Years ago on a documentary, Michael Palin landed on Cape Horn in Chile. This small island is the southernmost tip of realistic liveable land on planet earth. All that lies south is the ice cold continent of Antarctica. I was off to Cape Horn![]
Chile owns Cape Horn - not Argentina and this is the southern tip of the series of islands known as Tierra Del Fuego. You have to love the sound of this place - Cape Horn - it has a certain charm in its very title! The idea was to see it for real, up close and personal.
it's expensive to visit the Cape of Horn. For some reason Michael Palin didn't pay for it - it would all have been covered by a generous BBC budget for the purpose of filming. My trip was on a much lower budget and I managed to backpack my way to Antarctica - the trip to visit the Horn, even just to see it on the way back was such a bonus. However the Chilean marine authorities don't let ships close to it - they issue a proximity maximum of around 12 - 13 miles except in special circumstances.
The boat we were sailing on was a mighty fine vessel. Having been made in Denmark and registered in Liberia it was now making regular journeys from Antarctica to Argentina! We didn't catch a glimspe of Cape Horn at all on our departure from Argentina and in fact we headed into the dreaded Drake Passage late at night so even passing by the area close most of the passengers on board would have been asleep. Plus we didn't actually go near Cape Horn on the way down, as it's further west. []
Russell and I had talked about whether or not we would see Cape Horn on the way back. Indeed the day before they had shown us a Cape Horn documentary which had us wondering. I asked a few of the leaders and they were tight lipped about it.
But it became obvious that the plan was to change direction so we could catch a glimpse of the horn. I noticed that we were making fast progress (there was a live map on board the boat near the reception, where we could all see where we had been and where we were going) and in fact had suddenly changed direction to head north west rather than directly north, following our departure from Elephant Island.
That night at the recap and briefing session from the day's activities, the crew confirmed it for us - that the following morning at around 5 am we would be coming close to Cape Horn! A dream was being made to come true!
The night before proved to be quite a late one in the onboard Polar Bear Bar, it was our final journey on the treacherous Drake Passage and we had all bonded as a group on board the ship and on land on the magical continent. I left the bar around 2.30 am, with many still up. Sunset had passed us by on the west and sunrise had begun in the east, giving the boat the odd position of one side in darkness and the other side in early morning light.
After 2 hours sleep the alarms went off and I was up waiting to see Cape Horn, we assembled on deck and it was by around 6.30 am that we finally got close to Cape Horn - an incredibly exciting moment for all concerned!
The announcement from the bridge confirmed that the island tip ahead was indeed Cape Horn and that we had been given permission due to the favourable weather to breach the 12 - 13 mile barrier and get a bit closer to Cape Horn.
Everyone gathered on the very top deck laden with cameras and warm clothes. It was a joy just staring out at this remote piece of land on the south tip of Chile knowing we had seen the end of the civilised world. We didn't land on it, but we saw it.
Chile owns Cape Horn - not Argentina and this is the southern tip of the series of islands known as Tierra Del Fuego. You have to love the sound of this place - Cape Horn - it has a certain charm in its very title! The idea was to see it for real, up close and personal.
it's expensive to visit the Cape of Horn. For some reason Michael Palin didn't pay for it - it would all have been covered by a generous BBC budget for the purpose of filming. My trip was on a much lower budget and I managed to backpack my way to Antarctica - the trip to visit the Horn, even just to see it on the way back was such a bonus. However the Chilean marine authorities don't let ships close to it - they issue a proximity maximum of around 12 - 13 miles except in special circumstances.
The boat we were sailing on was a mighty fine vessel. Having been made in Denmark and registered in Liberia it was now making regular journeys from Antarctica to Argentina! We didn't catch a glimspe of Cape Horn at all on our departure from Argentina and in fact we headed into the dreaded Drake Passage late at night so even passing by the area close most of the passengers on board would have been asleep. Plus we didn't actually go near Cape Horn on the way down, as it's further west. []
Russell and I had talked about whether or not we would see Cape Horn on the way back. Indeed the day before they had shown us a Cape Horn documentary which had us wondering. I asked a few of the leaders and they were tight lipped about it.
But it became obvious that the plan was to change direction so we could catch a glimpse of the horn. I noticed that we were making fast progress (there was a live map on board the boat near the reception, where we could all see where we had been and where we were going) and in fact had suddenly changed direction to head north west rather than directly north, following our departure from Elephant Island.
That night at the recap and briefing session from the day's activities, the crew confirmed it for us - that the following morning at around 5 am we would be coming close to Cape Horn! A dream was being made to come true!
The night before proved to be quite a late one in the onboard Polar Bear Bar, it was our final journey on the treacherous Drake Passage and we had all bonded as a group on board the ship and on land on the magical continent. I left the bar around 2.30 am, with many still up. Sunset had passed us by on the west and sunrise had begun in the east, giving the boat the odd position of one side in darkness and the other side in early morning light.
After 2 hours sleep the alarms went off and I was up waiting to see Cape Horn, we assembled on deck and it was by around 6.30 am that we finally got close to Cape Horn - an incredibly exciting moment for all concerned!
The announcement from the bridge confirmed that the island tip ahead was indeed Cape Horn and that we had been given permission due to the favourable weather to breach the 12 - 13 mile barrier and get a bit closer to Cape Horn.
Everyone gathered on the very top deck laden with cameras and warm clothes. It was a joy just staring out at this remote piece of land on the south tip of Chile knowing we had seen the end of the civilised world. We didn't land on it, but we saw it.
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To read more articles like Seeing Cape Horn go to Jonny Blair's excellent site A Lifestyle of Travel for ongoing travel stories and tips.
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