Chile – Cape Horn
South by Expedition Ship
The Chilean expedition ship Ventus Australis has carried us south from Ushuaia to visit the southernmost point of South America, Cape Horn..
A Small Cruiser
An expedition ship carries about 200 passengers and has the shallow draft it takes to get into unimproved destinations. Cabins are not as luxurious as on the big cruisers, but quite comfortable.
No Outside Dining
The public spaces of the Ventus Australis are two large lounges and a dining room. We eat all our meals together.
With our cold-weather layers on, we line up to board the Zodiac boats to land at the Cape.
The Cape Island
After a rough but short transfer in Zodiac boats, we land at the base of a steep cliff. We climb a steel stairway.
Hiking to the Albatross Monument
All that grows here is grass, and in this season of early Spring, nothing but rock moss has come to life. The Cape monument marks the top of a hill where we can look down on land’s end, and the Drake Passage. Although it is the first of our two targets on this morning’s hike, the weather is marginal and we may have to cut the hike short.
A Rising Wind
Here at 56 degrees south latitude, the range of the “Furious Fifties”, the weather is highly changeable. Though the sea is relatively calm today, we are starting to talk into wind-driven snow. We need to hurry.
The Drake Passage
Because the prevailing wind pushes wave swells around the world with no land to stop them, this channel can be extremely rough. but the path to Antarctica lies this way.
The Memorial
Two blasts of the ship’s whistle means we have to start back! There is just time for a quick dash to the monument. Depicting an albatross in the negative space between two aluminum sheets, it is a memorial to the innumerable sailors who have died rounding this perilous cape.
Heading Back
The driving snow is a white-out as we stood on the monument, and we immediately have to start our return to the ship.
The Lighthouse
Cape Horn’s modern lighthouse, on a fork from our boardwalk trail, was our second destination this morning, but the rising wind means we won’t be going there today.
