Letter from Atlantia January 2009.

It was 0730 on Monday 22nd December 2008 when we rounded Cape Horn. The water was smooth with no more than ten knots of wind and the sea birds (albatrosses, skuas, giant petrels and smaller petrels) were skimming over the water and around the cliffs. Will always thought Cape Horn was the end of the world, but it is no further south than Glasgow and Edinburgh are north, and Glasgow is most certainly not the end of the world. (Not even nearly). Cape Horn is in fact an island off Tierra Del Fuego. It was named by two Dutch brothers after Hoorn in Holland. A town which offers wonderful Moules Meurniere in the old lighthouse, if we remember rightly from our time at the European Dragon Championships in nearby Medenblick in 1998. The sea was almost oily at Cape Horn and although just past the longest day in the Southern Hemisphere, the light was fairly dim with the slight mist being blown off the island.

The excitement on board the M.V. Amsterdam, 60,000 tonne cruise liner with 1300 passengers and 600 crew, was obvious. To be passing Cape Horn and not being an early intrepid explorer in a small square rigged tub, seemed almost too incredible. The average age of the passengers was probably about 70 and it is unlikely that any one of us would have been privileged to round Cape Horn unless for the wonders of the age old lust for adventure, translated, and paying, for this modern cruise ship. Will’s mind kept on straying to the fact that it was Cape Horn and it must be Monday. You could tell it was Monday because the mats in the lifts, connecting the cruise ship bowels to its highest deck bar said so. The slight feeling of hurry and unreality aside, the famous cape looks quite similar to many capes on the west coast of Scotland, but particularly to the west cape of Hirta in the St Kilda group, with its jagged rocks unworn away by glaciers. On second thoughts it does look a bit like the end of the world, or at least somewhere the Vikings would have been at home with.

We turned away from the famous but tranquil Cape, scene of so many stories and films of wild seas, and set our course for 500 miles south to Antarctica. Somebody on board said it was a shame not to see the Cape in all its primeval glory, with the 25 metre seas encountered by the same cruise ship the year before. We didn’t think so, thank you.

Our voyage to Antarctica had started at Valparaiso in Chile. We had flown from Lake Titicaca to Lima, where we had stayed for one forgettable night and had flown on to Santiago in Chile. The man who picked us up from the airport was charming. He had one of those printed notices that said ‘Mr & Mrs Rud’ on it. Not quite the name but we got the gist.! Will had always wanted to see his name on a card at the end of the customs queue, so it was almost gratifying! Our driver said that Santiago was the safest place in South America, but he then locked the boot of the car and made sure the inside doors were secure and proceeded to tell us not to go out that evening since two famous football teams were having a head to head and the streets would not be safe to be on after the match. Albeit that the stadium was three miles away! We didn’t go out and we didn’t get accosted!

The following day we were picked up in a swish car and with a guide all to ourselves we were taken to two Vinas (pronounced Binas).

One was a modern organic winery (vineyard to the cognoscenti)

and the other was an old established estancia with lovely wooden houses and barrels.

The owner of the vineyard also had a collection of vintage cars and a stable full of polo ponies. Some people are very well off in Chile and they also make very good wine!

We went to a museum after an excellent lunch. The museum, among other historical artefacts, had pictures of General O’Higgins, a Chilean of the early nineteenth century, who along with Lord Thomas Cochrane Earl of Dundonald, and General Manuel Rodriguez, overthrew the Spaniards and declared Chile independent in 1818. Lord Cochrane was the swash buckling Scottish Royal Naval Captain of the Napoleonic Wars whose exploits became the model for such fictional heroes as Midshipman Easy, Hornblower and latterly Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey. Since Will knows one of Lord Cochrane’s descendents, who lives in Scotland, it was certainly an interesting and educational visit, especially the portraits.

The same car took us the fifty miles to Valparaiso the following day through the rather foggy, smoggy valley that is occupied by Santiago. It was pretty however and reminded us of the rolling landscape of middle France with, surprisingly, poplar and willow trees all over the place. Which, comes from where, we ask ourselves, but so far have not received an answer! We passed through Valparaiso itself fairly quickly and are therefore unable to comment on the city. Suffice to say that although it is now the Seat of Government for Chile, that fact seems to have made little difference to the dowdy dock area and the slums on the hillsides overlooking the Centre itself.

Our acceptance onto the ship was smooth and the welcome on board the M.V Amsterdam was warming. Our trip from there to Tierra Del Fuego was mostly very calm, calling in at Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas and finally, in Argentina, Ushuaia.

We passed through Fjords that looked very Norwegian or even Scottish, and past glaciers whose faces have retreated in the last twenty years, indicating, as we all know, that the world is getting warmer.

