The Drake Passage is a beast. The fact that I knowingly am traveling through it again for a second time speaks to the power of Antarctica. The Drake is like a mental and physical test, not unlike what astronaut must feel going to outer space. Different of course, but in the sense that you are traveling where few have gone before and putting your mind and body through hell to get there, it is pretty similar. We are well past the Antarctic Convergence (where the Atlantic and Pacific waters meet and result in a major temperature drop) and the power of the ocean here cannot even be described. It’s ferocious, and mesmerizing, and beautiful, and frightening. As I type this in my cabin, there are massive waves crashing onto my window, and I’m not even on the bottom level of the ship.
The stabilizers on this little ship, the Clipper Adventurer, have helped. I don’t think I would be very happy on the MV Ushuaia right now. Zero stabilizers in the worst crossing that the captain of that ship had ever seen (March 2008) – that was not fun. It’s been slow-going, therefore, it looks like we are going to head further south and come back to the E-base and Bellingshausen on the way back. We have been radioing the Russian ship that was stuck in the Weddell Sea, to get advice as to what our best path will be to avoid remaining pack ice.
With any luck we’ll be in calmer waters by nightfall. We’ve been rocking and rolling for 2 days now and although I’ve technically avoided getting sea sick (I’m wearing a seasick patch), I’ll be happy to move out of the Drake – at least for a week until we have to do it all over again on the way back!
Only a matter of hours before we see our first iceberg!
No comments:
Post a Comment