Travel with Indigo

Indigo left Ushuaia about 4:30AM and turned right into the Beagle Channel.  It was a beautiful sunny day with relatively smooth seas.  A tug boat brought the Ushuaia pilot to the boat to lead us out of the Bay of Ushuaia and then picked him up again.  It will take about 12 hours to get to Cape Horn.  We will go past Isla Navarino and turn right to travel along its east side.  Our plan is to travel almost straight south and then turn west (right) just above Cape Horn and then go round it from west to east.  During the trip, Rick was a big help standing watches.  His principal experience is with sailing vessels but I think he is now converted.  He is really enjoying the trip and is good company.

As we approach Cape Horn, we pass lots of hilly islands of all sizes and pointed rocks coming out of the sea.  This is a bleak and rugged land and seascape but there is grass on the west sides of most islands.  We passed Isla Deceit and could clearly see Cape Horn in the distance.  We actually rounded it about 5PM and we were all very, very excited and took lots of photos.  One side of it looks like a giant triangle and believe it or not, there is a house, a lighthouse and a monument of some sort right on top of the island, totally exposed to the winds.  We were in radio contact with the lighthouse keeper and he is the one who first told us about how bad the weather in the Drake Passage was today and over the next few days.  Our weather around Cape Horn was wonderful with lots of wind but relatively calm seas.  We decided to try to go ashore and visit the lighthouse but there was really no good anchorage because of the wind and high seas.  It would have been dangerous to lower the tender and then try to get in and out of it.  One of the Chilean pilots told us that he had been to Cape Horn three times but had never been able to see it (too far away, too much fog) so this very clear view was thrilling for him too.  But we achieved our goal and we are all very happy.

About 8:30PM, we heard from Carlos and the Navy ship.  They left Ushuaia about 4PM, much later than they had planned, but they thought the weather would hold for a while and that they would make it.  We all hoped we could catch up at some point but later that night, it became clear from all our weather sources that the weather was not holding so we decided to go to a protected anchorage and see what tomorrow looked like before making a final decision on whether to proceed to Antarctica.  But we’re here at the End of the World and that was our main goal.