Hola Amigos!
We achieved our goal of getting to the very end of the world on November 11, 2011 (an auspicious date no doubt) when we set foot on Cape Horn, Chile at the very tip of the southern hemisphere. We took a cruise boat to get there and it was a real thrill to be able to land on this piece of rock and add our name into the book of souls who have been here at the Lighthouse.
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| Cape Horn, November 11, 2011 |
We landed very early in the morning (7:00am) and were able to walk around the trails for a bit. This place is very historic and there are plaques to Sir Charles Darwin, Sir Robert Scott, Sir Ernest Shackelton and others who were brave explorers to the end of the world and the Antarctic. We met the lighthouse keeper and his family who lives here and we were able to revel in our suceess at getting to this very special place. We had been travelling 131 days to get here and we made it safe and sound.
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| Johnny Walker and 600 Year Old Glacier Ice |
The cruise ship we took out of Punta Arenas in Chile is called the Australis and it has 64 cabins. It was a real pleasure to be able to travel to the Cape this way. We met some absolutely wonderful people on this trip and there are too many stories to tell for this little blog. Here we are on the shore drinking Johnny Walker with Glacier Ice that is 600 years old. Even though it was 10:30 in the morning and I don't drink Scotch, I figured I would simply hunker down and give it a try. It is actually not bad stuff at all - maybe it was the glacier ice that made it taste so good...
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| Magellenic Penguins Chile |
No trip so far south to this part of the world would be complete without seeing Penguins and we had the thrill of getting this close to them in Zodiac boats. We were not allowed to land on shore but we took the boats in as close as we could and the penguins didn't really seem to care if we were there or not. These are Magellanic penguins and they are very cute. They were waddling around and swimming in the water right beside us. It was just great to see real penugins in their natural habitat.
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| Cape Horn Chart from Australis |
This is the chart that the Captain used to get us to Cape Horn. We got up at 5:00am so that we could go to the Bridge and watch the arrival of the Horn before we took the Zodiacs over and landed on it. This chart has an incredible amount of history to it now because it was auctioned off later that evening and our new friends from Germany are going to share it with us. They have taken it to Germany to start with and we have promised to come and get it within two years. They will then come to Canada to visit us and the chart will be shared by us forever. Sort of like a time share but better. We can't wait to tell the whole story and share all the details.
We are now in Buenos Aires enjoying the last bit of our trip. There probably won't be that many more blog posts as our trip starts to wind down and we prepare to come back to Winter and reality in Vancouver. Do keep your eyes peeled for our next updates as there will be some more posts and a final wrap up to finish the blog.
We hope all is very well with everyone as they prepare for the Holidays!
More to come,
Pat & Gary
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