The penguins weren't on Cape Horn, but I was trying to come up with a catchy title and that's the best I could do with what I had to work with. We woke to a view of an Alpine village nestled among the mountains of Tierra del Fuego, which translates to "Land of Fire" in English. Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world and the departure point for Antarctic Cruises. A prison was built here in the 1890's to help augment the population and substantiate Argentina's claim on the island. It operated until the 1940's and has since been converted to a maritime museum. Ushuaia has all the charm and feel of a European mountain village that happens to be situated on the coastline. The people are warm and friendly, if the weather is not. Even in the middle of their summer the temperatures are on the chilly side with highs in the 50's F and an ever-present breeze.
Our plans for the day centered around an excursion to see Magellanic penguins in their natural habitat. Our journey by boat up the Beagle Channel was a tableau of amazing scenery. Islands coated in colorful lichens of vivid yellows and burnt umbers, birds, sea lions, penguins, and any combination of all of the aforementioned items were abundant. In the era of digital photography you are guaranteed to create hours and hours of work sifting through all the images you capture. Some images border on the surreal, others come out overwhelmingly pedestrian. As difficult as it may be, make sure you spend plenty of time enjoying the scenery first-hand, the photographs will be there in the future to help refresh your memory.
The desolation and unspoiled beauty of the landscape will give you pause, especially when you consider it in the context of the ruggedness and the extreme conditions that can appear at almost any moment. With summer water temperatures hovering right around 48 degrees Fahrenheit the risk of hypothermia is significant year-round. Storms can appear at a moment's notice and it's not a matter of if the wind is going to blow, but rather how hard is it going to blow. The moral of the story is that beauty can be dangerously deadly if not given the proper meaure of respect. Hikers are encouraged to registered with the Walkers Safety System, to provide a tangible example of the threat that the environment can present. This is not a place to strike out with cavalier abandon.
I'm not quite sure what I expected to see when we arrived at the penguin colony, but I do know the sheer numbers were overwhelming. Everywhere you looked on the island there were penguins. The shallows around the island were scattered with penguins swimming, diving, and checking out the boat full of gawkers. When I saw their numbers as we approached I expected a cacophony of penguin-chatter to emerge as we drew closer, but they were relatively quiet. Most excursions to the colony only allow observation from boats that draw up to the shoreline, but there are expeditions that hold permits to take you on the island and allow you to walk among the penguins. If you're headed to Ushuaia and have an interest in seeing penguins in the wild then you should definitely do your research on the various excursions offered. Some of our table mates from the dining room booked a "walk among the penguins" that was reported as an amazing experience, but they had a rather long, rough ride in the back of a truck to reach the boat that transferred them to the island. I will say that there is something to be said for taking a boat that has a bar and snacks available, even if you can only observe from the shoreline.
Ushuaia is certainly the "End of the World" for all intents and purposes. It's probably the closest that I'll ever get to Antarctica and is completely unforgettable. Perhaps we'll make it back one day, I'd certainly like to.
We raised anchor just before dinner time and advanced down the Beagle Channel to Port Williams in order to clear Chilean customs and immigration for our visit to Cape Horn the following day. "Visit" being a loose term, since the only opportunity for a visit would be for a few ship's officers and then, only if the weather were exceptionally forgiving. Our visit at Port Williams was extended by several hours when the ship ran aground and we were forced to wait for the incoming tide to float us off.
The next morning we awoke to stereotypical Cape Horn weather. Everything I've read in books and seen in movies prepared me for a churning ocean and mist-shrouded islands and I was not disappointed. While it would have been nice for the Captain to go ashore to sign the guest book and meet the Chilean Naval Officer who lives on the Horn we did get to experience the weather I anticipated. The winds were strong enough to heel the boat several degrees when they were off the beam and the spray was reaching our balcony, five or six decks above the waterline. We circled the Horn several times and then made course for Uruguay.
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