A Michael Palin documentary a few years back saw him actually land and set foot on Cape Horn. For those who don't actually know, Cape Horn is, realistically the last point of "liveable" land on planet earth. Conditions further south are generally too cold, and this particular island is the southern most tip of South America.[]
Cape Horn is in Tierra del Fuego. A series of islands owned jointly by Argentina and Chile, however Cape Horn is on the Chilean side. What a great name - Cape Horn - it just sounds inspiring and makes you want to see it. That was the plan and we were on our way!
It's not cheap to land on the Cape of Horn and Michael Palin got it all paid for so that's why he could afford it. He was a posh English type on a rich travel budget. I backpacked my way to Antarctica so to land on the Horn sadly wasn't within my budget. Besides, Chilean officials do not allow any ships to go tithin a certain distance of Cape Horn, especially in strong waters - it's around 12 or 13 miles for the usual proximity to the horn, unless special permission has been granted.
The boat we were sailing on was a mighty fine vessel. Having been made in Denmark and registered in Liberia it was now making regular journeys from Antarctica to Argentina! We didn't catch a glimspe of Cape Horn at all on our departure from Argentina and in fact we headed into the dreaded Drake Passage late at night so even passing by the area close most of the passengers on board would have been asleep. Plus we didn't actually go near Cape Horn on the way down, as it's further west. []
Russell and I had talked about whether or not we would see Cape Horn on the way back. Indeed the day before they had shown us a Cape Horn documentary which had us wondering. I asked a few of the leaders and they were tight lipped about it.
On the way back up on the Drake Passage most of us noticed the ship had changed direction slightly and now appeared to be heading north west rather than directly north. As Cape Horn was north west of us, it became clear that we were indeed going to be passing by Cape Horn!
That night at the recap and briefing session from the day's activities, the crew confirmed it for us - that the following morning at around 5 am we would be coming close to Cape Horn! A dream was being made to come true!
So we were all set to see Cape Horn in the flesh and get up close to it but this was also the final night on board our ship. This meant a late one in the bar up toasting to our amazing trip and watching the sunset on one side and rise on the other side of the boat almost simultaneously at 2 am. By 3am I was asleep and ready to be wakened up for the viewing of the magical Cape Horn.
I awoke at 5 am just a few hours later, and awoke Mark my cabin mate to say "It's 5 am, aren't we supposed to be near Cape Horn now?" I looked out the window and there was no sign of Cape Horn so we drifted back to sleep and waited on the wake up call. I awoke again at 6 am, still with no announcement from The Bridge about whether or not we had reached Cape Horn, but I decided to get up and shower and change anyway as I couldn't miss this chance.
By 7am there it was and we all gasped as we saw it - this island tip ahead of us was indeed Cape Horn. Cheers roared louder when the captain then announced that the seas were not as rough as normal and we were being allowed to get beyond the normal 12 mile barrier and see Cape Horn close up.
It was straight upstairs to the For'd Deck for the fantastic morning view of the fabulous Cabo De Hornos. In the end we got within 3 miles of Cape Horn! It wasn't even a dream. I saw Cape Horn for real. Totally immense. Been there, done that, didn't stand on the land there.
Cape Horn is in Tierra del Fuego. A series of islands owned jointly by Argentina and Chile, however Cape Horn is on the Chilean side. What a great name - Cape Horn - it just sounds inspiring and makes you want to see it. That was the plan and we were on our way!
It's not cheap to land on the Cape of Horn and Michael Palin got it all paid for so that's why he could afford it. He was a posh English type on a rich travel budget. I backpacked my way to Antarctica so to land on the Horn sadly wasn't within my budget. Besides, Chilean officials do not allow any ships to go tithin a certain distance of Cape Horn, especially in strong waters - it's around 12 or 13 miles for the usual proximity to the horn, unless special permission has been granted.
The boat we were sailing on was a mighty fine vessel. Having been made in Denmark and registered in Liberia it was now making regular journeys from Antarctica to Argentina! We didn't catch a glimspe of Cape Horn at all on our departure from Argentina and in fact we headed into the dreaded Drake Passage late at night so even passing by the area close most of the passengers on board would have been asleep. Plus we didn't actually go near Cape Horn on the way down, as it's further west. []
Russell and I had talked about whether or not we would see Cape Horn on the way back. Indeed the day before they had shown us a Cape Horn documentary which had us wondering. I asked a few of the leaders and they were tight lipped about it.
On the way back up on the Drake Passage most of us noticed the ship had changed direction slightly and now appeared to be heading north west rather than directly north. As Cape Horn was north west of us, it became clear that we were indeed going to be passing by Cape Horn!
That night at the recap and briefing session from the day's activities, the crew confirmed it for us - that the following morning at around 5 am we would be coming close to Cape Horn! A dream was being made to come true!
So we were all set to see Cape Horn in the flesh and get up close to it but this was also the final night on board our ship. This meant a late one in the bar up toasting to our amazing trip and watching the sunset on one side and rise on the other side of the boat almost simultaneously at 2 am. By 3am I was asleep and ready to be wakened up for the viewing of the magical Cape Horn.
I awoke at 5 am just a few hours later, and awoke Mark my cabin mate to say "It's 5 am, aren't we supposed to be near Cape Horn now?" I looked out the window and there was no sign of Cape Horn so we drifted back to sleep and waited on the wake up call. I awoke again at 6 am, still with no announcement from The Bridge about whether or not we had reached Cape Horn, but I decided to get up and shower and change anyway as I couldn't miss this chance.
By 7am there it was and we all gasped as we saw it - this island tip ahead of us was indeed Cape Horn. Cheers roared louder when the captain then announced that the seas were not as rough as normal and we were being allowed to get beyond the normal 12 mile barrier and see Cape Horn close up.
It was straight upstairs to the For'd Deck for the fantastic morning view of the fabulous Cabo De Hornos. In the end we got within 3 miles of Cape Horn! It wasn't even a dream. I saw Cape Horn for real. Totally immense. Been there, done that, didn't stand on the land there.
About the Author:
To read more articles like Seeing Cape Horn go to Jonny Blair's recommended website A Lifestyle of Travel for ongoing travel stories and tips.
No comments:
Post a Comment