Have you got a pen Gwyn?

Saturday started with a leisurely breakfast at our guesthouse provided by our friendly host whose name we're still unsure of!

Around 10am we walked into the town to find out how & where we could book a couple of trips we wanted to go on.

Ushuaia town centre is a beautiful place. Colorful buildings stand side by side with a beautiful mountainous backdrop offering everything from skiing apparel through to ornate porcelain ornaments. Almost every shop, no matter their core trade, sells some kind of Penguin Merchandise. From woolly hats to placemats, you'll find it hard to leave Ushuaia without a black & white, non flying bird in your bag! Andy & Sarah Milligan would be in Penguin Heaven!!

It was our first mission to book a trip to see the Penguins, and that we did. 

After a reasonable lunch in the town we headed to Ushauia port and boarded Francesco, a catamaran destined for the Beagle Channel which separates Argentina from its neighbour, Chile.

We headed out on our 5 hour cruise past Fort William (the southern most Town in the world at the bottom of Chile) and stopped at the first island where we saw sea lions and Cormorants. Cormorants look very similar to Penguins but the big difference is that most Cormorants can fly and Penguins can't. I actually dispute this fact as I often threw my boring chocolate biscuit across the school dining room in a jealous rage when my friends had a Taxi, Mars Bar or even a Marathon (why did they bother changing the name to Snickers?). Anyway, I digress.

Sea Lions

Cormorants (Sea Lions in the foreground)

The channel had a stunning backdrop of snow capped mountains all along our journey. I wondered if the locals ever took this beautiful skyline for granted.

The Beagle Channel with Chile on the right and Attentions on the left:

Finally, after 2.5 hours at sea (well, in the Beagle Channel), we arrived at Martillo Island where we were greeted by dozens and dozens of Penguins!! 

Stood on his own amongst the dozens of other, smaller, Maguellanic Penguins was the only King Penguin on the island. His orange beak & feet made him stand out from the crowd and he stood there grooming himself as if he knew he was the most photographed Penguin on Martillo Island.

Apologies for the non close up picture, it was the best my iPhone could manage on max zoom!

People were bending themselves into shapes akin to a cross between a yoga position and a contortionist's grand finale just to get the best "selfie" with a photo-bombing penguin in the background. 

Luckily, i'd bought myself a "Selfie Stick" in New York and no-one here seemed to have ever seen one. Cue smug look.

It's basically a telescopic pole which safely cradles your phone and gives you a much better angle to take your selfie from. It connects to your phone by Bluetooth and a button on the handle allows you to take your photo. Hey presto, you're in 2014.

The boat docked at 8:30pm and we went for a early dinner (remember Argentineans don't bother coming out to eat until gone 10pm). Ushuaia has loads of excellent Seafood restaurants and as we're going to eat our own bodyweight in steak over the next few weeks, we thought we'd stick with seafood for the second night running. Grilled prawns and a huge fillet of Sea Bass. Delicious!

We took a 15 minute walk, uphill, back to our guesthouse and took a quick picture at exactly 10pm to prove how long the days are here!!

Just for the record, I am aware of how ridiculous I look in all these pictures, however, if you were on the edge of Antarctica with a shaved head, you'd do what was necessary to keep warm and fashion/pride would have to take a back seat!! Lauren, however, happens to rock the cute, 'cosy bear' look really well and even managed to get all color coordinated too!

Alternatively she could be a bank robber!!

So, early night now and up early to hike in the Tierra del Fuego National Park (the number 1 attraction in Ushuaia), then, a quick flight to our next destination in Patagonia; El Calafate.

Still loving hearing from you, so please do comment if you like reading the blog posts or just wanna say hi!

Loads of Argentinean love 

Gareth & Lauren