By Susan Ellis of Key Life Journeys

We had a day at sea and gradually the Argentinean coast came into view. Wandering albatross still followed us but there were far more Shags in the air. During Happy Hour in the lounge there were the farewell speeches and our captain remembering the morning at Snow Hill Island.  A memory, he said he would retain for the rest of his life. The sunset and we had our final dinner on board.





The Polar Star was responding to a gentle swell that night. We slept without rolling. Apart from taking one dose the first night, I had succeeded in making the whole trip without the aid of anti-nausea pills or patches. I had found only a handful of fellow passengers who had risked abstinence. I thought back to childhood days of crossing the Irish Sea from the Isle of Man to Liverpool and always being sick. Another test passed. 

Before dawn next morning the Polar Star tied up to a pier, something she had not done since leaving Ushuaia 20 days before. Ushuaia is on an island. Since leaving Buenos Aries the only mainland I have stood on was at Brown Bluff in Antarctica, the rest were all islands. We disembarked into the predawn darkness. Ships that were much larger than the Polar Star surrounded us. Sleek white cruise ships made our hard working rusting red hull look shabby. Yet she had an endearing quality, a uniqueness, a strength that fostered great loyalty. Many travelers chose her as their ship of choice.

A stranger waited at the dock to take me to his office where my luggage would remain till it was time to be taken to the airport. I had time to walk around Ushuaia as the sun rose over still reflective water, gentle breezes, colourful flowers and a stately mountainous backdrop. I stopped by a cafe for a cappuccino and met another passenger who also had some time to kill. She and her boyfriend had taken “care” of me on Prion Island offering a hand to me as I negotiated muddy patches between the clumps of tussock grasses. It was a reminder that I had pushed myself physically far harder than I hoped I would be tested to do.

I became conscious of aging. Not with fear, not with regret; but with the knowledge that it was not going to be easy to adjust to decreasing function. I would always have the tendency to go a bit beyond. Maybe I do have guardian angels that protect when I push the envelope. Why do I push so hard - because I can? Is it because I refuse to accept my limitations or because I am in denial? It is none of the above. I push to ensure nothing that I have goes to waste. There will be no regrets for things not tried. My gratitude is that when I try too hard, beyond that which I can do alone, a helping hand appears. The hand I have now learned to accept. The hand for so many years I chose to reject.