Even though this report is for the second half of Monday, it is now Tuesday morning. We’ve had our first night at sea!  We left through the Beagle Passage (how exciting!) which is lovely. It’s truly a passage through the hilly mountains, a little to port a little to starboard, the straight on. 

Most of our evening was spent waiting for our test results to come in.  Five hours went by, and I called. Six hours went by, and I called again. We got the same pat answer both times, “I’m sorry. You will be notified by a phone call or a message on your TV.” After hearing the TV cue, a second time, John checked. We were clear!  (And might have been for hours— oh well.) We had just enough time to make it to the Manfredi restaurant before they closed. We sat by the window, gazing out at the Beagle Channel, dining on an absolutely gorgeous dinner— fish, steak, ravioli (the best) wine, and interesting bread. Nibble nibble, chew chew. We ate leisurely but were done quickly. Then, off to the Aula Theater to see the end of the documentary on seals and penguins (one tries to eat the other, but just misses.) As we were watching, the engines started rumbling! We were pushing off—hooray!

We were last in and first out of the movie— hurrying to the nearest exit for a walk around the decks and a last gaze back at Ushuaia!  Oh yes, we were moving and it was cold. 43 degrees. Just a quick walk here and there, then back to the room, where our winter wear was starting to arrive! All of John’s fit perfectly, but mine was only half right. The huge jacket was too huge. Still, donning all we could, we headed back out for a proper walk around the decks. I only lasted about 10 minutes. John stayed for 20 and came back very cold. All the long johns and liners that we packed are going to be essential for our trips ashore where the temperature will be at least ten degrees cooler.

But with a few pictures taken a lovely meal, and a cabin window to the sea— we fell into bed and were rocked gently to sleep. (Ocean is fairly calm this morning!)