Drake Passage
The Drake Passage is the body of water between South America and Antarctica. There, the otherwise unimpeded waves of the vast Southern Ocean squeeze through the relatively narrow and shallow bottleneck of the Drake Passage, and in the process, generate complicated, unpredictable and often brutal weather. The Drake Passage is also considered the most dangerous ship passage in the world and cost the lives of numerous sailors. Even for a big and modern ship like ours, the Drake Passage is somewhat of a concern. The staff put sickness bags all over the ship and were telling tales of passengers not being allowed to get out of bed because they might hurt themselves with the intense rolling of the ship.
Well, my experience was quite different. The two days on the open sea were as peaceful as one could possible imagine. You could have almost set up the lounge chairs on the deck. There was no sign of storm or even any significant waves. So we spent the days watching the different species of albatrosses and trying to sight whales. Everyone got really excited when we spotted the first group of penguins the first day of our trip. It was impressive to see penguins so far away from any land. They would have to swim for hundreds of miles to reach the Antarctic.
Quite a few people still got seasick on the boat. But luckily being on the open sea had no effect at all on me. So I spent the time getting to know the other passengers and just chilling on the deck. There were really some wonderful people on the boat. Here is the crew I hung out with:
The Kids Table: Megan is a yoga teacher from Toronto with an infectious laugh. Holly is a pink-haired science wizzard from Australia. Aven is a diver/artist from Hawaii and was on the boat with her lovely parents who invited her on the trip. Claire and Will are a couple from Australia and fellow kayakers. Together, we formed the kids table because we often had dinner together and were among the younger passengers on the ship.
Lisa and Jason are a couple who are biking from Ushuaia to Alaska. I certainly will never forget Lisa. She had this innocent look, but was quick, witty, dirty in pretty much everything she was saying, while keeping a dead serious look. She was my partner in crime for most boat activities. Her partner Jason was most often seen running around with cameras all over the ship to pursue his passion as a photo/videographer. Check out some of his footage!
The Regulars: Luke has been going to the Antarctic for the past 20 years. He knows about everything you might want to know about this place. Aside from that, he had a heart of gold and was a rockstar on the dance floor. Sean was a kayak leader on the boat. He is the kind of guy you could imagine among the first colonizers of America. He is a giant man who lives in a cabin in Alaska, goes to work on a kayak and hangs out with bears as part of his job. Christian was full of surprises. He was the quiet whale-watcher who kept to himself at first. But after a few days, we discovered a new talent of his every day. Turns out, he is an impressive painter, a fun poet and speaks in song lyrics. Hadleigh had the stereotypical stoic look of an explorer. He was a geneticist before he gave up his job to lead expeditions to Antarctica. Everyone agreed on one thing: Becs from New Zealand was simply the best! She was a kayaker and when you were freezing out on the ocean, she would pull out her thermos of hot coco! How could you not warm up to that!?
Together, we would spend the next 10 days on the boat. Among the passengers there was also a small group of people who were interested in kayaking. Every group was given a name so that we knew when to board the zodiacs to get on land. The kayaking group was called Mawson (named after the explorer), but we liked to call ourselves the (M)awsomes, because frankly we were the most awesome group on the boat! 😉 We spent lots of time together as for some reason the kayakers had tons of meetings on the schedule. It felt quite intense actually, like running from meeting to meeting in the most remote part of the world. Our kayaking gear was also noteworthy. We felt like walking right off star trek with our red and black uniforms. We had to wear our fleece and warm gear below, the dry suit on top, warm gloves and dishwashing gloves on top, sunglasses, scarf, hat. It was like a suit with 20 pieces that had to be layered in an exact order. Getting into that gear took at least 10 min. It was a bonding experience of sorts!
On the 2nd day at sea, we spotted our first iceberg. It was quite an experience as everyone was rushing onto the deck. We slowly approached it and then passed really close by. If people hadn’t been thinking of the titanic till then, they certainly did after that. The lone iceberg was majestic in its size, and we passed so close to it that it wasn’t hard to imagine what kind of damage a collision could create.
