We went to Cape Horn today and were fortunate that the weather, wind and seas were ok for a landing. They do not decide if we can go on an excursion until we are at the site to see the actual sea/ocean/weather conditions. Then they put a zodiac in the water and the crew goes out as well to test the conditions on the ground. The conditions were just barely ok for the excursion- wind was up to 60 knots- and the crew said “be prepared to return quickly, but we can go”.
We were up in the lounge at 7am all ready to get on(actually got on about 7:30) the zodiac for a wavy, windy and slightly wet ride to shore. There is very small beach full of rocks but it was only a few steps to the stairs. After about 100 stairs we were on the land of Cape Horn. Yep, it was windy and drizzly- as is said to be “the typical Patagonia weather.” Besides drizzles we had some snow and hail flurries. The path to the albatross sculpture was closed because it was too windy. It was a surprise to see how much vegetation was on the island in spite of the exposure and weather.
I took my GoPro camera to Cape Horn so I could take some pictures on the way back to the ship. Its battery was dead when I tried to use it but when I went to remove the old battery the pull tab came off. By judicious shaking I was able to get the old battery out and then put the new on in, just in time for our return journey to the ship.
We spent a little time (maybe an hour) at Cape Horn before heading back to the ship for breakfast. I did like the clear view of the stairs and lighthouse on Cape Horn just as we got back to the ship. Shortly after we got back on the ship the snow flurries obscured Cape Horn for about 10 minutes and then it cleared up.
We saw many humpback whales as we were heading to our next stop.
Our second excursion of the day was to Wulaia Bay. This time Tibor went on the lookout excursion hoping to be able to see whales in the bay but they weren’t there. I took the coast excursion again. It’s a beautiful area and we both got to walk a little in the forest. On the coast excursion, there was a building that was converted from a radio control center to a museum. The museum had some great murals with the history of the area. It was fascinating reading a little more about the many original explorers of the area. The one thing that was distressing was that one early explorer took 4 natives back home to England to be exhibited as savages in a zoo- as many as 100 people a day came to look at them. Apparently he wasn’t the only explorer that took natives away from their home land.
