just call us captain jer and captain dave

Yes, that´s right, we both got the chance to "drive" a boat at the end of the world. Luckily, someone who knew where they were going was driving for 3 hours and 57 minutes of the 4 hour boat ride through the Beagle Channel. We were told by our tour guide, an energetic, informative, and enthusiastic woman from Norway named something like Gru, that we were extremely lucky to have the sunny, calm weather that we did. As we left the port in Ushuaia, we were surrounded by mountains that refused to give up their snow caps, despite the fact that it is summer. The mountains here are sharp and jagged granite. My personal favorite mountain, Olivia, looks as if it could be where the evil queen in any fairy tale resides. We enjoyed the sunny and chilly air from the top of the small boat as we headed towards the lighthouse. On our way, we saw 4 penguins searching for some chow. The lighthouse, although it is no longer in service, was very picturesque out there in the middle of the Tierra del Fuego waters. We also stopped at several small islands to observe the wildlife which included sea lions, coromanders, skewers and other birds. We docked at one of the slightly larger islands to go for a walk and were impressed with the environmentally friendly tourism that exists here. There was one small dock and one little dirt path on the island. We were asked to take nothing with us and stay on the path as to not destroy the plants. We agreed that it was a nice balance between being able to bring tourists to see these amazing sights, but still keep them in their original, awe inspiring condition. We learned about chocolate plants, which unfortunately do not actually grow chocolate, but smell quite a bit lke them. After learning about some of the plants, the indigenous people, and tasting some berries, we got back on the boat. On our way back to Ushuaia, we had some coffee liquor that was made by the captain, got a short history of Ushuaia, and had lots of opportunities for silly as well as beautiful pictures. Overall, an amazing ride with loads of interesting information, unforgetable scenery, and the freshest air I think we will ever breathe.