By Brandi Watters, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
FRANKTON — Frankton couple Judy and Jim Dick had planned their trip around Cape Horn for years, and when they finally got there, the Chilean earthquake kept them two extra days at sea.
An ex-Navy man, Jim Dick had spent his boyhood reading about the cape in novels, dreaming of the waves commonly known as the “Roaring 40,” notorious for 40- and 50-foot swells.
On Feb. 17, he and Judy set out on their trip around the cape, starting at the port in Santiago, Chile, 10 days before the magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck the country.
They sailed Cape Horn to Chile’s southern border and followed it around and north to Buenos Aires, Argentina, spending their days at sea checking out the notorious stretch of sea Jim had dreamed of since his childhood.
Heading back to Santiago on Feb. 27, Judy Dick said she was in the ship’s exercise studio working out when the ship’s passengers first learned that the quake had struck Chile.
“A passenger’s husband had seen CNN and said the airport was closed and damaged,” Judy explained.
As CNN and other news outlets warned that tsunamis were threatening surrounding countries, passengers were informed that the tsunami had already passed them, and they hadn’t even felt it.
When the tsunami rolled past the Princess Cruise Lines ship the Dicks were aboard, it produced 5-foot waves. “It passed us before we knew of the earthquake,” Jim Dick recalled.
They’d experienced far worse seas earlier in the trip around the cape.
Passing through the area of Cape Horn, Jim and Judy experienced 18-foot swells.
The cape’s 40-foot waves are more common in the winter, Jim Dick explained. Currently, it’s summer in the southern hemisphere.
Though they did not measure up to the “Roaring 40s” of literature, Judy explained, the 18-foot waves made their mark on the trip. “When the bow of the boat hits those waves, spray came to our balcony on the ninth floor.”
Even then, she wasn’t afraid. “It would’ve taken 50-foot seas to destroy a ship like that.”
Though the quake that rumbled Concepcion, Chile, barely measured a reaction at sea where the Dicks were anchored, the ensuing days had an impact.
With the Santiago airport damaged by the quake, the ship’s passengers were left to float in the ocean outside Valparaiso for two extra days, unable to fly back to the United States.
“It turned it into an adventure but at the time, the anxiety made us very stressful,” Judy said.
Throughout the ship, rumors were spread about the state of the Santiago airport, creating more anxiety for the Dicks.
“The cruise, I enjoyed immensely. As far as from Saturday on, there was just concern about how we were going to get out of Chile,” Jim Dick said.
Finally, on day 14 of their 12-day trip, the Princess Cruises ship docked off the coast of Chile and the Dicks made their way to Santiago, flying to Miami before landing in Indianapolis. Home at last.
Impressed by the way Princess handled the quake, the two-day delay and the chaos aboard as passengers tried to find a way home, Jim Dick said he’ll use the cruise line again.
The Dicks are now planning their next cruise with Princess, a trip around Australia, Tazmania and New Zealand.
