes to leave the harbor, but it was such a moment of ultimate excitement. This was really happening.
After a short briefing and a safety drill, we were called for dinner. I was sitting at a large table by the window, the sun was setting in the background and we were served a 3 course meal. Since it was thanksgiving, there had to be turkey and pumpkin pie :). Just before dinner, someone spotted dolphins in front of the boat. It was a perfect start to a perfect trip.
The evening was quiet and people disappeared into their cabins pretty soon. I stayed up a while, walking the deck. I wanted to see how we exited the beagle channel and see the last bit of land disappear. It seemed like it was about to happen any minute. So I stood at the front of the boat, just outside of the bridge and waited. One of the Russian guys working on the bridge came out, and with a thick Russian accent asked me if I wanted to “kiss the land goodbye”. I said yes, a few minutes later, he came back with a cup of tea. It was two hours later, about 1am when we exited the beagle channel.
I must have been the last passenger awake on board. When I got back to my cabin, I found that one of the staff had gotten my bed ready for the night, and placed a chocolate on my pillow. There was one more thing that had changed: there were sickness bags all over the hallway and next to my bed. The staff was getting the ship ready. We were about to enter the Drake Passage and would not see any land for the next two days.
See more photos here.
A short video of leaving Ushuaia. Note, I didn’t take this video, Christian Geissler did.
