The Drake Passage

The Drake Passage separates South America and the South Shetland Islands. Sir Francis Drake, missed the Straits of magellan and was blown south. in 1578. At least he did establish that there was an open connection between the two oceans.  

It's 1000 ks wide and should take two days to cross.

So!  How did I go? Did I get the

DRAKE LAKE?

or the 

DRAKE SHAKE?

How rough was it, how sick was I? 

Here is a link to the seas.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A CHART OF TODAYS SEAS.

THEN CLICK ON THE BOX OVER SOUTH AMERICA. 

Two days of floating along looking for mainly birds. Maybe whales or dolphins! And lectures.  Lectures on heaps of topics from the huge staff of experts.

My Ship

M/V Sea Spirit

Length          90.6 meters             (Radiance is 293metres)

Beam            15.3 metres

Speed           15 knots

Passengers   110

Crew            72

My room 346

Platform for getting into the Zodiacs.

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I explored the ship and chatted to people. 

Deck 4 (my deck) had the bar and lounge area - very like a Concierge Lounge - just a bit bigger and you pay for your drinks. Everyone chats to everyone. There is a Piano/Sax man who plays each afternoon and evening. Lovely. The bar was a full bar with great staff. I drank Mudslides that had huge amounts of three different alcohols, and were under $10. Only ever needed one. Wine by the bottle started at $22 a bottle and was fine. There was even a coffee machine and tea as well as really good biscuits available all of the time. There was also a glassed off library for quiet time. Deck 4 had a walking deck all the way around. Perfect for taking photos. 

Deck 3 was the lecture room, the front office and the exit for shore landings. There was also an "expeditions desk" where the expedition staff hung out. We signed up for email for only $20 for the trip BUT we only got a tiny bit of data each day. Enough to send and receive half a dozen email a day. If we were to send or receive a photo it would cost hundreds of dollars. But how exciting to get email at all. Deck 3 had open decks down both sides at the Aft.

Deck 2 was the dining room. It was large and had room for us all. Members of the expedition team have guest rights when not on duty so they got to sit at the tables with us so. That was great. And the food was great. Four entrees and four mains, then a selection of deserts.  I had a smoked duck entrée and lemon crusted perch for mains.

At the back of Deck 2 was the marina. You went out on deck three then down a staircase. It was fantastic. But more on that later.

Deck 5 was the bridge - which was open all the time - unless it was closed for things like tricky weather, problems and landings. Deck 6 was the outdoors restaurant and the spa. There was also a gym.

I met Helen from Mornington Peninsular and Kaye from Massachusetts. We became besties and taught Kaye the Aussie way.

After dinner we all went up to the lounge to be issued our jackets. We had nominated a size on the pre cruise forms, but now got to try them all on and see what size we wanted. You get to keep the jacket after the trip. I wanted the hugest size. I figured that I would heat panic less if it is not firm on me. It’s lovely. Bright red and had patches for our trip. I may have to take up watching a kid play football on freezing days so I can wear it when I get home.

We sailed though the Beagle Channel in the dark - so I was very

glad I had done my day trip. Then we turned the corner and hit the

infamous Drake! Passage. And it was kind!

Then it was bedtime and I slept like a champ.

SO THERE I WAS! ON THE WAY TO ANTARCTICA!

Feb 19th - AT SEA - CROSSING THE DRAKE. 

57°49.2´S        63°53.9´W

Breakfast was a big buffet with the usual eggs, bacon and all, and lots of fruit and cereals, porridge and such. I guess there will be a lot less fresh fruit in three weeks time.

First session today was a compulsory session on IAATO (International Association of Antarctic Tourist Operators) rules. All about the do’s and don’ts of visiting Antarctica. Then a session of travelling in the Zodiacs. How to get in, how to get out, how to sit etc. We shall see how efficient I become. Two staff members role-played good and bad clothing, Hilarious.

Lunch was another three course meal in the main dinning room. Soup, then a huge buffet with hot and cold, and dessert.

Later that day we all had to go back to the lounge with the gear we intended taking ashore – over pants, boots, backpacks, camera bags etc. Everything had to be cleaned and vacuumed, to get rid of any organic material especially seeds and soil. We then had to sign the declaration saying we understood and would not take things ashore.

This was followed with a lecture about sea birds. Dmitri has a PhD in Zoology and what he doesn't know about sea birds is not worth knowing. Fantastic.

The Drake Passage continued to be very kind. Seas were only around 5 metres. There was lots of rocking and rolling of the ship and we did use “One hand for the ship”. Yes, a small ship does move a lot more then a cruise ship. We are all careering around like baby elephants. Lots of people were sick.

We travelled really fast – Fullfart - to beat the dirty weather. It would hit us tonight but we will be in bed! Much bigger waves!

At 4pm there is afternoon tea. Some days it is just a huge table full of cakes, pastries and sandwiches. Other days had special things like a waffle station.

At 7pm they bring around Hors d'oeuvre. Dinner is at 7.30. All of the food was great but the soup chef and the dessert chef were exceptional!

Feb 20th - At Sea - Crossing The Drake.    

62°25.3´S     59°42.9´W

We raced through the night and had some fairly rough weather. I did think I was falling out of my bed a few times.

After breakfast was the first lecture of the day.

It was an intro to Antarctica.

By 400 BC the clever Greeks has decided that the earth was round. Therefore there had to be weights and counter weights at the top and bottom to keep it level.

They named the top ARCTUS for the Bear constellation. And named the bottom ANT for opposite. Ant Arctus. Thus the modern name.

Antarctica is twice the size of Australia, and is the highest continent with an average height of 3000m. Is the driest continent with an average moisture fall in the centre of 2cm a year. It does not rain. It is the coldest continent with winter temperatures down to -85. It holds 2/3 of all the world’s fresh water and 90% of the worlds ice. Nothing lives here permanently. Not even bacteria. You cannot catch a sickness here.

Although the 1991 Madrid Protocol declared that no one owns Antarctica or has a claim to it – Chile thinks differently. In schools they teach that it is owned by Chile. The Peninsular weather is shown every night on Chile weather report. They have gone to the extent of setting up winter bases “for scientific purposes” and staff it with couple so that babies are born there. When the Madrid Protocol expires in 2048, then believe they will have a claim as they will have the only people born there, and thus a claim.

Very interesting.

Then we had a great lecture on Cetaceans of the Southern Oceans – (Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises.)

Excellent.

We saw some small icebergs.

After lunch it was time to get ready for our first landing.

Because we had travelled so fast we arrived with time for a landing.

Next tab - Antarctica