Imagine setting your alarm for 5:30 and then putting on warm clothes to go out on the bow of the ship. Brrr. A shock to the system. It was raining, so thankfully I had a hat on. It was also windy, so hold onto your camera tightly! But they did bring coffee and pastries out, so there was that. Of course, we also had coffee delivered to the room.
I spent about 40 minutes out there on the bow as we hovered in place by the island that makes up Cape Horn. There is a lighthouse station there as well as a small shiny monument, but otherwise it’s relatively non-remarkable in comparison to the dozens of other islands and hundreds of islands, mountains, cliffs, and rocks we’ve seen lately. It’s significant, though, as it’s the point of no return to some degree.
We were told this was the closest Captain Kevin has ever come to the point, but didn’t he say that last year?
Cape Horn actually is an island that sits in a large bay with a number of other rocky uninhabited islands. Anyway, after a while the ship rotated 360 degrees and then we spent the morning sailing around the islands and up and down the bay until the pilot boat showed up to take our two pilots on shore. Someone on the ship reported they saw two people get off with luggage which makes sense as they were Magellan pilots, meaning they were the pilots responsible for navigating us through the Straits of Magellan as well as the Beagle Channel, so likely they had been on a few days.
And now we’re headed south.
Sea life was fairly constant throughout the day. As soon as we were offshore the clouds and sun were more consistent. Instead of small spots of sunshine there were large spots of sunshine. When I walked the promenade this afternoon (four miles) there were some wet snowflakes; the temperature had dropped to 42 degrees Fahrenheit or about 5 degrees Celsius. Winds were over 30 knots; the ship has been leaning slightly much of the day and swaying a bit, but nothing too horrible and not as bad as the Bay of Biscuits.
From yesterday morning we had 608 miles to Palmer Station – I wonder if that’s the captain’s signal we will be starting our touring at Palmer Station rather than further south? Also, we enter Antarctic waters around 6:35 am tomorrow at which point we should expect a burst of wildlife. To be determined if I am awake at that time.
Otherwise, it was a relatively quiet day at sea with some napping, some game playing, and some soaking in the thermal spa. Dinner was lovely but unremarkable. I now have a glass of scotch whisky and we’re watching football in Spanish.
In Retrospect 