. What to do in Ushuaia on literally a 6 hour stopover? Go eat crab! The King Crab tour that was arranged by the ship, was really a great little tour. Six of us piled into a Land Rover with our guide and headed off for a 30 min run through the hills and ski lodges above Ushuaia and then took a turn on to dirt road for about an hour. We bumped along and I was thinking I wonder if the other people were starting to think this was a long way to go to eat a crab too. Eventually the potholed road came to water again where we jumped out of the Land Rover and admired the view and stretched our legs. We were stopped shoreside on the Beagle Channel opposite a small local restaurant known well to our guide. There weren't too many people living in this part of the word that I could work out so it would be a few hundred and not a lot more. But how idyllic the place was. Now it was into the Zodiac and off out about 200 metres of shore pulling up crab pots looking for those large red delicious creatures that I had only seen in a freezer before and with an expensive price tag.. Yes we had to work for our dinner today. After pulling up about three crab pots we had more than enough crabs crawling around our feet and we headed back to shore again.

Once inside the small local restaurant, the crabs were dispatched to the kitchen and by now it was early evening when we took a seat at the table and poured our wine and beers. But there was some movement under our bench window seat and hiding there was a small young Magellanic penguin who was in the moulting stage. It had decided the restaurant was its home until moulting was complete and making occasional appearances to say hello.
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A sardine platter arrived first and they were the best sardines I've had in a long time - and pleasantly surprised I was too. It wasn't long before they were finished and the main event arrived on the table. With the Mags the Magellanic penguin pecking at a friends trousers from time to time, we demolished 6 huge crabs - one each - although I'm sure I ate part of someone's share as well. The freshest sweetest fresh crab I have ever tasted - just amazing. And then chocolate mousse to finish the lovely meal. How nice to be sitting in a local restaurant miles away from the main town at the bottom of South America eating king crab. Fantastic! 

But then it time to head back. The ship sailed at 9pm for Antarctica so we didn't want to miss that. Into the Land Rover we piled, much happier being full of fresh crab, beers and wine and off we bounced for an hour until we hit the main sealed road and were on the road to Ushuaia.

So next time in Ushuaia, I suggest a side trip for king crabs. Just search online for king carb 4x4 tour  ( our tour was arranged by Seabourn) and you should find exactly what you need. A great experience indeed. It's not for the faint hearted as it's a bumpy journey by 4x4.


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