05-Nov-2004 -- At the commencement of a month-long holiday in Chile and Argentina with my father Nod and his wife Jennifer, we took a cruise on the Mare Australis from Ushuaia in Argentina to Punta Arenas in Chile. I noticed that our course would take us within a few hundred metres of this confluence in the Strait of Magellan, so I had a quiet word with Captain Juan Reimann to see if it would be possible to deviate slightly and sail right over it. He readily agreed.

As we drew near to the confluence, I went up to the bridge where ship's mate Oscar Retamal, who had the helm, was waiting for me. Everything went according to plan, and we sailed right over the confluence. I managed to snap a photo of the ship's GPS at the precise moment we crossed the 54th parallel.

The only trouble was, it was already after 10 p.m. and pitch black outside, making photos of the surrounding views impossible. The radar revealed that, had it been daylight, we would have seen: to the northeast Cape Froward on Brunswick Peninsula (the southernmost tip of continental South America), to the east Dawson Island, and to the southwest Captain Aracena Island.