We went to some excellent lectures on the ship about the Geology of the Southern Continents, and also some rather peculiar lectures on Darwin and the South American Geo political situation, by a rather decrepit, small, North American, whose views seemed to be far astray from those in Britain, and probably most of elsewhere! The food on the ship was absolutely outstanding and we also met some very interesting people, since we sat with at least two different people each night at dinner. Will has always wanted to meet somebody from “Orange County, California”! They didn’t have straw sticking out of their ears, eating fruit straight from the tree. David was a litigation Lawyer and Ann was a contribution collector for any cause from anywhere, for vast sums. They were charming and we had both Christmas Lunch and New Year’s Dinner together. On New Years Eve on our stern deck Veranda, we were also joined by new friends from the United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Holland. A truly international bunch.

We followed the coast of Chile in our R.C.C. (Royal Cruising Club) book that had been given to us by all our friends at Rhu Marina before we left Scotland. Hopefully we may use it again going to Easter Island, after passing through the Panama Canal and sailing to the Galapagos. In the Chilean fjords we could not have been nearer to Scottish scenery if we had been back on the West Coast of Scotland. The only difference is that it is about 800 miles long instead of 200. It was great to be almost home again. Cold, wet and windy. But that was only for a short time. Most of the time it was sunny and calm and the days got longer and longer! It was wonderful to see the snow clad peaks of the Andes behind the much smaller hills adjacent to the islands and borders of the fjords

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We never saw the magnificent Condor despite looking hard. We only heard about them from one of the shore excursions, who had seen them clustered around a dead sheep. We were quite glad we hadn’t seen them at that point. It just stressed that they are carrion eaters, even if they do have the biggest wingspan in the world. We did see the wandering albatross with a 12 foot wingspan and the giant petrel that looked as if it could eat us. They followed the ship for miles without a single wing beat. Oh that we could be so graceful. We must be careful though lest Icarus’ example comes to life!

In Ushuaia, in the Straits of Magellan, we took a small (50 foot) cruiser to have a look at the Southern Sea Lions

and the local Magellanic Cormorants and Royal Cormorants. (The titles of Cormorants and Shags seem to be interchangeable down here, very confusing at times).

We also saw flightless steamer ducks and an Ibis common to the Straits. We were impressed by a hardy number of sailing yachts near Ushuaia,

The sailors were well wrapped up in their oilies, with gloves and wellies obvious. We think our oilskins have fallen apart with the heat. No doubt we will have to get some more when we reach New Zealand.

What about the penguins you ask! The penguin is a flightless bird and only occurs in the southern continents. Its counterpart in the northern hemisphere, the Great Awk, was wiped out in the nineteenth century by sailors off the coast of Canada, looking for food. The smaller puffins of Scotland are in fact a relation of the penguin, although of course they can fly. We saw a whole colony of Megellanic penguins at Punta Arenas.

We took a taxi to the colony and our taxi driver came round the reserve with us. Not a word of English and our Spanish is definitely ‘poquito’ (a little) although expanding a bit., with the use of the dictionary and the phrase book. We didn’t need any language to communicate with the penguins which came ashore to nest in burrows, which is just like the puffins.

These species were a lot larger than puffins though, standing about 2 feet (650mm) tall. They ignored us, so no language difficulties. They were very sweet, sedately taking their catch to the young on shore and regurgitating it so the youngsters would be fed.

On the return to the city and just outside a huge, but slightly camouflaged open cast peat excavation, we saw two wild rheas. These are the flightless birds of Patagonia and it is not surprising they were used as food by the earlier settlers from Germany and Wales who came over in the 18th and 19th Centuries.

The 500 miles of open sea between the Capo de Hoorn and the South Shetland Islands (Antarctica), was voyaged over a day and a night. Besides the albatrosses and giant petrels, we saw nothing except for a smooth grey sea with the odd white crest. As usual, away from headlands the sea became smoother. If we were ever brave enough to round Cape Horn in a wind, we would keep at least 50 miles south of the cape where the seas are a little smoother. Of course this is only the equivalent latitude of Perth (Scotland) in the northern hemisphere, although admittedly it doesn’t have the benefit of the gulf stream to help warm the sea around. We passed Drake’s passage safely, as did the great navigator who was the first European Captain and explorer to sail the whole way around the world (Magellan was killed in the Philippines fighting somebody else’s war). We arrived in Antarctica the next morning to see whales blowing and penguins resting on icebergs.

We stopped at Palmer Station, a United States base, to pick up about ten scientists, who were only too willing to come aboard and tell us about their experiences there. The nub of their research was: 1) The ozone hole is slowly closing since CFCs were banned in the late 20th Century. 2) The Norwegians and Japanese insist on fishing long line (which kills dolphins, sharks and albatrosses, as well as the fish they are supposed to catch) and also hoovering (literally) up the krill in the Antarctic Ocean. The krill are shrimp type animals which are the basic food for all the sea animals and fish in the world food chain. The antics of these countries, who also want to start hunting whales again, are definitely upsetting the balance of nature. We are not sure yet what other countries are doing about this. Pretending to be ostriches probably. 3) The only other scientific item the young scientists would admit to, was that although there is significant evidence of global warming, there is no evidence that this is being caused by mankind; although there may be a small acceleration caused by man’s activities. Don’t believe the rhetoric that seems to be expounded by some politicians. They may be spouting for their own survival, which indeed the whales do!

