March 14-15 Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina (Fin Del Mundo)

March 14

Ushuaia is the most southerly city in the world and was on my bucket list of places to see. It's an industrial looking city as many houses and commercial buildings use corrugated metal for the roofs and exterior siding. Other area's look like a Bavarian city.

The winds here are brutal and frigid, our tour guide today said it is very common to have winds in the 100 to 120 km/h range.

Mark, Diana and I took a tour to Isla Martillo to see the Penguins which were plentiful and we were fortunate enough to see two King Penguins which don't inhabit the island but made a visit to the island.

 King Penguin identified by it's physical size and the colorful head and neck.

 One King penguin amongst a bunch of Gentoo penguins which were smaller and quite numerous.

 

 Magellanic penguins were the smallest we saw and most were molting at the time of our visit.

 

 Gentoo penguin

 

 Due to the high winds these tress only have branches on one side, the locals call them "flat trees".

 We experienced a few snow squalls while on the penguin tour. 

 

March 15

We spent our morning at Tierra del Fuego National Park and took some photo's to record the end of Ruta 3 which is the furthest south you can drive in the world.

 

 

 

 Ken, Diana and Mark, at the end of Ruta 3 in Tierra del Fuego National Park.

 Lapataia Bay

 Spectacular views of the Andes looking towards the border of Chile.

 Chilean Black Headed Swan

 

 Great point, this sign was in a restaurant where we had lunch.

 

After lunch we walked to the port as there were seven tall ships from various South American countries. They were all military vessels and eventually 13 tall ships will gather in Ushuaia.

We were allowed to board all the ships, take photos and talk with the young sailors who were assisting the public to board the ships.

 Naval bands performing on the dock in Ushuaia.

 

 

 

 Manning the guns on the Argentinian tall ship.

 The city of Ushuaia with the Andes in the background.

 Playing the role on the Columbian tall ship.

 At the helm of the Chilean tall ship.

Diana at the helm of the Chilean tall ship.