TQ1

Is the Ushuaia area / Tierra del Fuego a good place to see penguins in November?

stilltravelingat62

no penguins right there. Strait of Magellan has thousands.
large colony just south of Valdes Peninsula, I think it's Puerto Tombo
What Ushuaia does have is King Crab. Thousands of beavers in the Nat'l Park daming up the streams/lakes.

hoyas1

Do you folks have any recommendations on how to find a good but reasonable boat trip from Ushuaia to the Antartic. We are looking for about a 10-14 day trip on a boat small enough for some landings. Thank you

stilltravelingat62

We didn't go to the Antartic, but took the Australis cruise. Fabulous! We had Nat'l Geographic crews onboard if that tells you anything. Very nice cabins. Good food. Sailed from Ushuaia to the Cape (too rough to get out though), Beagle Channel, Straits of Magellen to Punta Aranas, Chile. Went out in zodiacs to islands. Saw icebergs, glaciers, penguins - millions of penguins! Incredible trip!

Mademoiselle

I went to Antarctica and the best way is just to research on the web for the lowest price that can suit your time schedule. We were focused on kayaking and also camping out on the ice which is very rare and the few boats that have that as an option have very limited availability, so we were pretty specific with what we were looking for and I believe that we still did well.

If you want the very lowest prices, as a friend of mine did, he just hung out in Ushuaia (but he was single, so easier for him to just hop onto a boat alone and find one open spot) waiting for a ship that had an open spot that they wanted to fill. But nothing is guaranteed at that point, so I would just search online to get a good deal. We went with Quark Expeditions, but through another company, I think Polar something or other, but ultimately the ship was booked through Quark. Timing matters with price, big time. November, early December, and late winter/early spring are the most inexpensive I believe.

Price also depends on boat size, and my recommendation is to go on a smaller boat (100 passengers) and that allows most to enjoy maximum time on the landings, whereas larger boats limit the time on the ice to a lot less so that everyone has a chance to disembark. We went on a Russian ex-research vessel, probably the most inexpensive option but worked just perfect for us.

Also, something to consider is that for us it was important to get a cruise that offered rain boots instead of us having to bring our own, another friend was inspired by my trip but had to bring his own boots, once you realize that domestic Argentina flights limit one to 15lbs total check-in baggage weight, it matters.