Drake Passage and Cape Horn

Just trying to catch up on our last few days. On Sunday (Jan 28), soon after seeing the humpback whales we lost sight of Antarctica as we made our way to the Drake Passage. We had had such good success (ie not rough water) on the way there and we were hoping for a similar experience on the way back. Well, we woke on Monday (Jan 29) to not the worst the Drake Passage had to offer, but we did have 20 foot swells which was plenty to drain the energy of many folks on board the ship. However, Dad did happen to see an exciting sight out our window. Three killer whales were feeding off the port side of the ship around 10AM on Monday morning. It was a quick sighting but very fun.

The rest of the day Mom and Dad spent in lectures on the history of whaling and global warming and Courtney, Lauren, Abby and Dallas caught up on journals and watched movies.

On Tuesday (Jan 30) we arrived at Cape Horn. Cape Horn is at the bottom of Chile in Tierra del Fuego. Many, many sailors have lost their lives trying to make the trek from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean. The weather was iffy (wind and rain) but they did let us make a landing.

Picture of the lighthouse at Cape Horn.

An Albatross memorial to commemorate the lost sailors.
Courtney and Lauren made the landing. They're sitting on the memorial with Cape Horn in the background.
It was very windy. Guessing that we had 70 mph gusts.