Cape Horn, Chile


In the hushed predawn hours, our ship approached the legendary Cape Horn, a place steeped in the ominous history of maritime perils and tales of countless shipwrecks chronicled in the pages of novels. Although we were advised to set our alarms for 6:00 am for a glimpse of this maritime marvel, our eagerness to witness the spectacle was tempered. We were on vacation.

A change in motion of the ship stirred me from my slumber at 6:20 am. Intrigued, I jumped out of bed and drew back the drapes, fully expecting a turbulent scene associated with Cape Horn. However, what met my gaze was nothing short of extraordinary.

The morning sun bathed the landscape in a soft, ethereal glow. To my surprise, a rare calmness prevailed—absent were the notorious winds that defined this perilous passage. The water, eerily still, mirrored the breathtaking beauty that surrounded us. Unfathomably, the weather was so mild that I found myself comfortably clad in shorts, a stark contrast to the tales of biting cold associated with Cape Horn.

As announcements reverberated through the ship's hallways and on the cabin TVs, a collective acknowledgment of the extraordinary nature of this weather phenomenon permeated the air. The Captain paused the ship for approximately 30 minutes. This interlude allowed us to savour the surreal beauty of our surroundings, from the iconic lighthouse to the diverse wildlife that adorned the massive land rocks.

Birds gracefully soared overhead, sea lions lounged lazily, and the entire panorama unfolded as if nature itself had orchestrated a masterpiece for our exclusive viewing. This unexpected communion with Cape Horn, defying its notorious reputation, left an indelible imprint on our journey.



Our expedition, undeterred by the legendary Drake's Passage, now charted a course toward the pristine Paradise Bay in Antarctica. Little did we anticipate that our encounter with Cape Horn would transcend its storied history, offering us a moment of unparalleled serenity and natural splendour.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Climbing Mt. Solmar with The Dogs, Los Cabos, Mexico

Image
We heard about this climb from Darren's niece who had done the exact climb last week.  Whenever you do a search on hikes in the Los Cabos area, this Mount Solmar hike does not come up.  I would highly recommend it though because it was a great deal of fun and it was challenging.  I went with 3 friends and to top it all off there was a bunch of dogs walking with us up the mountain.   Enrique runs a Dog Training Center.  He started this hike with dogs to train them most likely. And now people join him for free and climb up Mount Solmar with the dogs. The dogs love it and they are barking and in a bit of a frenzy before you go.  You take an Uber or drive your car to the dog training center and you wait in line at 8:00 a.m. this hike accompanied by dogs is available every morning except Saturday.   Kent, Joelle, Craig and I in the line-up to get into see the dogs and start the climb. Enrique led us into the compound and gave us a talk on the area...
Read more

Ixtapa Island- Ixtapa, Mexico

Image
This is Coral Beach on Ixtapa Island The kids wanted to go to Ixtapa Island because this is where the best snorkeling is located in the Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo areas.  When we first started asking around and getting price quotes for this, we were getting prices anywhere from 90 - 110 American per person for a day trip to Ixtapa Island.  Anyone who knows us know that we hate organized tours because you get herded around like cattle, you don't get to make your own decisions and 90% of the time they are a rip-off for something that you can organize yourself.   Once the kids found out how expensive it was they began to research this trip and they realized that it's quite achievable to do without a tour or a tour guide for a fraction of the cost. We first took a taxi from Hilton Grand where we were staying to Playa Linda, where the Pier is located for the water taxis.  Our taxi from the Hilton Grand cost 300 pesos to get the 4 of us to Playa Linda where a lot of marke...
Read more

Kuilau Ridge Trail - Kauai, Hawaii

Image
My son Dax wanted to do this trail because it was in the interior of the island in the Rain Forest of Kauai. Some unusual Dr. Seuss like plants behind Kim. There is quite a bit of parking available before and after the bridge. There are washrooms available, they are super gross of the non flushing kind and the smell was really bad worse than your average outdoor Biffy. The trail begins at the yellow metal gates and there is a lot of elevation to climb up for the first section.  Eventually you get to the pretty views of a multitude of greens. You can literally take a ton of photos because every view is gorgeous! The forest is thick with some scary steep drop offs but the trail is wide enough for safety  You can continue for a longer trail for another 3.2 miles past the bridge but our hike was already going to be 2 hours round trip so we stopped at the bridge. That was enough beauty for one day. I highly recommend this hike and gave it a 5 out of 5 because it was moderately chal...
Read more