Destination Cape Horn - The Australis Experience
​(Tour Report November 2013)
Tierra del Fuego, Cape Horn, the Straights of Magellan, the Beagle Channel - these are names and places of legends and history, of wilderness, ice, forests, and wildlife, like nowhere else on Earth. 
​Trying to think and write about our fabulous cruise with Australis makes images arise almost unbidden from memory, forming a cascade of fantastic recollections.  Truly it is a life experience not to be missed!  
​After an easy flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas, there are a few hours free for a pleasant meal and a stroll around the town, waiting for our late afternoon departure on the Australis Cape Horn cruise.  Punta Arenas vies with Ushuaia for the title of the world’s most southerly city.  Elegant and well cared for buildings abound in the city centre, reminders of a far different time.
Stately buildings flank the main square in Punta Arenas, among them the Cabo de Hornos Hotel, a tradition for visitors.  It is newly refurbished inside but keeps its façade intact.  Close by are the Comapa offices where we leave our bags and check in for the cruise.  The staff are helpful and kind, and our bags are left in their care; passengers of Australis are welcomed and cared for right from the start. 
A few hours later, on the boarding ramp for M/V Stella Australis, you may feel butterflies in your stomach.  There is a mixture of anticipation for the trip, and wondering who among the many new faces you will meet and become friends with over the next days.  The famously unpredictable weather is another factor – will the voyage to Cape Horn and points along the route be successful, and what will we see? 
​The uncertainty adds to a sense of adventure, heightening the excitement and anticipation for the cruise.  To be starting a journey to the far end of the world, with only the Antarctic to the south, is an exhilarating feeling.  The mountains and fjords of southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego are all that lie between us and the Southern Ocean.  Cape Horn lies isolated some 400km south of here.  Will we disembark there, to stand where few people ever go?
​The cabins on Stella Australis are comfortably spacious, each with its own bathroom, closet and drawer space.  There are picture windows for most class of cabins, and music is piped into your cabin with a variety of choice.  She features two large lounges for lectures, gatherings, and simply relaxing while watching the scenery slide by, plus two bars and a restaurant.
​The lounges are also used to give instructions and disembarking briefs before each of the 5 planned excursions during the voyage.  English and Spanish are the official languages on board, but a number of staff speak other languages to assist the passengers.  In fact there were many nationalities represented on our cruise: French, Chileans, Americans, Canadians, Swiss, Colombians, Argentineans, British, Spaniards, Mexicans, and Brazilians, all livening up the adventure! 
Cocktails and drinks as well as tea or coffee are available at any time in one of the lounges, with meals served in the main dining room.  Tables are set for 6 or 8 people so groups form naturally, and most people remain at a table with new found friends after the first meal or two.  Stella Australis is small enough (125 passengers) that there is a true intimacy and feeling of shared adventure amongst the passengers. 

​​Breakfast is served as a buffet and there are a large variety of choices to satisfy most preferences.  Lunch is also served as a buffet, with a different cuisine featured each day (Italian and Chilean were particularly memorable) so they do not repeat during the cruise.  Dinner was always a choice of two options for starter, main course and dessert.  The staff was extremely solicitous of passenger’s desires, and the meals were uniformly excellent. 
There was something impossibly romantic to be dining so well as we travelled through the vast wilderness of the Patagonian fjords.  We shared our reactions to the adventures of each day, turning each encounter into pleasant conversation among new friends.
Ainsworth Bay is our first destination on our first morning.  On arrival, we all gather nervously for final instructions before our first trip in one of Australis´ 4 zodiacs.  There are only three steps to board them, with no problems in the relatively sheltered bay.  Although morning is cold and raining lightly, it is also calm and our warm, waterproof layers serve us well.  Luck is with us too, as we see the small local colony of elephant seals.  With the early spring there are two pups only a few weeks old, clinging close to their mothers.  We also see the massive male resting close by, keeping an eye on his harem.  The elephant seals are the stars of the morning, with everyone’s cameras happily in use.  We spend quite a while admiring these enormous seals, giving them a respectful distance.  We are told they are biggest of their type with males weighing up to 7 tons. 
​We are then guided through the nearby Magellanic Forest, with neighbouring hills rising into the mist, and with Ainsworth glacier visible in the far distance from time to time.  The guides and naturalists easily transmit their knowledge and love of the region with a passion for the natural beauty around us.  Francisco explains that this is a humid forest in cold Patagonia, not to be confused with a rainforest in the tropics.  He shows us the many variety of plants, trees, lichen, moss in the area; tells us a little about the human history of this now uninhabited place.  We listen carefully and pay attention.  One's knowledge might be tested later on in the cruise!   We finish our walk in a loop back to the beach where we had arrived.  A welcome hot chocolate or whisky on the rocks was waiting for us.  Back on the zodiacs, we zip over the waves to our majestic ship.  What a pleasant way to end our tour of Ainsworth Bay! 
