Captain Skog made an extraordinarily close approach to Cape Horn, the 1,391 foot peak towering above us and providing stunning photographic opportunities in the evening sun. Cape Horn is the most southerly island in a small archipelago called the Woolaston Islands in Tierra del Fuego. The southernmost tip of the Americas, it was 'rounded' for the first time in 1616 by the Dutch navigator Willem Cornelis Schouten. He named it after his birthplace - Hoorn in the Netherlands.
We found a nice anchorage on the eastern side of Cape Horn, and took the Zodiacs ashore for a spectacular visit to this dramatic place. We were greeted by a young Chilean family who monitor traffic around the cape for their government. A short walk across the island took us to a very impressive memorial which portrays an albatross soaring across the ocean. This was erected in honor of the many sailors who have lost their lives in the stormy southern ocean. A plaque at the base of the memorial has a Spanish inscription which translates as follows:
"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."
