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A calm night

The night is the calmest night in many days, which is celebrated until 
late at night. We heave anchor just before 07:00 – so we are ready to 
leave when the pilot comes on board. We are only 16 miles from 
Harberton, and it is a beautiful morning. It is calm, warm and green. 
Around 10:00 we anchor in the bay of Harberton, on the Northern side of 
the Beagle channel. We are at Mafu’s home – it is here that his family 
lives and where he has spent a lot of time. The family is the first 
white family that settled in Tierra del Fuego back in 1871, founding 
Harberton in 1886.
After coffee time we go on shore to visit the museum that Mafu’s 
grandmother started. She was a biologist – when she moved her she first 
spent years and years walking the islands and composing a book about the 
flora. Later she started collecting skeletons and bones and set up an 
impressive collection of animals which is now shown in the small, 
beautifully designed museum. Some decide to have lunch on shore; others 
come back to the ship for a familiar lunch on board. Later during the 
day we all have a chance to be guided through the Estancia. We see the 
different buildings – the garden with many non-native flowers, the first 
house that was prefabricated in Harberton, England, and brought here by 
ship. We look at the wood workshop and the shed were the sheep were 
shaved. The end of the tour brings us up the hill to the graveyard in a 
small forest composed of the five native trees of Tierra Del Fuego. In 
the little teahouse homemade cake is served – together with a beautiful 
view over the bay.
After three weeks out at sea and down South in the monochrome landscapes 
of the South Shetlands and Antarctica – the protected bay of Harberton 
is overwhelming. It is warm and calm; some of us simply lie down in the 
grass and fall asleep. The good mood and calm vibes continue through the 
evening. Home on deck we have a delicious dinner with an even more 
delicious desert: Cake from Harberton and Irish coffee from the ship. 
Swims are made in the ocean – and everyone stays out on deck enjoying as 
the day slowly turns into evening and night. A last night away.
Tomorrow, after some early morning swims, we will leave around 08:00 in 
the morning for our final stretch to Ushuaia. We will sail 38 nm through 
a foggy Beagle Channel. We will go back to the place we were beyond for 
the past three weeks - back at the end of the world.
Sarah

Written by:
Sarah Gerats | Guide

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