The magic of Cape Horn - this is basically the last part of planet earth as you head to the South Pole that you can realistically live on! Any further south and it's just too cold to live. Michael Palin once managed to step foot here on a BBC Documentary a few years back and now it was time to make the trip 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!
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.
We left Argentina behind for Antarctica sailing on the MS Expedition which was built up in Denmakr, had been registered in Africa at Liberia and was now making these regular trips down to the white continent. Everyone on the ship was asleep (except the crew) the night we headed south on the dreaded Drake Passage, so getting up close to Cape Horn wasn't happening - we were much too far east for that anyway and we had one intention - arriving in Antarctica[]
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.
However the map of the route onboard the ship was the giveaway as we had departed from Antarctica at Elephant Island and were changing direction rapidly, instead of heading directly north, there was a slight tilting to the north west, where Cape Horn sits.
This meant we were obviously planning to sail within viewing distance of Cape Horn, which was then rumoured to be our final "surprise" on board. This was later confirmed at that day's "Recap and briefing" where we were told we would get an early morning wake up call on our approach to Cape Horn so none of us would miss out. We were told this would be around 5 am.
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!
Finally just before 7 am we had the announcement that we were on our approach to Cape Horn. We were also informed that the Captain had been in touch with the Chilean authorities and that we were able to breach the normal barrier of 12 - 13 miles within the Cape.
It was straight upstairs to the For'd Deck for the fantastic morning view of the fabulous Cabo De Hornos. In the end we got within 3 miles of Cape Horn! It wasn't even a dream. I saw Cape Horn for real. Totally immense. Been there, done that, didn't stand on the land there.
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!
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.
We left Argentina behind for Antarctica sailing on the MS Expedition which was built up in Denmakr, had been registered in Africa at Liberia and was now making these regular trips down to the white continent. Everyone on the ship was asleep (except the crew) the night we headed south on the dreaded Drake Passage, so getting up close to Cape Horn wasn't happening - we were much too far east for that anyway and we had one intention - arriving in Antarctica[]
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.
However the map of the route onboard the ship was the giveaway as we had departed from Antarctica at Elephant Island and were changing direction rapidly, instead of heading directly north, there was a slight tilting to the north west, where Cape Horn sits.
This meant we were obviously planning to sail within viewing distance of Cape Horn, which was then rumoured to be our final "surprise" on board. This was later confirmed at that day's "Recap and briefing" where we were told we would get an early morning wake up call on our approach to Cape Horn so none of us would miss out. We were told this would be around 5 am.
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!
Finally just before 7 am we had the announcement that we were on our approach to Cape Horn. We were also informed that the Captain had been in touch with the Chilean authorities and that we were able to breach the normal barrier of 12 - 13 miles within the Cape.
It was straight upstairs to the For'd Deck for the fantastic morning view of the fabulous Cabo De Hornos. In the end we got within 3 miles of Cape Horn! It wasn't even a dream. I saw Cape Horn for real. Totally immense. Been there, done that, didn't stand on the land there.
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