On Jan 24th, we board the Bark Europa in the morning to sail out of the Beagle Channel. There’s a flurry of activity as all the bags are loaded onto the ship, passengers come aboard, and the permanent crew gets the ship ready to disembark from the port.
After collecting my bags, snapping a few pics of the bunk above mine, and throwing the bags on my bed (to unpack later), I quickly head upstairs to watch the boat push away from the dock. It isn’t until I view the brief vid clips later that I realize how humongous a true cruise ship is, in comparison to our boat. 
Most of us spend the first day unpacking, while getting used to ship life. I also take this time to get to know the 3 other women I’m sharing a room with. We all coordinate with each other on where to put our stuff. Quickly, I find I have the least amount of things amongst all of them, so I take up a drawer and one cubby cabinet. I keep the rest of my stuff in my bunk. It’s interesting to see what items some decided to bring. I hope I brought enough clothes to stay warm.
Beagle Channel — Relax and watch the view
Since a pilot from Argentina is required to sail the ship through the Beagle Channel, our watches haven’t started yet. We enjoy the scenery and get to know one another as the night continues.
Well, most people do. I’m honestly overwhelmed with everyone and everything, and hide out in my bunk or eat under the stairs outside. I’m also highly aware that Covid cases could still be on board, even though we all had negative tests that morning before boarding. I am still cautious though. Or it’s just my excuse to find some alone time as a highly introverted person on a very small ship full of people. Either way, I have no regrets and am happy.
According to my journal, I also had climbing class on this day. It was the only time I climbed up the main mast. I realized, when trying to get over the yellow crow’s nest that jutted out, that I basically have no upper body strength anymore. Trying to get up and over that was very difficult for me and scary. Even though I was successful, I decided that climbing wasn’t for me. It was the only climbing I did on the whole trip 
sit to navigate the ship.
explains where we’re headed.