To the end of the Earth and Back

Well - here I sit on the North side of the utter end of the Americas. We are now among the elite (?) souls who have rounded the Horn. Of course, we cannot count ourselves amongst those intrepid and/or insane who did it centuries ago in leaking wooden ships smaller than a breadbox with no maps and certainly no 5 course meal awaiting them at the end of their daily log. The Horn was discovered in 1615 by Cpt. William Schouten - a Dutch sailor who named it Kaap Hoorn after his hometown in the Netherlands. Those who had gone before - Sir Francis Drake, Darwin in the Beagle and Magellan - had all managed to miss this spit of land while getting lost in the maze that is the region around Tierra Del Fuego. The Horn seems a very fitting bit of rock to use as an end to a continent. It rises magestically in a gentle sweep and guards the wild waters of the Drake Passage in fitting warning and monument to sailors yet to pass and the graveyard of those who tried and failed. There is a large bronze monument on the island, erected by the Chilean government, in honour of those who have lost their lives in this wild and lonely spot. It is made in 2 pieces and the negative space forms an albatross on the wing - the albatross is the good luck charm of sailors. It is beautiful. I think I have successfully added a web photo of it to the blog. We are feeling a little bereft of Antarctica but are told the wonders of Tierra del Fuego, the Beagle Channel and the Strait of Magellan are equally deserving of adulation and crazy photo snapping - we eagerly await that which is yet to come.

Yesterday I neglected to add a moment from my day that brought reality crashing back. I was relaxing on the deck of our stateroom watching the splendor of Deception Island and having a pleasant chat with the fellow from Houston on the next deck over. We sailed by and I was getting cold, Dale had gone to a lecture and I decided to attend another origami class - i turned to leave and much to my surprise found myself locked out on my balcony - in ANTARCTICA! It seems our very efficient room Steward (kind of a cross between a maid and a butler) had locked the door to keep out stray drafts and somehow didn't see me out there. It is NOT a large balcony and it seems a very hard thing to do, but he managed it. I asked the kind gentleman from Houston if he would be so good as to pop out into the companionway and find Ekanan (the Steward) and ask him to release me. It seems that Ek (as we call him) was nowhere to be found and I was still stuck. eventually Mrs. Houston called the Purser's desk and a kind human was sent post-haste to release me. I said to Ek "you do know this will likely affect your tip..." He found it wise not to argue with me at that point! And THAT , Kelly, can't happen to you at the Moose Jaw zoo!

Last night we crossed Drake's passage once again and once agin it threw a little unexpected weather at our little boat. thankfully the ocean gods were feeling less cruel and only gave us gale force winds (75knots) and rough seas (5-7m). Sleeping was a bit of a challenge but no furniture was lost and neither of us fell out of bed so off we go merrily to Ushuaia - the SOuthernmost city in the world. Tomorrow we board a catamarran to look at the wonders of Darwin's Beagle channel and stand on land for the first time in over a week. We anticipate that it may be a little wobbly. More on that tomorrow.

beunos dios

Marsha and Dale