Calm Cape Horn

The end is literally in sight, the end of the earth that is.  The line of rocks in the foreground are Cape Horn, Chile, the site of more shipwrecks than almost anywhere else on earth.

The day was misty as we made our way there and the seas were unusually calm.  Captain Stig said this was the calmest visit he'd ever made to this spot on the planet.  Temperatures hovered in the 40s today, January 16, with the wind making it just a little cooler. 

Karl bundled up to go up on Deck 12 with me as we approached Cape Horn, he does not enjoy the cold.

I opted for a sweatshirt and my down vest to keep me warm, the only part of me that got cold were my hands, and that was because I had them out to take photos.

I honestly never thought I’d literally travel to the ends of the earth but here we are at Cape Horn, the southernmost spot on the Chilean Tierra del Fuego archipelago and the northern boundary of the Drake Passage, which treated us really well yesterday.  This rocky headland on Hornos island was supposed to be one of the windiest places we'd visit but we didn't get the strong, blustery gusts that are so common here.  

The waters have hazardous waves and strong currents much of the time, but again we were blessed with relatively calm seas.  We did however need to pick up a Chilean pilot to guide Serenade through the passage to Ushuaia, the Strait of Magellan, and the Chilean Fjords to come.  He was brought out to meet us on this Chilean navy vessel and then brought over to Serenade on a rubber dinghy, along with his luggage.  We were incredulous to see this small red sailboat traveling the cape.

A little more perspective on this size of this little boat.  There are still those who seek the challenge and thrill of navigating their craft around Cape Horn, considering it “the nautical equivalent of reaching Mount Everest’s summit”. 

I had to wonder if this little vessel contained one of those thrill seekers or just someone who wanted to sail on a calm summer's day.  Okay, enough about sailboats, I mostly just added these photos for Karl.

Near the area where the last photo was taken was this jagged stretch of rocks that again reminded me of a sea monster undulating through the waves.  No doubt there were ships that struck them sometime during a storm.

The island itself is actually a spot that travelers can access, although we didn't stop except for pictures.  There are walkways that visitors traverse that protect the peat-bog ecosystem on Hornos.  The lighthouses here are part of a Chilean naval station.  The larger of the two is accessible and near the home of a family that lives there year round to service the lighthouse, getting many of their supplies from cruise ships and spending most of the year in isolation. 

This set of steps was in a small cove near the lighthouse.  I'm not sure if this is where supplies come in or if there is another spot that's better on the other side of the island.

Here is the literal end of the island, the very tip of the continent of South America.

Rocks like these are what sank hundreds of ships as they traversed the commercial routes between the Pacific and Atlantic.  Cape Horn was first rounded in 1616 by Dutchmen Willem Schouten and Jakob Le Maire who were trying to find an alternative to the monopoly route that the Dutch East India Company had through the Strait of Magellan.  They called this spot Kaap Hoorn after the Dutch city of Hoorn, opening up what became the quickest and main trade route from East Asia to Europe.  

During the California gold rush in the 1840’s many ships plied these waters on trips between the coasts of the United States. Charles Darwin passed through here, nearly getting shipwrecked, during his second voyage on the HMS Beagle on his way to the Galapagos Islands.  Custom dictated that only sailors who rounded the horn were allowed to wear a gold hoop earring as sign of their courage as seamen.  The creation of the Panama Canal ended most of the dangerous transits of Cape Horn upon its completion in 1914, although the last commercial cargo sailed around the horn in 1949.

There are other buildings and a monument here on the island besides the naval station and lighthouse, I was glad the weather cooperated so that we were able to see them.

Near the lighthouse is the small Stella Maris Chapel, the brown building on the right in the photo.  The name means "Star of the Seas" and it's a spot, along with the monument below, where people who come to the cape can pay their respects to those who lost their lives in these treacherous waters.

The seas here were so treacherous that over 800 ships lie below the waters, it was a sailing mariner’s nightmare.  Inside these drowned vessels over 10,000 people lost their lives trying to round the cape, making this area the world’s largest underwater cemetery. In 1992 the Cape Horn Monument was created to commemorate the thousands who perished, it’s a representation of an albatross in flight which is a maritime symbol of “the souls of the sailors lost at sea”. 

The austere and rock landscape here was beautiful in its own way, colors muted, especially with the gray skies around us.

Clefts in the cliffs gave the island a look of fingers reaching out into the sea.

The following poem, by Chilean poet Sara Vial is found at the albatross monument.  Captain Stig read it and asked for a moment of silence to remember those lost at sea.  It goes like this:

I am the albatross that awaits you

At the end of the world.

I am the forgotten souls of dead mariners

Who passed Cape Horn

From all the oceans of the world.

But they did not die

In the furious waves.

Today they sail on my wings.

Lovely, isn't it, and the perfect way to end our visit to these perilous waters that stayed so calm for us today.