To experience the majestic beauty of Antarctica, crossing the infamous Drake Passage is a rite of passage. Going by ship is the ultimate adventure.
History
- This body of water is named after the famous English explorer, Sir Francis Drake. Drake never sailed through these waters, though one of his ships did pass, discovering a connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This meant that they inadvertently discovered the Drake Passage in 1578 and proved the existence of an open water route south of South America.
- It is around 620 miles across and extends from South America’s southernmost tip to the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula.
The Drake Passage, one of the roughest waterways on Earth, is situated at the point where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans greet each other, with a lot of passion, where the cold seawater from the south and relatively warm seawater from the north collide to form powerful eddies. These eddies, a massive convergence of giant waves, intense winds, rain, seasonal sea ice, and currents, give rise to violent storms common to this area.
The cruise ships sail from Ushuaia in Argentina, or from Chilean ports of Puerto Williams and Punta Arenas.
Seasoned travelers say the Drake Passage has two states: the ‘Drake Lake’ or the ‘Drake Shake’.
The former refers to relative calm seas. It is a matter of luck, depending on the season, the position of the moon, and the weather conditions.
The latter can feature large waves up to about 9-12 meters (wave heights of approximately 30-39 feet).
Today, modern ships can cross the Drake Passage and its waves very reliably, as they handle the swells better and have much more advanced navigation systems.
Worth noting that these days the ships are huge relative to what was in use hundred years ago, or even decades ago.
We came prepared, with enough seasickness patches for the worst of conditions.
Our expedition aboard Viking’s Octantis sailed from Ushuaia on the afternoon of Thursday, Dec 30th on an approximately 36 hour journey, crossing the Beagle Channel and the infamous Drake Passage, to Antarctica.
On boarding the ship, my first impression was that this would be an awesome experience. The ship layout was very well designed, as to be expected. The cabin had a warm, homely feel with a lot of light streaming from the floor to ceiling balcony windows. We checked out the public areas, namely the layout of the World Café, and where the bars were located.
We stepped out on the promenade on Deck 5 and walked all the way around the ship. It was little windy. The vistas were transcendent as we crossed the Beagle Channel.
The Captain informed us during dinner that we would be entering the Drake Passage at around 9:00pm. Sure enough, the gentle rocking and rolling started at around the stated time, though nothing like what I had read. One had to hold on to the railing going up and down the stairs.
All in all the first night on the ship, and crossing the Drake Passage, was relatively tepid. No one in our group needed to use the seasickness patches.
In the middle of the night, I got woken up not so much by the rocking and rolling which was ever present but by the walls, ceiling, and floor creaking. It sounded ominous and little scary. It was spooky to say the least.
Early morning, looking out of the balcony windows, the sea was rough, but no huge waves. The rocking and rolling was little more than the during the night. It remained the same for the rest of the day.
We were getting into the swing of how our remaining days on the ship would be … get up, get ready, have a hearty breakfast, walk around a little, then voila lunch time, have lunch, and not just a light lunch, walk around, sit and snooze, tea-time for an aperitif, have dinner and wine, and of course dessert – with choices to salivate.
During our first couple of days, crossing the Drake Passage, there were no excursions.
The routine spelled out above would only change for time periods between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and dinner because of scheduled excursions. The excursions could not come fast enough.
Life of overindulgence could not be stopped; it was a one-way street. This was despite knowing full well. The mind is a wonderful thing, except at times like this.
Our crossing of the Drake Passage was more of a lake than a shake.
One Life Many Travels means One Life Many Trips; One Life Many Journeys means One Life Many Memories; One Life Many Journeys means One Life Many Experiences; One Life Many Journeys means One Life Many Moments
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