Gene and Jan's Long Trip Too

After rounding Cape Horn,  we cruised the Beagle Channel, a 150 mile strait connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  It is named after the British ship HMS Beagle which surveyed the coast of South America between 1826 and 1830.  The ship returned in 1833 to continue its work with Charles Darwin aboard as a naturalist. Beagle Channel meanders through Parque National Alberto de Agostini.  Countless small islands form one of the most scenic archipelagos in the world. We are seeing this untouched wilderness much as Ferdinand Magellan, Charles Darwin and other early explorers did centuries before us. Soaring snow capped peaks form the corridors for the fjords that are heralded as some of the most rugged and untamed places on earth. Compare the size of the fishing trawler (in the lower left) to the height of the peaks forming this fjord. We entered a region of the strait known as Glacier Alley, home to the massive Darwin ice field. It creates n...

Cape Horn (Isla Hornos) is Chile's southernmost island and is located in  the Tierra del Fuego archipelago.  When sailors "Round the Cape," they are referring to navigating Drake passage and passing south of this island. It's surrounded by wild seas and marks the place where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet. It was 7:00 AM, 43° and raining as I joined fellow passengers on the upper deck waiting for a view of Cape Horn. Visibility was limited as we strained our eyes for Isla Hornos.  For an instant, a ray of sunlight passed through the thick layer of clouds to form a rainbow. Rocky protrusions were everywhere!  Most of the year t he waters around Cape Horn are particularly hazardous because of strong winds, high waves, unpredictable currents and icebergs .   Then we spotted the northern cliffs of Isla Hornos.  T he Chilean Navy maintains a station on the island consisting of a residence, utility building, chapel, and lighthous...

Nearing Cape Horn we entered the Beagle Channel and headed for Ushuaia, Argentina.  Often referred to as the end of the world, it is the southernmost city in the world and its population of 150,000 makes it the closest population center to the South Pole. Its splendid setting, tucked between the Beagle Channel and the southernmost slopes of the Andes, lends it an outpost atmosphere, as do Antarctic explorers readying for expeditions that depart from here.   As the Viking Sun docked, I stood on the top deck looking for a photo op.  The retractable roof over the swimming pool/sundeck was open but no one was using this recreational facility!  Could it have something to do with the snow capped mountain peaks on the horizon? (Or maybe the 40° outside temperature?) Leaving my cabin to go ashore, I found the entire crew in a mandatory fire drill.  Today it required a complete shutdown of the electrical system to test the emergency generators....

We departed the Falkland Islands at 5 pm on Saturday, November 23rd heading for Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world.  High winds caused our ship to rock and roll for one-third of the 36-hour journey.  As we neared Cape Horn the sky cleared and the winds dropped giving us a fabulous "bottom of the earth" sunset. Cape Horn is within a few degrees of the antarctic circle and with this being the summer season, the days (sun) are 18 hours long. 

From Buenos Aires, our next stop was Montevideo. Because Jan was unable to walk more than a few steps at a time, we elected to stay aboard the Viking Sun.  From Montevideo, Puerto Madryn, Argentina was our next port of call.  Several strong weather systems in the South Atlantic caused the captain to revise our itinerary and head directly for the Falkland Islands.  With skill and wisdom, he  literally "threaded the needle" and wiggle between two gale-force storms. The captain's plan worked!  We arrived at Port Stanley and were greeted to a beautiful, sunny day with calm winds.  Port Stanley, a town of 2,400 residents, seldom experiences this kind of great weather.  Near the dock was their famous Whalebone Arch, a reminder of their heritage as a South Atlantic whaling and sealing center. Walking along Ross Road, the main street of Port Stanley, I passed Christ Church Cathedral, the southernmost Anglican church in the world.  It is built on...

The Viking Sun arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on a 2-day stop over.  Six shipping containers of food and supplies were brought aboard, 450 passengers sent home and 450 new ones welcomed aboard. (178 of us long-haul travelers continue our epic journey.)  While the ship was in port, Jan and I booked a 2-day excursion to Iguazu Falls located about 900 miles north of Buenos Aires. Photo courtesy of Enaldo Valadares, Wikipedia The world's largest waterfall system, Iguazu Falls is ranked as one of the top 5 natural wonders of the world.  Located on the boarder of Brazil and Argentina, its cascading falls are 3 times higher than Niagara and more than twice as wide. After our 2-hour plane ride, we reached Iguazu National Park in Argentina. The 900-mile flight returned us deep into the tropical rainforest where we were greeted  to 97⁰ temperatures.  (We had been warned that we would be wet from the time we arrived until we left, either from sweat or...