Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — After a voyage to Antarctica, the ice-strengthened M/V Ushuaia resupplies in a matter of hours to sail back across the Drake Passage (the roughest seas in the world) and return to Antarctica. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Because people can enter and exit Argentina through Puerto Ushuaia, access to the port is controlled and restricted. The superstructures of docked ships can be seen behind this guarded checkpoint. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — By a window in a room on the top floor of a hotel across from Puerto Ushuaia is a great stakeout spot while waiting for a ship to return from Antarctica. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — In a city full of restaurants mixed in with the shops, it was still easy for a meal of king crab ravioli, caprese salad, and Malbec to become the usual at Tante Sara. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — This cruise ship detoured to rescue stranded passengers of another cruise ship that had collided into Ravn Rock at Deception Island. The evacuees return to Ushuaia at nightfall, as the remaining passengers watch them unload. The initial reports stating that no spillage into the water occurred as a result of running aground were—unfortunately but not surprisingly—inaccurate. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — As the day goes by, ship after ship arrives. Each seems to be bigger than the one before. Two tugboats get into position to help maneuver a giant cruise ship to its berth. The tugs also offer assistance to ships caught in strong winds. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Ships of all sizes dock along Puerto Ushuaia’s wharf. Sometimes the 2,000-foot-long wharf can seem empty, but many other times, ships are packed up and down it like sardines. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Built in 1911, the Dutch schooner Europa sails around the world as a sailing trainer that also hosts passengers. With a steel hull and a motor for when the weather is too calm or violent for sails, Europa frequently sails to Antarctica, giving those aboard an experience worthy of the early explorers. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Docked behind the Europa, the Ushuaia takes about half a day to refit for its next voyage. The cranes at the aft of the ship, normally tasked to deploy the Zodiacs at remote destinations, now lower to discard waste and rise to hoist fresh supplies. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Though earlier in the day media access to speak with the Nordkapp evacuees was granted, the security forces denied the access once the evacuees arrived. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Security guards took positions along the wharf as the Nordnorge (left), carrying the evacuees from the Nordkapp, slipped into Puerto Ushuaia earlier than announced. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Ten months after this photo was taken, the Explorer hit an iceberg in the Bransfield Strait between the South Shetland Islands and the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The ship sank, but all aboard were safely rescued. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2013) — A walk from downtown to the peninsula’s shore brings you to the boundary of Ushuaia Bay and Golondrina Bay. To the northwest across Golondrina Bay, the Martial Glacier caps mountains rising behind the city. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Early in 2007, Microsoft cofounders Paul Allen and Bill Gates reportedly visited Antarctica together in Allen’s Octopus. Shown here at the time, the superyacht docked along the wharf but also anchored in the harbor while its helicopters shuttled people on and off the ship. Allen, who also funded SpaceShipOne, winner of the $10-million Ansari X Prize, used the 414-foot Octopus to search for sunken ships from World War II, leading to the discovery of the Japanese battleship Musashi. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2013) — In 1902, explorers from the Swedish sailing ship Antarctic were separated into two groups after it was trapped by ice and sank. Most made it to Paulet Island. But those shown in this exhibit at Ushuaia’s Maritime Museum overwintered at Esperanza Bay on the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. All the explorers were eventually rescued by the Uruguay, a sailing ship from Argentina. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2013) — Ushuaia’s Maritime Museum displays a model of the HMS Beagle in its hall of ships. From 1831 to 1836, Charles Darwin journeyed aboard this 90-foot-long, three-masted ship on its second transoceanic voyage. The Beagle is known as a barque because of its sail configuration: the foremast and mainmast had square-rigged sails, and the mizzenmast had a fore-and-aft-rigged sail. The long bowsprit pointing off the bow is not considered a mast. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — A few blocks uphill from the port, Bar Ideal became a usual spot for meals and writing when work was on the menu. Sitting in the window where the sidewalk slope brought the outside ground level nearly to the inside table level gave a unique perspective of city life, including that of the four-legged kind. But on a night meant for lovers, dining here alone was far less than ideal. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Flying in a four-seat airplane with Aero Club Ushuaia gives specular views of seaport, the surrounding mountains, and the Beagle Channel. However, Ushuaia is well-known as one of the hardest places to fly around because of how quickly and drastically the weather conditions change. Heading west over the Beagle Channel, the airplane must take a steep turn away from the oncoming storm funneling down the channel. Ahead of the distant rain, the whipped-up water indicates that high winds are fast approaching. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Aero Club Ushuaia operates a flight school from the local airport, less than a mile north of Ushuaia’s international airport. Experienced with the challenging weather of Ushuaia, the active club flies a small fleet of aircraft and offers sightseeing flights around Tierra del Fuego. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — One of several types of aircraft flown by Aero Club Ushuaia, this four-seater Piper Cherokee (tail number LV-LCF) has the power and maneuverability for mountain flying as long as the weather doesn’t get too hairy. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Cherokee LV-LCF lifts off from Ushuaia’s local airport, which used to be a military airfield. On static display at the right, the twin-engine DC-3 Cabo de Hornes was once used to fly missions to Antarctica. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Well before Ushuaia became a large city and the international airport was built, the local airfield, sandwiched between the two, serviced a much less congested region. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Giving the passengers thrilling views of the scenery, the pilot of the Cherokee LV-LCF banks and turns to follow the path of the Beagle Channel and flies through passes between mountains. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Flying low exposes many of the receding glaciers that cap the mountains surrounding Ushuaia. This glacier is far away from the blue pool that collects its meltwater. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — The seaport of Ushuaia appears between two Andean ridgelines and the local airport’s runway. To land, the flight path will take Cherokee LV-LCF over the city and harbor. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — A container ship and a cruise ship both dwarf the Argentine naval vessel also docked along the wharf at Puerto Ushuaia. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Only days before this photograph was taken, people could explore inside the ice cave at the Vinciguerra Glacier. A mountain guide stands in front of the icy rubble that was once the cave. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — From a quick look at the shape, this may appear to be a footprint. Studying how thin the ice is around the edge and how the ice angles away from the hole reveals something entirely different. The ice below the surface has melted, forming a gap between the rocks at the bottom and the thin ice surface atop. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — The steel teeth of crampons strapped to heavy boots dig into the ice on either side of a small crevasse in the Vinciguerra Glacier. Crevasses form when the stresses on glaciers moving over uneven terrain become too high. Rapid melting is a factor that causes glaciers to move more. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Light snow falls on top of the debris-covered Vinciguerra Glacier. The mountain ridges block the view of Ushuaia, but farther in the distance is the Beagle Channel and then Chile. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Glacial tables form when significant amounts of ice melt. The rock shades the ice it rests upon while the surrounding ices melts. A big rock resting on a column of ice is not a very sturdy or long-lasting structure. The height of the supporting ice column gives a good indication of how much and how quickly the glacier has melted. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — Because its runway is over 9,000 feet long, even the largest airliners can fly in and out of Aeropuerto Internacional de Ushuaia. Alongside the Beagle Channel, its striking shape seems to run together with the peaks of the Andes Mountains in the distance. (Photo by Dan Linehan)

Ushuaia, Argentina (2007) — The vast space formed by a lattice of giant wooden beams supporting walls of glass surrounds a row of seats in the gate area above the departure terminal. The grandeur of the airport’s architecture gives passengers a sense of being inside one of the mountains that their aircraft will soon be flying over. (Photo by Dan Linehan)