The legendary Cape Horn was discovered in 1616 by a Dutch expedition. It’s a sheer 425m (1,394-feet) high rocky promontory. Cape Horn is also the only point where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet and for many years it had huge strategic importance. Argentina and Chile even went to war over it (Chile won). Antarctica is only 600 miles away (due south). If you were to circumnavigate the world along the same latitude as Cape Horn (almost 56o south), this island would be the only landfall you would encounter. And of course it has a great tag line: The End of the Earth.
My heart is pounding as we drop anchor and I get my first view of this remote island. Conditions have to be perfect before the captain will allow the passengers to go ashore and it’s a nervous wait before Eduardo receives the thumbs up from the exploratory party. Forget wives and children first, I jump aboard the first Zodiac to leave. Time is of the essence since any change in the weather could curtail the excursion. As we approach the makeshift dock crew members in wet suits are on hand to help us ashore. There follows a frustrating 30-minute wait while all 160 steps are cleared of snow. Finally, I reach the top of this barren, blustery, snow-covered island. The Chilean government maintains a nominal naval presence here to regulate traffic rounding the horn. There´s a lighthouse, a church, a flagpole, and a few monuments notably the Cape Horn monument (a 7-foot tall statue of an albatross in flight) dedicated to all those sailors who lost their lives fighting the merciless forces of nature that prevail in the vicinity of Cape Horn. It starts to snow again as I race around poking my nose into anything and everything that will give me a taste, a flavor, an experience, a memory of this historic place. We’re only allowed one hour in this frigid paradise and the crew literally has to drag me off this remotest of remote rocks. I’m in heaven. Christi says she has never seen me this happy before.
Back aboard the Mare Australis I’m the only person on deck watching Cape Horn disappear from view and the last person to sit down for breakfast. Later we watch a documentary about the magnificent failure of Ernest Shackleton and the men of the Endurance to reach the South Pole and this is followed by a final lecture about Darwin’s Patagonia and his time aboard HMS Beagle. In this crazy, busy day we even have one more excursion: Wulaia Bay on Navarino Island. I amble along without a care in the world, hiking up a snowy trail to a stunning panoramic view of the bay. Darwin encountered the Yamana Indians here, but wasn’t impressed. He wondered whether they might be man’s missing link!
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching tale
Speak Your Mind