Antarctica, The Drake Passage
An unavoidable part of sailing to Antarctica is the need to cross the blank stretch of water between about 50 and 60 degrees south. Unimpeded by any land, wind swirls round the entire circumference of the globe, creating at times impressively furious seas and weather conditions. The narrow channel of open sea between South America and the first sub-Antarctic islands is known as the Drake Passage.
Day 1; leaving Ushuaia & the Beagle Channel
The sheltered Beagle channel, however, was our first introduction to life on board the Grigoriy Mikheev when we left Ushuaia on the evening of the 19th December. After lifeboat drill and a lovely dinner we were free to stand on deck and admire the scenery and occasional passing porpoising penguins (as entertaining to watch as to say) until bedtime.
Day 2, entering the Drake Passage
Around midnight a change could be felt in the ship's motion as we crossed into more open water and soon I started to feel as though I was lying at the bottom of a giant washing machine set for a spin cycle. Niall claimed he found it quite soothing and I know the weather wasn't excessively bad (quite calm, in fact, for that part of the world) so perhaps at this point I should mention that I'm a little prone to motion-sickness. I'm sure my cousins would attest to this, having witnessed me, as a child, vomiting spectacularly the entire length of a service station corridor on a break in the middle of a holiday car journey. No-one was so keen for me to sit in the middle afterwards.
Poor Niall didn't get the option of switching cabins and I'm sure the sound of me testing the facilities at 15 minute intervals throughout the following morning did nothing for his own sense of well-being. He made several abortive attempts to leave the cabin that day but really felt much better lying down. I think the lecture programme intended to keep everyone entertained while at sea was unfortunately rather poorly attended that first day.
Day 3, the Drake Passage
Our second full day at sea and the weather had calmed considerably from the gale force 8-9 which was blowing when we entered the Drake Passage. Niall managed to get himself out of bed at the morning wake-up call and attended all meals and even some lectures during the day (apart from a rather bad reaction halfway through Rolf's talk on plate tectonics. I reckon Niall's a secret subscriber to the old land bridge theory, personally).
Several fin whales were spotted in the distance, three more unidentified whales, and a very few people (Niall included) saw one large orca pass by very close to the ship but going in the opposite direction at speed. We also gained a good collection of flying birds.
I eventually made it out of bed in time for the compulsory talk on zodiacs and landing etiquette, although I did have to take advantage of the fact that I'd chosen to sit by the door. Apparently at this stage the sea was completely calm so my continuing illness was probably due to morning sickness taking over where the sea sickness left off (very comforting).
