90 foot waves. Really.
The morning after we left the Falklands, the weather really started to get horrible. They announced that passengers weren't to leave their cabins, and for our meals, the staff actually delivered sandwiches to our rooms, because the conditions didn't permit them to cook. The Captain's announcements were basically all the same, "We're attempting to head South to try and get away from the weather. Hang in there. Help yourself to the mini-bar--our treat."
As we slept that night, the ship groaned and creaked, glasses fell off our shelves and anything not put away went flying. I literally had a death grip on the mattress to keep myself from sliding each time the boat went up and down. We also heard a loud smashing sound all night, it sounded like a semi-hitting the boat. We later learned it was the anchor hitting the side.
Remarkably, none of us got sick at all. Sean and Teague apparently have iron stomachs, and I now swear by 24 hour Bonine. The ship had a phenomenal library with current books, plus a great selection of DVDs, so really, aside from the near-death craziness of the weather, we spent two days being total bed potatoes.
Afterward, the Captain told us the waves were 90 feet high, with 90 knot winds; basically hurricane conditions. He also said that this was the worst he had seen in his 27 years at sea. Those of you having second thoughts about a Cape Horn cruise, this is not typical at all. The cruise brochure and travel agents fail to mention anything about rough seas, wonder why? (*sarcasm*)
The next afternoon we finally had better conditions, but the anchor line wouldn't retract, so they spent the rest of the day bringing up 1800 feet, link by link. Great timing. That put us days behind our port date, and ultimately we had to skip a later port to make up the time.
But there's a happy ending to our "perfect storm", the weather lifted and finally the Captain was able to head toward Ushuaia!
As we got closer to the port, the scenery was amazing. Seeing the beautiful snow-capped mountains was just breathtaking, and it seemed like we couldn't get there soon enough!
Ushuaia and Tierra Del Fuego National Park are hard to top, and well worth the trip-- storms included.
*Above photos were taken from the Crow's Nest of the Veendam by a crew member. I couldn't hold the camera still enough to get any!
5 comments:
Holy Moly! I bet you all were never so happy to see a mountain range in your life! Gorgeous.
Scary!! Glad it didn't sour the trip!!
I am getting nauseous just looking at those picture but I am also getting ready to google whatever you took that didnt make you sick. Gorgeous but scary at the same time. I am glad it was worth it!
I was wondering if any of you got seasick? The Drake Passsage is renowned as the roughest stretch of Ocean in the world, a fact the crusie lines don't advertise for obvious reasons. And I thought 20 ft seas was rough. I wonder if our 300' ship could have handled 90' seas?
So did you like the Holland Line?
Gary Hodne
We really liked Holland America, but we don't have anything to compare it to. They served American foods that we haven't had in months--bonus!
I saw Master and Commander, so I knew Cape Horn was no cake walk, our booking agent should be fired, though, because she was going on about how the stabilizers made it "bathtub" calm. I doubt she's ever been on a cruise.
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