After spending a day and a half heading north over Drake’s Passage, our final full day aboard the Viking Octantis started in a chilly but interesting manner.
We were called to the bow observation decks early on a cold morning so that we could see the approaching South American continent. Hot chocolate was served as we saw the landmass draw ever nearer. The top photo is of a flying albatross, with Cape Horn in the distance. Cape Horn is the northern most point of Drake’s Passage — where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet and where some of the most terrible storms at sea occur. We were lucky in that it was relatively calm on both of our crossings of the Passage.
(The southern most aspect of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego)
Cape Horn is located on a small island known as Hornos, which lies within Chilean territorial waters. The Chilean Navy maintains a station on Hoorn Island, including a lighthouse, a chapel, and a residence. We only saw this station at a distance, however.
(Chilean station, lighthouse and monument, seen at a distance)
A notable and interesting feature of the island is a memorial made by a Chilean sculptor, which features the silhouette of an albatross. It was erected in 1992 in remembrance of the many sailors who died in the neighboring sea. You can see more images of the station and Cape Horn Monument at this link.
(Close view of the Albatross Monument — courtesy of TripAdvisor)
From here we made our way to the Beagle Channel, where we completed the final leg of our journey, cruising north towards Ushuaia.
(Storm in the Beagle Channel)
For more posts featuring DrFumblefinger’s journey to Antarctica, please click on this link.
