The end of the world

Gabrielle and Nick at the End of the World

Once in our finery, we minced off to The Glass House. We were ooooohhhhhhed and arrrrrrrrrhhhhhed over with lots of questions from Janice if all had been ok on our last visit as she had not seen us since our renewal of vows evening and had everything been ok? We had to assure her that all had been more than ok, it was simply that we were desperately trying to keep the alcohol intake to a reasonable level. And failing fairly spectacularly, it has to be said.

Much to the bemusement of our server in the restaurant, we actually wanted the same to eat and drink throughout the evening. As Nick is hard of hearing, it’s always easier for all concerned if I do the talking and more to the point the listening and responding. It brought to our memories a certain episode of Spitting Image involving the previously mentioned Margaret Thatcher and the vegetables sketch. You have to be a certain age and a certain political bent to have appreciated and remember that particular satirical episode. The reality of Celebration night is little more than a reason to promenade in one's finery, have a 5-course meal (if you so desired) and have a napkin in the shape of a boat!

Even though sunset was officially at 9.18 pm last night, it was still a thrill to have twilight until 10pm. However, the “summer” light belies the fact that actually, the temperatures are more winter now, dropping to 7 degrees last night. 

After our meal, we set off to the theatre for the Headliners show. It was the usual song and dance routine, but this time to the big shows. All was going fine until the final act and they performed a rendition of a bunch of songs from Les Mis. Well, that was us two finished off, in bits, snivelling into each others’ shoulders. We weren’t the only ones who thought it was stunning as half the audience gave the performers a standing ovation. We weren’t too sure how we reckoned we’d be able to sleep with all those songs churning around in our heads.

I’ve mentioned how I love hearing the sound of the sea and having the balcony door open at night. However, last night was simply too windy and bouncy and for once, reluctantly, I put my sensible head on and shut the balcony door. Though, me being me, didn’t want to miss out on the start of the spectacle that would announce our arrival around Cape Horn, so slept with the curtains open so that dawn would wake me.

As if I knew the Pilot was on board, I woke at dawn and inspected our surroundings. Low-lying hills to the fore and mountains with snow on their tops behind them. Eventually, I couldn’t contain myself anymore and started rattling around taking pics. Our sea conditions had improved to pretty much flat calm at this point. It’s really handy having the ship’s location on the internal TV system, so we were able to pinpoint exactly our location as we ambled at 13 knots hugging the shoreline. 

Extreme workout

Extreme workout. Is that what you call it when you do your workout session approaching Cape Horn? I reckon so. Then it was extreme laundry. It’s not every day you get to wash your smalls as you circumnavigate Cape Horn. It had to be done. After an early breakfast, we hot-footed it back to our room, got kitted up, set our balcony seating with cushions on the seats and sat down with smug expressions. This is what we’ve paid for Nick, the best seats in the house to go around the Horn. So why’s he heading for land then Gabs? Hum. OK, so we then did a jiggery-pokery of checking the physical status of the ship (heading straight for land) and coming back into our cabin to view the status on the TV. Anyone looking at vessel finder would also have been forgiven for being confused about what was going on. It then became evident we would be going around Cape Horn the wrong way around. Noooooooooo. Smug expressions wiped firmly off our faces now, we decided we’d have to join the throngs outside on the deck.

By now, with two oceans converging, the calm waters of earlier this morning changed to fairly waggy (Gabs nautical term). At this point, I felt it safe to settle myself by wearing my bands. 

The lighthouse and monument at Cape Horn

The lighthouse and monument at Cape Horn - a closer view

It has to be said Cape Horn is a bleak place but the island is inhabited by a family in the lighthouse. The two children are Zoom taught. Normally there would be the Chilean flag flying, but it had broken in recent strong winds.

Cape Horn Island - a very hostile environment and dangerous to shipping

We then had a big decision to make. Go and listen to Alex Alley’s second talk (he of world champion yachtsman fame) telling us about his experiences on the high seas or stay and fully immerse ourselves in the full circumnavigation of Cape Horn and create our own experiences on the high seas. We chose the latter. Going around Cape Horn must feature as one of those 1001 things you should do before you die.

Screenshot from Vesselfinder of our route today, now heading into Beagle Channel

Since noon yesterday to noon today, we have steamed 293 nautical miles at an average speed of 12.5 knots. During our journey around the Cape, we reduced to 8 knots. We were in relatively shallow waters of 40 metres with the water temperature a chilly 10 degrees, with the outside temperature 9 degrees, it felt much colder though.

This afternoon we went to listen to another talk from Cally Oldershaw furthering our education on gemstones. It doesn’t sound like the obvious subject matter of interest, but she is utterly fascinating and yet again, we enjoyed her talk. After that, we kitted up again. The seas had really calmed down, the mist and drizzle of earlier had gone and we were moving into a lovely evening starting our passage through Beagle Channel. This marks our official entry into Chile as we pause tonight at Puerto Williams as Border Control boards the ship and checks over our retained passports. We have completed our Affidavits to agree we’re not carrying all manner of biohazards or stashes of dosh. We were rewarded with dolphins leaping and a proper whale lumbering to the surface to blow.

We feel we’ve done enough dashing around today so have not done our daily sea-day walk. We’re also having a night in tonight. Well, sort of. Dinner in the room and then off to see another display from Gaucho Del Plata, the rather bizarre dancer/performer/comedian. It’s another early alarm set for us tomorrow as we steam past our first glaciers just after dawn. I thought this was supposed to be a holiday!