The most daunting piece of any Antarctic cruise is without question the Drake Passage. It’s truly a luck of the draw and the two day journey is necessary to endure if you truly desire to experience the harshest playground in the world.
The passage opened ~140 million years ago, has 91 active volcanoes along the route and boasts the oldest rocks on Earth at ~1.5 billion years old. Due to its unique geography, currents at this latitude are able to circumnavigate the globe without interference and can lead to brutal 50+ ft swells & 100+mph winds.
So you just have to “embrace the suck” and power through the inevitable. With the help of modern medicine through both patches and pills, I felt just moderate seasickness much to my surprise. I am notoriously sensitive to even the slightest rocky conditions, so being self confined to my bed for only half a day of the voyage is considered a big success.
The crew would show us the wind and swell maps at our nightly briefings:
- Blue/green = ideal conditions 1 out of 10
- Orange/yellow = generally good 4 of 10
- Purple/pink/red = brace yourself 8 of 10
Without much interference, we glide through this unpredictable channel with great speed and hoping our good fortunes would translate into a seamless rest of the trip as well.
Despite the occasional big dip, the natural sway of the 50 year old G Expedition became the routine and catapulted us into an unbelievable week of exploring. The crew repeatedly reminded us that our calm 1 out of 10 cruise experience was an anomaly, and I certainly didn’t take that for granted.
Because we still had the return passage to brave through…..
FearlessAdventures 