Wednesday, December 28
Arrive to Ushuaia, Argentina

This morning we arrive to the southernmost town in the world, Ushuaia! Located on the shores of the Beagle Channel, this beautiful region is home to mountains, forests and glaciers. After checking into our hotel, you will have time to shower and relax before our official expedition welcome followed by a group dinner. We will explore the region over the next 24 hours.

JOURNALS for Wednesday (Updated 1:00 pm EST)

The expedition has landed in Punta Arenas, Chile from the air they were able to see the Andes Mountains and some glaciers. They will be taking off on the last leg of their flights to Ushuaia, Chile in about 1/2 an hour. Everything is going well and is on schedule. Everyone is a little tired but in good spirits.

JOURNALS for Wednesday (Updated 11:30 pm EST)

Geoff Green
Expedition Leader, Students on Ice

Bienvenidos from Ushuaia, Argentina!! We made it! It took 24 hours and 2 continents but we finally arrived to this southernmost city in the world at 3:00pm this afternoon. Some of the group managed to grab bits of sleep during the flights and everyone did a fantastic job dealing with the airport transfers, customs and other logistical challenges along the way. Upon arrival we went to directly to our hotel for a much needed shower and change of clothes! We then gathered on the patio for our first expedition briefing. Yes, that’s right… on the hotel patio. It seems Ushuaia is experiencing a heat wave. The normal cool and windy conditions have been replaced by 15-20 degrees Celsius weather. It was a magical place to hold our first briefing with the Beagle Channel as a backdrop. All of the staff and students took turns introducing themselves, and we talked about the details of our days ahead. The Good Karma of our group is palpable…which is always a great sign of a successful expedition to come! Ushuaia is really just the starting point for our adventure ahead. It is a wonderful place located on the shores of the famous Beagle Channel and surrounded by dramatic mountains, forests and valleys. In many ways it is still a frontier town and it is growing rapidly as the gateway to the Antarctic. Following our briefing, we went into town for dinner, and then back to the hotel to find our beds! Tomorrow will be a full day filled with hiking in the surrounding countryside of Tierra del Fuego, a visit in town, and then a visit to the sailing vessel SEDNA IV. At about 4:30pm, we will board our new floating home, our expedition vessel the Akademik Shokalskiiy, and set sail around 5:30pm eastward down the Beagle Channel! Buenos noches…

Jason Hammond

The intensity of Ushuaia's Andean beauty has been a warm welcome for our flight-weary expedition. We now number our full 52 members, including students, chaperones, the education team, Geoff and Diz. We are celebrating, as one might expect after 36 hours in planes and airports, rewarded with a full meal, stunning views, and a chance to ground ourselves with a shower and real bed. Enduring this trip of 8,500km together has helped us to form some of the new friendships that will flourish over the next few weeks. Many of us have also had a chance to chat with some of the knowledgable experts who have joined our expedition, learning about the geology and history of the areas we travel through. We also juggled customs forms, stood in line for various inspections, and ate and slept whenever we could manage it. Now we have emerged at the beautiful port city of Ushuaia, Argentina, bustling in the midst of a busy summer season. With every hour, we have come closer to our prized land of ice and penguins. The excitement has grown with each conversation, and we are all ready to set sail tomorrow afternoon. After a morning tour of this community that serves the Southern seas, we will join the Russian crew on board our new home for the next few weeks. As Geoff has explained to us during our first expedition meeting, we will soon learn the importance of flexibility, the practicality of function over fashion, and the ways we can support each other as we adapt to life aboard a research vessel. We also heard our first lecture tonight, as Fred enthralled us with stories of Magellan's exploration of this region. Fred's friendly and helpful nature is reflected in the other educators on our team, and we all look forward to engaging with their valuable wisdom. For me personally, I've enjoyed the chance to see a few old friends from the climate advocacy circles in Canada, and I'm thrilled to be meeting so many other passionately interested people. One of my main goals over the next few weeks is to use my role as a chaperone to ensure that the young students gain deep inspiration from their experience here, and are ready to share that inspiration effectively with their communities at home. This is my first trip to the Southern Hemisphere, and I gathered with a few others to gaze at the Southern Cross. When shuttling between planes and airports, the sheer distance travelled can become an objective fact or simple point of discussion. From here at the tip of South America, where I can stare at stars from a section of the galaxy I've never witnessed, I am reminded of not only how far we've come, but how intriguing and entrancing our natural world can be. Tonight, one duty remains: it's time to get a solid night's sleep, and wake up with a new energy for tomorrow's adventures. Goodnight world.

Jason Shim

The day was filled with seat-sitting, form-filling and a lot of laughing. If I were travelling alone to Ushuaia I think I would go crazy from the boredom, but I am so glad there are other people here with whom I can share the experience and have a great time.The highlight of my day came right before we were about to land in Ushuaia, when a voice announced on the intercom that a "non-toxic insecticide" was going to be sprayed in the cabin. I turned around and saw other bewildered faces-- we didn't understand whether this meant the insecticide would be injected through the ventilation system or we would be sprayed down from head to toe. I mean, some people were still eating their lunch! Much to my amusement, a stewardess shuffled by, sort of half-squatting and half-walking aisles with two cans of insecticide at her sides and spraying it over our shoes. I guess Chilean insects aren't too welcome in Argentina. But all humour aside, it served as a sobering reminder of how fragile ecosystems can be when foreign organisms are introduced.This afternoon we had our first formal expedition meeting and I finally had a chance to get to know everyone, at least by name. I look forward to getting to know everyone better as the time goes by. Fred treated us to an abbrieviated history of all the places we flew over. The man is a human encyclopedia!

We all enjoyed dinner at Nautico with the backdrop of a beautiful sunset. After gulping down our dessert, we all hopped back on the bus and made our way to our amazing hotel. I can't believe how incredible these accomodations are. Anyway, it's time to get to bed as we have to be up bright and early and I'm going to try and go for a walk for a few others before breakfast to explore the surrounding area. Sweet dreams!