As we approach the Beagle Channel after a relatively mild crossing of the Drake Passage, people are divided into groups that are wondering how they can possibly fit all those clothes plus a Parka into such a small suitcase, and those who are eagerly watching for any signs of life in the gray waters that surround the National Geographic Explorer.
Captain Skog treated us to a close up view of the impressive Cape Horn, with its dark, forbidding cliffs. The ship was close enough to see the lighthouse and the new Cape Horn monument. The last monument was destroyed in one of the many storms that regularly sweep through the area.
Once past around the Horn, Dr. Joe Macinnis gave a presentation about his time working with deep sea submersibles, tackling the incredible task of finding and filming the Titanic, which lies under two-and-a-half miles of sea of the Newfoundland coast.
If all goes to plan we should pick up the pilot at five o’clock this afternoon, and soon after, dock alongside at Ushuaia, marking the end of a truly epic voyage to the White Continent. We may be back in contact with the human world, but a little part of each of us will remain with the penguins.
I am the Albatross who awaits you
At the end of the world.
I am the soul of ancient mariners
Who rounded Cape Horn
From all the seas of the world.
They did not perish in the furious waves.
Today they fly on my wings
for all eternity
in the ultimate embrace
of the Antarctic winds.
Sara Vial
December 1992
