Old Salty

the thing is you see, I hate boats. not so much hate them as the seasickness effect they inevitably bring on, at even the slightest hint of a ripple on the surface of the water. It has been said that I would get sea sick in the bathtub if left there for long enough.

So it was with great trepidation, and outright fear that I stepped onto this cruise with my seackniss drugs and my straps and all the rest of the gear you need to mentally prepare for such an arduous sea going venture as this one. yes I know its only 3 days, but still ^....

So this boat as its 3rd day agenda has us heading for Cape Horn. THE Cape Horn. The one where experienced salt encrusted sailors fear to go. The same Cape Horn that has claimed 10000 lives and 800 ships, damaged many more and has the reputation of the wildest seafaring weather on the planet.

And here am I, adam the sea wary, lilly livered land lubber, on a boat that is going to attempt to land on this place. Good God what am I thinking!!

So Morning dawns, I have had a very restless sleep with the fear building in me. I feel suprisingly well for the mountaious swells that must be outside the window that I dare not open the curtains too. I am even quite sure footed on this heaving deck, I must be aclimatising.

So it is we don the life vests in the room and make our way up to the deck as the Captain has said we will be able to make landfall. Incredible given the foul weather that must be about.

I pop my head out and to my extreme disappointment I find that infact I have not acclimatised at all. The weather is in fact, spectacular! Some of you are familiar with the phenomenon of LAGO, well this was EMGO. It was as smooth as glass with barely a tickle of movement and a glorious sun beating down on us.

So onto the Zodiacs and we land on Cape Horn. I Adam the land Lubber, has made it to the southernmost point of any landmass (excluding antartica of course) on the planet. Me! On Cape Horn.

Throughout all of this, sailor robyn had been taking the weather in her stride and looked a little disappointed for the weather not being a bit rougher. Lunatic!

So we fiddled about at the Cape Horn Lighthouse for a while and took a lot of pics of the beautiful monument to all fallen sailors and it was a surreal experience that we will both remember for the rest of our lives, but the best was yet to come.

We reboarded the ship and the Captain decided that the weather was good enough for a circumnavigation of the actual Cape itself. OH MY GOD. We were about to sail around Cape Horn.

We set off and it was breathtaking. To think of all the people who have lost their lives in the area, the awe with which this place is talked about by those who have sailed past, the respect it earns from even the most experienced of captains, and here were we, going around the Horn. It is still unbelievable.

Weather like this is rare as down here. To give you an idea, our ship had done the trip to Cape Horn 66 times, and in only 6 of those, have they managed to go around the Horn, in fact three weeks before the weather was so bad, noone got off the boat in the entire 3 days. pussys.

All of the crew were on deck as we went around, and as we went past the bottom of the Horn, three loud blasts from the ships horn, signified the moment and nearly brought Robyn and I to tears from the emotion of the moment.

We will never forget the feeling or the sight of Cape Horn.

Until next entry then.... Adam and Robyn, Cape Horners, signing off.