Cape Horn: The End of the World
Cape Horn — the southernmost point of South America, on an island belonging to Chile — is one of the most legendary geographic points on Earth; the Drake Passage, the Roaring Forties, and the thousands of ships and sailors lost in the waters around Cape Horn make it a place of extraordinary historical and emotional resonance
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The ship cemetery
Cape Horn has been the graveyard of more than 800 ships and 10,000 sailors over 400 years of maritime history; the convergence of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the fierce westerly winds (the Roaring Forties and the Raging Fifties), and the unpredictable sea states created one of the world's most dangerous sea passages; the phrase "round the horn" became synonymous with extreme seamanship
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Dragon Passage
The Drake Passage — the stretch of water between Cape Horn and Antarctica — is the world's roughest sea; the free Southern Ocean circulates all the way around Antarctica without anything to break the wind or the waves; the 800 km crossing from Cape Horn to Antarctica's South Shetland Islands is the most turbulent standard sea route on Earth
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Albatross Monument
The Cape Horn Monument - a silhouette of an albatross cut into a steel sculpture on the cliff - commemorates the sailors lost around the Horn; the albatross was believed by sailors to carry the souls of dead sailors; the monument's position on the cliffs above the southern ocean, the wind and the desolation create one of the most emotionally powerful memorials in travel
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The lighthouse and the Chilean Navy
The Cape Horn lighthouse is manned by a Chilean seafaring family who spend a year in complete isolation on the island; the family (a naval officer, husband and children) maintains the light and meteorological station; the tradition of sending a family to this extraordinary outpost is a combination of naval duty and human endurance that is hard to fathom anywhere else
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Yaghan People
The Cape Horn archipelago was home to the Yaghan people – the southernmost indigenous people on earth – who lived on the islands year-round, bare in one of the world's most hostile climates; Darwin was surprised by Yaghan's apparent indifference to cold; The Yaghan painted their bodies with animal fat and ocher for insulation; the community was virtually destroyed by European contact; a woman (Cristina Calderón) is Yaghan's last native speaker
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Reach Cape Horn
Cape Horn is accessible by expedition ship from Ushuaia (about 24 hours sailing) or by charter flight to the Chilean naval base on the nearby island of Navarino; the standard Antarctic cruise passes Cape Horn; landing on the island (weather permitting) to visit the lighthouse and monument is one of the most powerful experiences in travel