This segment
of the Journey Around Cape Horn is devoted to rounding the 'Horn.
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After
we emerged from the southern end of Estrecho de Le Maire,
we took a southwesterly track crossing into Chilean waters.
The map to the left shows South America from north of
Rio de la Plata to Tierra del Fuego. The Drake
Passage separates South America from the tip of the Antarctic
Peninsula.
The
route taken by the Splendor through Estrecho de Le Maire
to Cape Horn is traced on the Google Earth satellite image
below.
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click image for additional
sailing route view
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A Google satellite
image of the Hermite Group is shown directly above.
Isla de Hornos is the southernmost of the islands of the
group. Push "pins" locate Cape Horn and
False Cape Horn to the north and west on Peninsula Hardy.
Ships mistakenly rounding False Cape Horn would see land
to starboard and by then it would be too late, the strong
westerly winds driving the ship to a water grave on the
rocky coast of Isla Wollaston before it could maneuver,
a fate suffered by more than 100 vessels. The winds
of the southern oceans are known as the "roaring
fourties," the "furious fifties," and the
"screaming" or "shrieking sixties."
These winds roar around the planet almost without obstruction.
In the region of Cape Horn, however, these winds are funneled
through the Drake Passage by the Andes Mountains and the
mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula, making for the fierce
weather often experienced there. Rounding Cape Horn
(-55.9797 south and -67.2717 W) requires a vessel to go
to 56 degrees or more south into these fierce winds.
Another feature of the Drake Passage can be large waves
that in the case of rogue waves have been claimed to reach
as large as 90-100 feet! (click HERE
for more information) The day we rounded Cape Horn, the
waves were in the range of 15-18 feet and the "furious
fifties" were blowing at 75-80 mph, which is hurricane
velocity. It was a memorable day to say the very
least.
Looking
at images from Digital Globe, many of the satellite images
shot of the region around Cape Horn have extensive or
total cloud cover. The day we rounded the Horn,
that was the case. In the Google image of the Hermite
Archipelago above, part of the east side of Isla de Hornos
is "missing" as are portions of Isla Hermite
and Isla Deceit, no doubt obscured by the clouds in the
satellite image composite. The image below from
ASTER_2005Sep20 (Wikipedia) shows a relatively clear view
of Isla Hermite to the west, Isla Herschel in the center,
and Isla de Hornos in the lower right corner of the image.
click image above for a larger
view
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Our approach to Isla
de Hornos from the north east took us past the southern
tip of Isla Deceit. That route took the ship near
rock formations that jut up out of the ocean that are
known as the Deceit Teeth. We went between the Deceit
Teeth to starboard and a small islet known as Isolete
Deceit to port. As we approached the opening between
the Deceit Teeth and Isolete Deceit, Cape Horn was directly
in front of us.
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click photo for a larger view
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click photo for a larger view
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After passing through
the notch between the Deceit Teeth and Isolete Deceit
we made our way directly to Isla de Hornos. As we
sailed closer to what, in my mind, is the most famous
cape on Earth, the weather got progressively worse.
The temperature fell perceptibly and the rain changed
to periodic sleet. The ceiling lowered, and the
winds increased to hurricane velocity (75-80 mph).
As you approach Isla de Hornos and Cape Horn from the
northeast, the low lying portion of the island in the
forground to the right in the image below is where the
Chilean Naval station and the Albatross Memorial are located.
Looking carefully, you can make out the red of the station
and the white of a massive flagpole flying the Chilean
flag.
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click photo for a larger view
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click photo for a larger view
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click photo for a larger view
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After the Splendor
dispatched some crew members for the Chilean Naval Station
on a tender, we began to maker our way counter clockwise
around Isla de Hornos. The northern flanks of the
island are gently sloped down to the ocean rather than
the precipitous drop into the depths that is Cape Horn
itself. In the lea of the island it was quite windy,
but that was only a prelude to the conditions we would
find on the Cape Horn meridian, the invisible line that
divides the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
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click photo for a larger view
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click photo for a larger view
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Above: looking back,
the Cape Horn lighthouse receded into the fog as we were
sailing west off the north shore of Isla de Hornos.
When you reach the
northwest corner of the island, the topography changes
abruptly to jagged rock formations standing up out of
the sea - these are known as the Cathedral Rocks - left
and below.
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From the Cathedral
Rocks we continued west and then turned southward toward
Cape Horn. The photo to the left was shot when the
Splendor was stopped, as is tradition, on the Cape Horn
Meridian. The vessels whistle was sounded three
times in honor of the mariners lost off this fearsome
cape and then we waited, also as is tradition, for the
response that never comes. It was a shame we couldn't
see to the top of Cape Horn, which rises more than 1,400
feet out of the cold waters of the southern ocean.
While the Splendor
was stopped and not making way on the meridian, the 75-80
mph winds pushing against her hull caused her to heel
to port by about 15 degrees. Keep in mind that the
Splendor is nearly 1,000 feet in length and displaces
113,000 tons. Imagine being in this place in one
of the small sailing vessels of centuries ago, many of
which were only in the range of 500-700 tons!
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Continuing
from the Cape Horn meridian eastward off the south shore
of Isla de Hornos, we again passed by the Wandering Albatross
Memorial standing high above the sea. Unfortunately,
because of the blowing rain and mist, not to mention the
distance (this was shot at 600 mm), the image is much softer
than I would have liked but you take what you get when you're
that far from home... |
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click photo for a larger view
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click photo for a larger view
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For a clear view of Cape
Horn from the Chilean Naval Station and from the south linked
from Wikipedia,
click HERE
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The view of Cape Horn below
was shot from deck 12 of the Splendor while we were stopped
to recover her tender after returning from Isla de Hornos.
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The weather the day we
were at Cape Horn was what is more typical of the area and what
you would expect where two great oceans collide where the winds
can race around the planet unhindered by land masses.
Despite having seen it, I still feel a need to go back there.
A need to stand on Isla de Hornos myself. A need to see
the Cape Horn lighthouse and Chilean Naval Station up close
and personal. A need to walk up to the Wandering Albatross
Memorial to the souls lost off the Cape.
Despite those things that
I still feel a need to do for whatever reason... we had gone
around Cape Horn!
I,
the albatross that awaits at the end of the world...
I am the forgotten soul of the sailors lost,
rounding Cape Horn from all the seas of the world.
But die they did not in the fierce waves,
for today towards eternity, in my wings they soar,
in the last crevice of the Antarctic winds.
Sara
Vail, Valpariso, Chile
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