Greetings from the Drake Passage, the channel of ocean that separates South America from Antarctica, where we are currently experiencing the full effects of the infamous “Drake Shake.” With billions of gallons of water rushing through the channel every second, the Drake is notorious for its big waves and high winds. And let me just start out by saying that we’re not being cheated.
According to my research the average wave height in the Drake Passage is 10 to 13 feet, and confirming the forecast I wrote about yesterday, we’re topping that by a significant amount. At noon today the captain announced over the ship’s speakers that the wave heights were currently 20 feet, with winds of 46 miles per hour and gusts up to 63 mph. He added that earlier in the morning we experienced gusts of up to 104 mph.
The winds are absolutely howling outside, forcing the closure of all the outside decks, and we’re all walking around the ship like drunks, as the ship holds its own version of a rock and roll party. The waves are crashing into the ship from the west, and lower decks on the starboard side are being shaken with what sounds like explosions when they hit. Fortunately, our cabin is on the port side, where it’s a little quieter.
Not surprisingly, there aren’t a lot of people out and about in the ship’s public areas. I suspect that the majority of our passengers are in their cabins doing their best to avoid motion sickness. Michele and I are grateful beyond measure that the ship’s tossing and turning doesn’t seem to be bothering us. As I write this we’re up in the Solarium on deck eleven, writing and watching the spectacle outside. And even though we’re both doing fine, I’m quite happy that the captain changed our itinerary to avoid even higher waves a day or two from now.
The payoff, of course, is that we’ll be in Antarctica tomorrow, and if ever there was a bucket list destination, that’s it. We’re scheduled to arrive around 9:00 am, and spend an entire day cruising through some of the most majestic scenery the continent has to offer. And when I say the entire day, I really mean it. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 3:21 am, and the captain said that other than three hours of dusk we’d have daylight right through the night.
After Antarctica the hope is that the weather will improve enough to allow us to make our postponed visit to the Falklands. Otherwise, it will be back across the Drake to Ushuaia, Argentina, where we’re scheduled to spend a couple days. Whichever we do, I’ll keep you posted, assuming we continue to have Internet coverage in Antarctica. This trip has been one adventure after another, and we’re just getting started. Back soon.
I took this photo this morning when a particularly large wave struck our cabin window. As the captain promised yesterday, it’s a lot like looking into a front loading washing machine while it’s running.
Michele took this one from the door out to deck five, the promenade deck. The waves aren’t all like that, but the big ones are really something to see.
This is me pretending I’m grumpy that the outside decks are closed so I couldn’t do my impression of Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore standing out in hurricane winds. Actually, as you can see in the background, the waves weren’t too bad when we took the photo.
The higher up on the ship you get, the less terrifying the waves look. Those are 20 foot waves.
It hasn’t all been about the waves. Michele went to the movies this morning.
This afternoon we went to an enrichment lecture on Antarctica. Our enrichment lectures have been excellent.
Finally, Michele and I saw an albatross today. I couldn’t get a photo of it due to the weather conditions, so I grabbed a screenshot off the Internet to show you what it looked like. Magnificent bird.
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