Cape Horn sunrise

We had to get up early to see Cape Horn and an extra dividend was seeing the sunrise!

Cape Horn

By clicking on the photo, you can enlarge it a little.

On March 8 we rounded Cape Horn. We all have heard of the dangerous waters around the Cape and how many early sailing ships were lost making this passage. Among the reasons are the season when they were sailing and the direction they sailed. Most of the early sailing ships were coming from Europe and therefore sailing west - into the prevailing winds - and if it was the wrong season, storms here are fierce.

So our voyage seemed anti-climactic because seas were so calm we completely circumnavigated the island the Cape is on. In the Amsterdam's last 10 trips, they have been able to do this only twice. On the previous trip, dishes were knocked off the dining tables!

The first photo shows a group of orange-clad tourists climbing the stairs to the naval station and the albatross monument to sailors who lost their lives rounding the Horn (for the story of the monument: http://www.caphorniers.cl/CH_monument.htm). The albatross is on the northern part of the island and the second photo is the very southern tip of the island and is Cape Horn. At this point we were 600 miles from Antarctica.

Moon over Ushuaia

At last we say good-bye to Ushuaia, Argentina, and the next day we will round Cape Horn.

To refresh your memories of this adventure I'm chronicling here:
This is a cruise around the bottom of South America. We started in Santiago,Chile, drove to the coast and boarded the ms Amsterdam, our home for the next 16 days. We stopped in several cities along our southward route. On the 8th day on the ship, we will pass Cape Horn. After that we'll go to the Falkland Islands, cruise up to Buenos Aries, Montevideo, and on to Rio de Janeiro, before flying home.