After leaving Antarctica, we crossed the Drake Passage. Sir Francis Drake is credited with discovering the passage when he meant to go through the Straits of Magellan, and a great storm blew him way off course. In fact, there’s a controversy among some historians that he actually found it, since some of his shipmates denied ever seeing the open sea. He’d be a good explorer for a school report!!
The Drake Passage is the body of water between South America and Antarctica where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Pacific Ocean. The passage was discovered in 1578, and it wasn’t until 1820, nearly 250 years later, that Antarctica was discovered, due to violent seas keeping explorers away.
The southern most land before crossing the Drake Passage to go to Antarctica is called Cape Horn. There have been thousands of shipwrecks over the centuries around Cape Horn because the strength of the wind makes the seas near uncrossable. I thought Cape Horn was the southern most tip of the continent of South America, which is a common misconception. It’s actually not connected to the continent at all, but is at the south end of an island named Horn. When we passed by, it was windy, foggy and cold, and we could only imagine all the explorers who wrecked their ships there. It is a famous, symbolic place for all people on seafaring vessels.
Here is a picture of us with Cape Horn in the background. Doesn't look like much; it's basically a big rocky island!
The next day we finally arrived at the port of Ushuaia, Argentina, after being at sea for six days. (pronouced "oo shoo AYE ah".). Ushuaia is proud to claim to be the southernmost city in the world, and its slogan is “fin del mundo” which means “at the end of the world.” In fact, everything in the town uses the slogan. There is the post office at the end of the world, the golf course at the end of the world, the souvenir shop at the end of the world…you get the idea. We went on a scenic tour of Tierra del Fuego National Park. Tierra del Fuego means “land of fire”. How it got its name is interesting. Another explorer, Fernando Magellan, sailed his ships through here, and in the dark they continually saw many small fires. Not realizing that there were native peoples already here, he didn’t understand what he was seeing, and called it the land of fire. Some explorers were even afraid to come because of that name!
Near the city of Ushuaia is the end of the Panamerican Highway; the road literally comes to a dead end. The highway begins in Alaska, and if you had the time, energy and money, you could drive it all the way through Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, all of South America right to the sign you see us standing at below!
This little building on the tiny pier is the End of the World Post office.
Everybody likes to stand in front of signs in Ushuaia. Here I am with Sheryl and Sandy in front of the city sign telling you it's at the end of the world. ("fin del mundo")
In the evening, after leaving Ushuaia, we cruised through the Beagle Channel. This is a narrow channel of water with mountains on both sides. As we cruised through, it was quiet, foggy, eerie, and isolated (we only saw one other vessel the entire time). Then we came across a group of glaciers! (A glacier is a body of ice that moves downhill under its own weight). Below are some pictures we took.
Below is a picture of a melting glacier.
We are traveling on the ship the Star Princess which has 2600 passengers and 1150 crew. It is 931 feet long and 17 stories high. All the weight such as fresh water, food, and other supplies is at the bottom of the ship to help keep it balanced. We are traveling with friends, Bill and Sheryl and Sandy and Keith on a 17 day cruise.
Here is a picture of the ship docked in Ushuaia. You can get some idea of its size when you see some of the other smaller ships around it.
Here's all six of us in Ushuaia: Bill, Keith, Sandy, Sheryl, me, C.Jay.
The girls bought matching Antarctica sweatshirts!!!!
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