Sunday, January, 24th 2010
In Drake’s Passage
Antarctica is behind us now… we crossed 65 degrees south on our way back about 7:00 am… We plan on reaching Cape Horn this evening.
There is a swell, and the ship is rolling… but little wind, and no white caps… Its cloudy. It is a lazy day, a day to relax and recover. Once again the ship is mostly deserted, or at least seems that way.
Patrick Toomey, the Ice Pilot, gave a talk on where we went in Antarctica (and why it was or wasn’t where we planned to go…)
We are in Drake’s Passage… Sir Francis Drake was here 450 years ago… Magellan had been here earlier… Darwin, aboard the Beagle was here later… they were all aboard wooden sailing ships… without benefit of charts, weather forecasts, or GPS…
Now 7:00, pm…
Just after 6:00 we could make out land… by 7:00 we were just off Horn Island… the Cape Horn of legend. We picked up two Chilan Pilots, who would stay with us through Valparizo… we circled Horn Island… the seas were calm, the weather good, at least by the standards of Horn Island… we had fog, some clear skies, and later rain… the wind, calm at first grew in intensity… a cold dismal place given to extremes of weather, and we saw the best it had to offer…
We retired to the dining room for dinner, the islands of the Cape all around us…
Goodnight
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