Today was mostly a logistical day as we prepared to embark on our voyage to Antarctica and the other subantarctic islands at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. We dropped our bags off mid-morning and then spent most of the rest of the day killing time around Ushuaia. That was until 15:30 when we headed to the dock to complete the procedure and get onboard the ship. Our ship to the Antarctic was called the Plancius, operated by OceanWide. Whilst a respected polar cruise company within its own right, this company also has a good friend of mine, Simon Davies, from Spurn, on its books and he had arranged to be one of the guides on our tour.
Once the various breifings were completed we set off down the Beagle Channel at 18:00, although a good portion of the evening was taken up by more briefings and introductions. However, once they were complete we steaked out the deck in order to try and get our first seabird action. Simon informed us that this would be our best chance of catching up with the Magellanic Diving Petrel, and after an hour of feverish scanning before dusk we managed to pick up three different individuals. In addition we had our first Magellanic Penguins with several in the water, and a frustrating encounter with a single dolphin that surfaced twice below the boat but then never reappeared, and in the half light it was impossible to identify.
By 10:00, although still not completely dark, the light had faded enough to send us below deck where we settled in for our first night on the ship.
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