It was incredible to wake up on Christmas morning (no chimney for Santa Claus in our cabin!) to the sight of icebergs and penguins in a tranquil sea outside, between islands of granite and ice. We were lucky enough to have our cabin right next to the lower stern deck and were able to slip outside for a quick view of the scenery before rushing back through the storm doors to the warmth of our cabin.

We spent three days altogether in the Antarctic, shuttling around the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsular.

Elephant Island is part of the South Shetland Islands and is where most of Shackleton’s crew, 22 of them, spent 105 days waiting for him and a Chilean supply ship to rescue them, after their ship was wrecked in the ice, and Shackleton had sailed to South Georgia 800 miles away, in a small boat to summon help. An amazing story of the early 20th Century, and the temporary camp is not a place we would have liked to stay for four months!

We passed by Elephant Island on Christmas evening.

We also passed Deception Island which is an active volcano and has hot water within its sea flooded caldera. (Also cold water!)

We saw thousands and thousands of Adelie Penguins at the Trinity Peninsular where there is also an Argentine Base. It is amazing that some of the land was not covered in ice and snow, as we had thought, and was simply bare rock. Of course it was mid summer, and in the 22 hours of darkness in June it would be a different matter.

The furthest south we reached was 65 degrees 4.373 minutes south, about 1500 miles from the South Pole. (Not quite at the Antarctic Circle). There were plenty of icebergs however, some of them as big as a small town. These were mostly the result of ice shelves breaking up, although some came from glaciers falling into the sea.

Surprisingly enough, although we saw a number of minky whales and hump back whales, some orcas , hundreds of thousands of adelie penguins, and quite a number of gentoo penguins, we saw no fur seals or any sea lions of any kind in the Antarctic. The experts said that we were a little early for the breeding season but still couldn’t explain the complete lack of seals or sea lions. Strange since there were plenty of penguins to eat!! We saw a number of sheathbills; several landed on the deck to add to the festivities of Christmas day.

We left the Antarctic seas thoroughly happy that we had achieved two life time ambitions. Firstly to sail past Cape Horn and secondly to see penguins in the wild!

The seas back across Drake’s passage to the Falklands were relatively flat, and since the wind was on our quarter it was a good voyage. The Falkland Islanders seem to be in no doubt as to who owns the Falkland Islands. The British. Not the Argentineans who once had a presence there briefly in the 1830’s but who never colonised the islands. That was done by Scotsmen and Shetland Islanders who moved there in the 19th Century. The Argentineans seem to think that since the Spanish once claimed the Falkland Islands (they called them The Malvinas) then they should also claim them. The Falklands are nearly 300 miles from Argentina. It is like the Norwegians claiming the Orkney Islands since they once owned them, or Britain claiming Normandy and Calais since England once owned them! Stupid and backward, and both are a lot closer to the potential claimants than 300 miles! The Falkland Islands were invaded by Argentina in 1982. To the immense relief of the 200 islanders, the 10,000 sheep and the 3000 penguins, Britain sent a task force to sweep the Argentineans into the sea. Regrettably a number of lives were lost, on both sides, but the upshot of it was that Britain retains the islands in her ownership, although there is some woolly treaty with Argentina with regard to oil extraction which is in fact happening nearer Argentina.

The Falkland Islanders seem to have an English accent that could be pinpointed to, perhaps near Ilford in Essex. One girl who sounded very Theydon Bois, said she had never left the islands. This was slightly surprising since the islands could be mistaken for mainland in Shetland (G.B!), with virtually no trees and a bleak and wind swept, if very grand, landscape. No draft beer in the pubs though. An opening here for a mini brewery we think.

The museum in Stanley, (the Capital), was a delight, giving a flavour of many of the sailing ships that used to stop here for whaling, or before they braved Cape Horn, on their visits to Valparaiso (for guano) and San Francisco (for gold). The products seem rather appropriate to the towns present characters. It also gave a flavour of a battle in the first world war when a number of German Battleships were sunk by the British off the coast; and of the second world war when the Graf Spey was chased from here to Montevideo where she was later scuttled. There was of course a whole room dedicated to the ‘conflict’ in 1982 showing the terror inflicted by the Argentineans and the progress of the British combined forces as they regained the land for the inhabitants.

Also, appropriately, there is a room devoted to the island birdlife which has a magnificent stuffed king penguin as its centrepiece.

Some of the sheep were in the garden. There are also some delightful rooms made to look like they are straight from the 19th Century, with various elegant artefacts to show what life was like in the Falklands in those days. The wedding dresses looked like they would fit a modern child of 10. The wind has strange effects down here! It was a most enjoyable visit to these islands. It felt like being close to home again. (Except for the penguins which were covering some of the beaches as we departed).

We think that makes a good stopping point for this letter, since our visits to Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and the fabulous, wonderful, spectacular, Iguazu Falls shouldn’t really be shared with the first part of our continental South American and Antarctic voyage of discovery. (Even if we did cheat a bit on a cruise ship!!) Hope you like the pics, shared this time. This one is of a wandering albatross:

Love Atlantia