Where in the World are Bill and Bob?

Punta del Este, Uruguay, is an internationally known resort attracting Latin and North American jet setters.  It has been called “the Pearl of the Atlantic” and likened to Monaco, the Hamptons, and Miami. Surprisingly developed, it boasts multiple high rises bordering beautiful beaches on both the bay and Atlantic sides of the peninsula. Some residential neighborhoods and art museums rival those anywhere. Punta has hosted yacht races, Formula E races, and the launching of the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations that ultimately created the World Trade Organization. Because we anchored off shore, we took a city-sponsored tender to the pier. Two of the beautiful beaches, lined with condos and restaurants. Sculptures on the water front, including “The Hand” fingers rising out of the sand, a symbol of the city, and a whale tail. Casapueblo, a fantastical former residence of local artist Paez Vilaro with incredible views down the coast. Now a museum and hotel. Museum Ralli in the Beverly...

The Falkland Islands - or Malvinas, if you are Argentine - are a remote South Atlantic archipelago off the coast of Argentina, and historically a launching point for whaling ships. After a brief 1982 war between Britain and Argentina, the islands remain British. (Margaret Thatcher, British PM at the time, is celebrated around the town.) There are remote areas where land mines still exist. Penguins of several types far out number humans. The capital Stanley has a population of only about 2,500, so when cruise ships arrive, tourists swamp the small port. Stanley is charming, and decidedly British. The harbor is small, so we anchored offshore and took tenders in. Government House, residence of Governor General Christ Church Cathedral and whale bone arch Thatcher and war memorials St Mary’s Catholic Church assembled from a kit  

From Ushuaia, we cruised south across the Drake Passage - a notoriously unpredictable ocean section where the Atlantic joins the Pacific - then spent three days exploring (by ship, not on foot!) the northernmost peninsula of Antarctica. Sometimes in the crossing you get the “Drake lake” (calm) and sometimes it’s the “Drake shake.” We we’re lucky: it was mostly calm. Because Oceania’s Insignia is a relatively small ship, we could explore channels and bays not open to larger ships. The scenery was magical and awe inspiring. The first map shows the peninsula in relation to South America. We only touched the northernmost tip of Antarctica, and got to 60 south latitude The Antarctic circle is 66 degrees, but you need an expedition ship to get through the ice to get that far south. This second map shows our route between Brabant (14) and Anvers (15) Islands, through the Neumayer (10) and Errera (7) Channels around Paradise Harbor (8) and Wilhelmina (6) and Charlotte (5) Bays, north up the Ge...

Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in South America, sits in the Tierra Del Fuego archipelago at one end of the Beagle Channel and is the primary jumping off port for Antarctic cruises. Nicknamed “the End of the World”, it was settled by English missionaries in 1870 and grew rapidly when an Argentine military base was established there in the 1880s. Permanent inhabitants number some 80,000. Tourism to Antarctica in 2020 was roughly 15,000, and has exploded tenfold to 150,000 this year. As evidence of that, there were 8 cruise ships in port, ranging from modest expedition ships to massive 4,000 floating cities. The evidence of the growth is everywhere, from multiple kiosks at the port entrance hawking tours to multiple souvenir shops, and, sadly, even a Hard Rock Cafe in the “downtown” area.  Beautiful scenery on the Beagle Channel  Ushuaia in the bay at the foot of mountains Cruise ship gridlock Tourist impacts Tourists…in the rain