Stella Australis Cruise
Day 4
06.12.2011 - 06.12.2011
9 °C
Today was the day that we were looking forward to, all be it with trepidation. We were visiting Cape Horn and were unsure how rough the sea was going to be. We awoke to hearing the anchor being released and looked out of our big window to see Cape Horn. We had made it. It was quite overcast and windy but safe enough to disembark on Hornos Island. Today was important to put in to action everything we had learned about getting on to our zodiacs as the waves were pretty rough. These rules were: do not refuse a helping hand, do not grab them by the hand but by the elbow as this gives you more stability, then the 3 step shuffle by stepping on to the edge of the zodiac, then on to the board at the front of the zodiac and then on to the bottom of the zodiac. Then sit down immediately and slide along the edge of the zodiac with every person boarding alternating sides. Anyway we both made it safely on to our zodiacs and headed off slowly to Hornos Island. Once on land we climbed to the top of a 160 step staircase and visited Cape Horn monument and lighthouse.
We could not believe how windy it was; at times it was hard to stay on our feet. We spent about 90 minutes on the island then headed back to the ship. Heading back to the ship on our zodiacs was fun; we all got quite wet from the waves. Once back on board we decided to go and have breakfast quickly before the ship set sail (just in case we couldn't handle the rocking). Whilst having breakfast they announced that we would be navigating Cape Horn which is not something that they do very regularly. So we even went around Cape Horn which was a bonus.
Having said that both Shane and I took sea sick tablets and put ourselves to bed once we had rounded the horn. In the afternoon we had headed back in to a sheltered channel and visited Wulaia Bay. This is where the English Captain Fitz Roy and naturalist Charles Darwin made contact with the Yaghan aborigines in the 19th century. Off on our last zodiac trip to land where we did a great 6 km hike to get a magnificent view of Wulaia Bay.
In the evening we had our final dinner and then headed up to the bar for some last drinks and a toast of champagne where the captain gave his farewell speech and auctioned the navigation chart used on our voyage - this went for $260 US dollars.
Posted by shaneandnicola 07.12.2011 12:01 Archived in Chile
