Day 7: Cape Horn
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A beautiful day for a rare landing
on Hornos Island (Isla Hornos).
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We enjoyed a calm night
sailing east along the Beagle Channel. A short distance
out of the channel, towards the infamous Drake Passage,
the ship anchored close to Hornos Island. |
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It isn't all that often
that people are able to go ashore here and so were delighted
to hear the announcement that zodiacs had been lowered,
members of the expedition team had travelled across to the
island and radioed to say that it was safe for everybody
to go ashore. |
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As we all know, Geoff
is no fan of zodiacs, but knowing that this would be a unique
opportunity, he bravely agreed to come along. |
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Geoff's began to question
his decision to join Bruce when he saw the stony beach that
we would be landing on. We had been warned about this beforehand,
but it still seemed quite daunting to him. The thought of
the long climb up didn't bother him, though. |
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Getting off the zodiac
and onto wet stones, which moved underfoot and provided
no stability, was worse than Geoff feared. The beach towels,
which had been put down in an effort to help people get
over them, were ineffective. After a minute or so, and with
assistance from the expedition team he was soon able to
make his way up towards the steps, after which he was fine. |
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All smiles again as we
got to the top of the stairs. |
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We could see the Cape
Horn monument in the distance and decided we would visit
the lighthouse first before seeing if we had enough time
to walk to it. |
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Looking
south from Hornos Island - there is only sea between here and Antarctica. |
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After visiting the lighthouse
and the chapel, we decided that there was time to walk to
the monument. |
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It was time to make our
way back to the ship. |
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From the steps we could
see evidence of an old funicular, now almost overgrown. |
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Fran and a member of
the ship's crew were ready to stabilise our zodiac as it
arrived to pick us up. |
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With Fran's help, we
were easily assisted on board. |
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The zodiac went straight
back to the ship for those who wanted to do that. We were
then given the option of staying on the zodiac and taking
a cruise around the horn! Geoff decided that he would call
it a day at this point, while Bruce was keen to carry on.
Here, Geoff waves us off from the stability of the ship. |
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The sea was a little
livelier now, but the thrill of getting up close to the
southernmost point of the Americas was well worth the slight
discomfort. The rock formations, with their colours and
textures, were absolutely beautiful and we were privileged
to see some South Americans sea lions basking in the sunshine.
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Back on board, we dined
on the lido deck while the ship did a circumnavigation of
the island, before heading back into the Beagle Channel,
sailing in the direction from which we had come overnight. |
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The first
of many excellent afternoon teas! |
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In the evening, we put
on some smarter shirts (no formal dressing up on this ship!)
for the Captain's cocktail party and welcome dinner. |
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This map shows the route
we took after leaving Ushuaia (Argentina) yesterday evening,
calling first at Puerto Williams (Chile) to clear Chilean
customs and immigations formalities and to pick up two Chilean
pilots, before sailing out of the Beagle Channel and heading
south to Cape Horn. After our visit there, we followed the
same route back overnight without stopping at Puerto Williams
or Ushuaua as we made our made towards Pia Fjord, our planned
destination for tomorrow. |
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