Cape Horn and Beagle Channel

The Beagle Channel.

12 March 2014

We left the Falklands to head around Cape Horn and the bottom on South America. I am not well versed on the geography of the southernmost part of South America; somehow I thought we would just round a corner of the land and, voila, we would be in the Pacific. Well, it is a bit messier than that. The south of South America is a broken set of islands and fjords. Cape Horn is actually an island and it is mariner tradition that if your ship can go around Cape Horn, then you, as a captain, can eat at the dining table with one foot resting on the table. Must have come from the buccaneer days because I don’t think most captains dine in that style anymore.

The morning of the crossing, the ship captain came on the PA system and announced a major storm system was south of us and rotating counter clockwise, generating 50 knots winds (about 60 mph) which we would be heading directly into and swells of 5 to 8 meters (16 to 26 feet). We had an inkling this was coming since the night before what with the pitching and rolling of the ship and the closing off of the promenade deck because the winds were so strong. Plus it was FREEZING cold and wet out there. Because of this storm system, he wasn’t sure if we would actually get to Cape Horn in time. They had to get around the island and into Beagle Channel by a certain time in order to get to our next stop, Ushuaia, Argentina.

So we spent the morning and part of the afternoon straining to reach Cape Horn. Around 2:30 pm, the captain again came on the PA system and apologized that the ship was going to have to turn from Cape Horn and head directly to the Beagle Channel. The winds and sea were too much for the ship to make the headway it needed. I wasn’t too disappointed, I guess, since I felt we were getting the full experience of crossing the bottom of the world anyway. The pitching and rolling of the ship had finally gotten to me and I had to resort to Dramamine to keep my stomach calm. It was rather amusing to watch the passengers deal with the ship’s motion while walking down the corridors. As the ship rolled, everyone walking down an inside promenade would shift their walk first one direction than the other as if in synchronization. It was iffy whether some should have been up and about since we have many older folks on board (there are several folks over 90 years old and it was announced that the oldest is 97.) I didn’t actually see anyone fall, but there were many close calls.

As soon as we got into the Beagle Channel, the seas calmed down.  It was still bitterly cold, but Russ and I enjoyed sitting in our room in the late afternoon and watching the snow covered mountains slide by. What an amazing experience we have had so far on this cruise; first the warm tropical airs of the Caribbean, then the fall temperatures of Buenos Aires and now the “Roaring 40s” of the Patagonia region of South America. The winds in this region are known for their fierceness; they cross the far South Pacific Ocean without being slowed by land until they reach South America. By then, they have been super chilled and are traveling very fast.

We will continue through the Beagle Channel through the night until we reach Ushuaia, Argentina in the early morning. The channel is named for the ship that carried Charles Darwin in 1831 on his discovery voyage. It is known for its many varieties of wildlife. We are ready with our winter clothing for our adventure tomorrow.

55 degrees south latitude is the furthest we got. South America has the most southernly point of all the continents.



At times, the waves were above the horizon line (and this picture was taken from Deck 5!)



This was taken from our deck on the tenth level. The spray was getting close to our level.



Entering the Beagle Channel.

The Beagle Channel, the Straits of Magellan and the Drake Passage are the only three waterways between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean in the southern hemisphere. We will travel on parts of all three.



Cruising the Beagle channel. Winter is definitely coming to the region.

Very happy to get out of the huge ocean swells.  It was still freezing cold though and the winds are quite strong.



We saw several small hanging glaciers.

We didn’t exactly suffer while the ship was enduring the cold stormy weather. We watched a very good folklorical show featuring tango and gaucho dancing in the evening.