Our final day...

Monday 18th January 

After such a lazy day yesterday today was a bit of a giggle really. All of a sudden we realised we were getting off tomorrow and that we would all be going our separate ways. Frenetic activity definitely marked the day with people exchanging email and facebook details and many cries of "if you ever get to Brisbane look us up..."

The consensus was that on a centralised computer we could each put of 5-10 best photos and at the end of the day those who wanted to could download/copy those shots so that no-one missed out. There were things that some of us saw that others missed when taking zodiac rides and of course different photographers take different shots. I sifted through my shots quickly and added to the pile and happily took a sample of the others best. 

Throughout the day we also had our presentation of certificates to verify that we have been to Antarctica and the crew had done up a DVD/CD with a slide show of our journey and all the daily running sheets, maps, animal counts, lecture notes etc. It was awesome how much work they put into it. I think most of us had expected to be handed a sheaf of papers that had the rundown of the days events but this exceeded our expectations by such a large margin.

Early in the morning we had left the Drake and moved into the Beagle channel so the water was calm again, the wind had dropped and we could see land. We anchored at about 2 pm and waited for the pilot to come aboard to lead us into Ushuaia harbour. It felt so strange to be anchored so close to our landing point and knowing that we didn't dock until tomorrow.

The day wore on with all of us returning our lifevests and gumboots and getting our gear packed for disembarkation tomorrow with the firm belief that we would not have the energy or inclination after tonights promised party.

And party we did. I think most of us went down for a drink or 2 with the crew to say thanks for taking such good care of us and showing us such a great time. I know that Dave and I had a couple of "quiet" ones as a parting gesture with our friends.

Somehow a big party seemed a fitting end to such a big trip.
The photos here are our merry little band of travellers, our tour guides/lecturers, and the 2 Augustines.