Back on board, we change into more comfortable clothes and admire the surrounds from the upper deck as we leave the bay.  Silence, and air as pure as you can get on this Earth, surround us.  After a very enjoyable lunch we take a nap; the excitement of the morning and traveling the day before has caught up on us.   So, we slept in for the PM departure for the excursion around Tuckers Islets!  While we thought we had missed our chance here, the crew didn’t hesitate and prepared a zodiac just for us!  We were given a “private” tour around the islets and got close to all the action on a delightful sunny day.  We saw an astounding variety of birds, including Magellanic penguins, rock cormorants, condors, caracaras, skuas, and even an albatross in the distance.  Thank you, to the magnificent team aboard Stella Australis, for your willingness to literally go the extra distance for us!
That night we visited the bridge.  Australis' captain welcomes passenger visits, if things are not too busy.  You can ask any question, and you will have the chance to see how the ship is sailed through the channels and fjords, and see on the charts how the pilot measures the distances and tracks our voyage.  On our second day we sailed through Desolation Bay and entered the Beagle Chanel where Pia Glacier lies.  But during the night a storm had been building, and when we arrived at the glacier the wind was gusting over 80 knots (almost 150 km/hr!).  It was fascinating to watch the windy gusts rolling across the water, heeling the ship over some 10 degrees in the strongest gusts. There was no chance get close to Pia Glacier on the zodiacs, but we knew from the start that this was a possibility in these latitudes. 
​The crew of Stella Australis always puts safety first, giving passengers the confidence that unnecessary risks were never taken.  We still had sublime views of Pia glacier, and experienced some amazing weather! 
The next leg of our voyage was a cruise down the famous ¨Glacier Alley¨ of the Beagle Channel.  The wind and rain from earlier had gone, so the views were lovely.  Five massive glaciers flow off the ice cap that sits on the side of the Darwin range, each named after the country of the European 19th-century explorer that mapped the region: Holland, Italy, Germany, Spain and France.  Through the afternoon we were treated to a palette of glaciers painted on the canvas of the Darwin range, accompanied by local birds, such as albatross, kelp geese, and a Pisco Sour or wine.   
​Dawn on Day 3 wakes us to heavy swells as the ship approaches  Cape Horn.  We will visit the Cape before breakfast, as long as the weather permits!  This is the last full day of our trip, and everyone is determined to make the most of it.  We get dressed for the occasion, not minding this unique experience before breakfast.  Like children, we thrill with anticipation and gather on deck to board the zodiacs.  In groups of 10-12 we set off on our biggest adventure yet.  The sea seems a bit rough for some, but our ship is anchored in a sheltered cove and the zodiacs fly over the waves.  We reach the disembarkation point on the Cape; 160 steps await us as we climb the cliff.  We divide into groups and set off on short walks to the Albatross "Sailors' Monument" and the Lighthouse.  A Chilean Navy family live here on rotation to show Chilean sovereignty of the Cape.  A Chilean flag flies proudly at the mast. 
Actually viewing the monument to the thousands of sailors who perished while trying to round the Cape is a sobering and solemn moment.  We stand at the uttermost end of the inhabited world, seeing below us a few large waves that hint at the dangerous waters to the south.  Several other monuments and memorials dot the bluff overlooking the ocean.  The most famous is the "Sailors' Monument", in the form of a silhouetted Albatross, that dominates the skyline.  Our guides alert us about concerns on the weather worsening,  so we scurry back to the ship before the sea makes it impossible for the zodiacs to ride the waves.  Back on board, we are greeted by a wonderful, revitalizing, breakfast…  Well earned, we feel!   As we eat, the anchor comes up and we sail north, into a beautiful sunny day with blue skies, and dolphins swimming right by the ship.  Albatrosses follow in the distance.  The weather has changed so dramatically!  ​
​After lunch that day we disembark for our final excursion, to Wulaia Bay, where close by our landing beach lies a house that is being restored as a Yamana Museum by Australis.  The hike up the hill  appeals, so we follow our guide, Francisco.  The hike starts easily, pausing here and there for our guide to explain about the place and its vegetation.  As we crest the hill we are rewarded with a magnificent view across the bay to Holt Island, covered by glaciers in the distance.  We find a spot to sit and enjoy the view before continuing to climb.  A voice is heard: "Condor!” and one glorious specimen glides past.  Further up the slope we encounter log dams, evidence of beaver!  These were brought into Patagonia in the 19th century from Canada, to developing beaver farming for fur.  Unfortunately, not being endemic, and without a natural predator, they thrived out of control.  Their fur also did not develop as in Canada, so they were left to go wild and are now ravaging Patagonia with their voracious felling of trees and building of dams that block streams. 
We head on back to the beach where we visit the Australis Yamana Museum.  It is very nicely put together; most impressive is the replica of a Yamana canoe, but very sad story of the demise of the Yamana people.  The Yamana (known as the nomads of the sea) spent most of their lives on the water, living in tiny bark canoes, rarely going ashore.  We stroll down to the beach, where hot chocolate and whisky on the rocks await us, again.  Revitalizing!  That evening we have a very special surprise, the Captain's Dinner.  The Captain bids us farewell and after dinner we toast the crew and each other with a glass of champagne.  It has been a wonderful cruise, and emails and addresses are exchanged with hopes to visit again.  The Australis Cape Horn cruise is truly a life experience to be lived and cherished.  In 2018 a newer ship will be added to Australis’ fleet, the fabulous Ventus Australis.  It will retain the Australis "small ship" experience that epitomises quality!