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![]
Cape Horn is in Tierra del Fuego. A series of islands owned jointly by Argentina and Chile, however Cape Horn is on the Chilean side. What a great name - Cape Horn - it just sounds inspiring and makes you want to see it. That was the plan and we were on our way!
Stepping foot on the cape of Horn is at a high cost, hence why Michael Palin was able to do it - being a posh English type on a rich BBC budget, I envy his adventures but cannot afford them. Chilean officials do not allow any boats that are not Chilean to go within 12 or 13 miles (can't remember which) of the Horn itself, without a strict permission.
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. []
There were rumours circulating on board the ship that we would be calling at Cape Horn on the way back up to Argentina. This all began by the crew showing us an intriguing documentary about Cape Horn as we headed back onto the Drake Passage, however nothing was confirmed.
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.
On the evening of our final ascent up the Drake Passage the visit to view Cape Horn was finally confirmed by the crew amid a joyous response. We were told at the recap of the day and the briefing session that we would indeed be sailing close to Cape Horn for a view at 5am the next morning.
So we were all set to see Cape Horn in the flesh and get up close to it but this was also the final night on board our ship. This meant a late one in the bar up toasting to our amazing trip and watching the sunset on one side and rise on the other side of the boat almost simultaneously at 2 am. By 3am I was asleep and ready to be wakened up for the viewing of the magical Cape Horn.
I awoke at 5 am just a few hours later, and awoke Mark my cabin mate to say "It's 5 am, aren't we supposed to be near Cape Horn now?" I looked out the window and there was no sign of Cape Horn so we drifted back to sleep and waited on the wake up call. I awoke again at 6 am, still with no announcement from The Bridge about whether or not we had reached Cape Horn, but I decided to get up and shower and change anyway as I couldn't miss this chance.
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.
Once we were that close to Cape Horn everyone was busy staring out at it and taking photos. We got within 3 miles of it in the end and it was a magnificent moment. None of us landed on Cape Horn but we saw it with our own eyes!
Cape Horn is in Tierra del Fuego. A series of islands owned jointly by Argentina and Chile, however Cape Horn is on the Chilean side. What a great name - Cape Horn - it just sounds inspiring and makes you want to see it. That was the plan and we were on our way!
Stepping foot on the cape of Horn is at a high cost, hence why Michael Palin was able to do it - being a posh English type on a rich BBC budget, I envy his adventures but cannot afford them. Chilean officials do not allow any boats that are not Chilean to go within 12 or 13 miles (can't remember which) of the Horn itself, without a strict permission.
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. []
There were rumours circulating on board the ship that we would be calling at Cape Horn on the way back up to Argentina. This all began by the crew showing us an intriguing documentary about Cape Horn as we headed back onto the Drake Passage, however nothing was confirmed.
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.
On the evening of our final ascent up the Drake Passage the visit to view Cape Horn was finally confirmed by the crew amid a joyous response. We were told at the recap of the day and the briefing session that we would indeed be sailing close to Cape Horn for a view at 5am the next morning.
So we were all set to see Cape Horn in the flesh and get up close to it but this was also the final night on board our ship. This meant a late one in the bar up toasting to our amazing trip and watching the sunset on one side and rise on the other side of the boat almost simultaneously at 2 am. By 3am I was asleep and ready to be wakened up for the viewing of the magical Cape Horn.
I awoke at 5 am just a few hours later, and awoke Mark my cabin mate to say "It's 5 am, aren't we supposed to be near Cape Horn now?" I looked out the window and there was no sign of Cape Horn so we drifted back to sleep and waited on the wake up call. I awoke again at 6 am, still with no announcement from The Bridge about whether or not we had reached Cape Horn, but I decided to get up and shower and change anyway as I couldn't miss this chance.
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.
Once we were that close to Cape Horn everyone was busy staring out at it and taking photos. We got within 3 miles of it in the end and it was a magnificent moment. None of us landed on Cape Horn but we saw it with our own eyes!
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To read more articles like Seeing Cape Horn head to Jonny Blair's excellent website A Lifestyle of Travel for ongoing travel stories and tips.. Unique version for reprint here: Dropping by Cape Horn!.
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