When I recently spotted a national newspaper advertisement for a Celebrity Cruise to Antarctica I was reminded that it was less than 12 months since my wife and I enjoyed exactly the same cruise and when one of the ports of call was Ushuaia in the Beagle Channel.  It occurred to me  that i should share that visit with the readers of this blog…

 

 

Berthing arrangements at Ushuaia are very central to the town and most visitor attractions are within easy walking distance…

 

 

On heading ashore we discovered a helpful Tourist information Office…

 

…directly opposite the jetty as well as a number of  local water tour operator booths in the same area…

 

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Prior to our visit I had done some internet research and heading my list was a visit  to see the Military Prison Museum…

 

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First opened circa 1896, the prison has now been turned into a multi interest museum with departments allocated to its Military Histor, Maritime Art and history and Antarctic History…

http://www.museomaritimo.com/eindex.php

Though still not one hundred per cent completed,  the renovation and  themes in the Presido Museum are particularly well done and well worth a visit. Individual cells on one wing feature aspects of not just prison life but also those of Ushuaia’s maritime past and its links to Antarctica…

 

 

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I mentioned earlier that all the refurbishment had not been completed. Interesting to note that one wing is completely untouched since the prison’s  closure and remains as it was when the last prisoner left…

 

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The museum is approximately 20 minutes walk from the jetty. We were fortunate on the day of our visit that the museum had opened early due to the number of cruise ships visiting Ushuaia.
Having enjoyed our Prison Museum visit we headed back to the jetty area and booked a shortened Beagle Channel boat trip with a local operator.

Worth noting here that prior to our cruise I had ascertained that the Whale watching season had finished and therefore any longish boat trips into the Beagle Channel  would not be of too great an interest. For the princely sum of 300 Pesos each we signed up for a four hour trip with just eleven passengers in the boat…

Readers may wish to note from the picture above that  Martial Glacier is directly above the head of the central person. This was hopefully our third target of the day.

The Beagle Channel boat trip was absolutely fine and we motored as far as the Faro Les Eclaireurs lighthouse and visited a number of islands to see wildlife and the local flora and fauna…

Once we had returned from our Beagle channel boat excursion we called on the advice given by the very helpful Tourist information Office earlier in the day and took a taxi ride  to the chairlift station that would transport us some of the way up to Martial Glacier…

Climbing the Martial Glacier lets you enjoy a stunning panoramic view of Ushuaia , the Beagle Channel and Isla Navarino in Chile…

What else to round off an excellent day in Ushuaia? Well my good lady carried on back to the ship while yours truly settled into the Tante Sara bar for a few well earned pints of…

…while catching up with his emails.

Yes, the Tante Sara offers an excellent wifi service and, as illustrated above, a great pint.

Ushuaia is a great visit with plenty to occupy visitors. There is a heavy concentration on wildlife excursions both on land and on water.
Footnote
The Taxi fare each way to and from Glacier Martial was  ARP 55 and the chairlift return fare was ARP 65 per person. The entrance fee to the Presido Museum was ARP  90  per person. (There were roughly 8 Argentinian peso to the £ Stirling)

It was interesting to note that a number of the local boat excursions were alternatively priced in US Dollars…

xxx