Falkland Islands to Cape Horn

We have heard that ships visiting the Falkland Islands have a fifty-fifty chance of getting to them because the seas and winds are often too strong for the comfort and safety of passengers on the tenders. We fell into the category of the 50% who didn’t get there. The Captain announced that in the interest of our safety he was canceling the call in Stanley in the Falklands. It would have been QE2’s last stop there and the islanders had made extensive preparations for our visit, but safety must always be the first consideration. While there was much disappointment about missing both the penguins and the history of the British war there, we all thanked him for keeping us safe. As one passenger said, perhaps the penguins will get the cookies made for all of us by the people of Stanley. That is travel on the oceans. One never really is sure what will happen. We have an illusion that we have so much control over the environment, but in reality we are still very much dependent on Mother Nature’s good graces.

Later in the day, the Captain announced that indeed the weather had become even worse in the Falklands as predicted, with 50-foot waves and 60 mile an hour winds. Thank you, Captain, that is one experience I did nicely without! So it was another sea day, our roughest day so far on this cruise, but not the roughest seas we have experienced. We were rocked to sleep very pleasantly.

We were supposed to go into the Beagle Channel, dock briefly to get written permission from the Chilean government about 2 a.m. to enter their waters and then continue to Cape Horn. But, the seas were so rough that the government advised the Captain to turnaround without entering the channel and head back out to sea. Of course, we never knew it sound asleep as we all were. (We did however notice when we woke up that we were sailing into the rising sun, rather than the opposite direction.) The Chileans emailed their written permission for the rest of our travels in the area and we stayed out at sea until we reached Horn Island.

Since we had extra time from missing the day’s call at Stanley, we had time to completely circumnavigate Horn Island, very rocky, treeless, rising to nearly 1400 feet. The desolate landscape has a kind of beauty, at least from our vantage point on the lovely QE2. We were so fortunate in the change in the weather. We experienced calm seas, warm summer sunshine bringing temperatures to the high 40s or perhaps low 50s and a lovely couple of hours just enjoying being on the open decks at latitude 59 degrees south. At noon, we were directly south of Cape Horn, a promontory on Horn Island in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, the southern most point of South America. Cape Horn extends into the Drake Passage, the Antarctic strait connecting the South Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is famous for storms, strong currents, high winds, and icebergs, but not today.

Now we head back to the east and then northwest as we make our way to the Straits of Magellan and on to Punta Arenas, Chile tomorrow and another chance to see the penguins. Fortunately, I read that we should book tours in both Stanley and Punta Arenas since both are often cancelled because of the weather. We are hopeful that the weather will allow us to make the call at Punta Arenas.