Friday, March 9th, 2018

Ernest Shackleton once wrote: ‘Indeed the stark polar lands grip the hearts of the men who have lived on them in a manner that can hardly be understood by the people who have never got outside the pale of civilization’.

We awoke before sunrise tethered to the pier at Ushuaia and watched as the city lights dimmed down and the sun came up.  Thus ends our cruise this morning. We will all leave and go our separate ways today.  It has been an incredible cruise and we have hundreds of photos and videos with vivid memories of lands almost too magical and captivating to describe. Now that we have experienced them, we will never forget them.

We disembarked the Orion at 8am and headed to the Ushuaia Jail & Military Prison Museum for a self guided tour.  Some wings of the prison cells have been turned into art galleries and others reflect vignettes of life in the prison in 1902.

We stopped at the Albatross hotel for a tea and biscuit break before boarding the buses and heading to the airport for our flight back to Santiago.

It was so sad to get off the charter plane in Santiago and say our goodbyes as everyone scattered in different directions for their flights home.  There are only a few of us staying overnight in Santiago.   We caught our ride to the Ritz along with another couple from the ship.  We’re ready for some rest and relaxation and INTERNET!