The Drake Passage
When you leave Ushuaia, a local “pilot” comes on board to guide the ship out of the
Beagle Channel . Likewise, upon your return, a pilot comes back to guide you in. As JDiver points out, the pilot’s schedule can impact the boat’s schedule. We were late in both cases, but it was no big deal.
The Beagle is lovely, but I was glad I had taken a separate boat ride the day before to enjoy it. We were all too excited to enjoy it on the way out – checking out the boat, unpacking, life boat drill, attending welcome events. On the way back, it was dark when we went through, and docked around 6 or 7AM.
After we clear the Beagle, a companion boat picks up the pilot and we were alone! I never saw another boat or soul (aside from staff at 2 bases we visited) until our return 10 days later.
The Drake started right away. I have to agree with the other posters – there is no way to predict the conditions you will experience. Of the 4 some odd days we were in the Drake, 3 were very choppy, and 1 was the unusual calmness referred to as the Drake Lake. Fortunately, the Drake Lake occurred as we approached
Cape Horn. We had great visability, and it was a great experience. The aforementioned 91 year old on the trip had rounded Cape Horn in the 1930s, and he (and we) were so excited to experience it with him again. Peregrine showed us a video the night before Cape Horn about a tall sailing ship (with many sails) that sailed through the Drake, and was narrated by the sailor who shot it over 50 years later. It was amazing, and the gentlemen on our ship had had the same experience. He hadn’t been able to see Cape Horn the last time.
So the Drake. The choppiness on the way out started right away. I have never had motion sickness in my life. The only time I have ever felt nausea was on the Great Barrier Reef (during both a day trip and a scuba liveaboard). I woke up the first morning, walked into my bathroom, and promptly threw up. It was the first time (and so far last time) in my life that has happened. I had taken Dramamine the night before. People who had those prescription patches seemed to do much better than those without. Look - I’ll be honest here – it wasn’t fun, but we did get used to it quickly, and it’s no reason at all not to take this trip. Some people looked awful, but most seemed fine. I sought out the dr, who came promptly to my cabin. My bunk was perpendicular to the ship, but my room had a sofa that was parallel to the ship. He advised me to take more Dramamine, have some ginger ale, and sleep parallel to the ship. The sleeping trick really worked. The ship had no ginger ale. I was not expecting to have a refrigerator in my room (which I did on the 5th floor) so I had brought no beverages with me. I would suggest bringing some Ginger Ale. The dr did have shots to help out, and said if I didn’t improve, we could go with that option. However, I did get used to the pitching, and didn’t need to see him again about that. Later, I found out there was a cyclone in the area, which was what had caused us to have such a bad crossing. We went through the
Lemaire Channel and things were immediately better. Immediately.
On the way back, we had some pitching the first day, and then things calmed right down, and we had the smooth Drake Lake. During the rougher period we saw some bottle nosed dolphins, which was amazing. Aside from the Dolphins, the only real wildlife we saw in the Drake was birds. Beautiful, huge albatross, petrals, skuas, shags and other local birds. I’m no bird watcher, but they were very cool.
So what did we do besides suffer in the Drake? I thought I would be bored out of mind, but Peregrine had tons of programming. Each monring, there were 2 lectures after breakfast, lunch in the afternoon, another lecture, tea time, a final lecutre, happy hour in the bar, dinner, a short activity in the bar, and a movie or another event in the evening. The lectures were very good – led by the experts on the ship. There was no pressure to attend, but I think I went to all but 1. They were held in the presentation room and the dining hall, and aside from the last night ship recap and best of photo show, there was always plenty of room for all attending. Here are the lectures that were presented:
Here are the movies they showed:
Really there was so much to do, it was unbelievable. The programming was very good. You could do as much or as little of it as liked, and it really did make the time in the Drake go by so quickly. I went on this trip to SEE Antarctica, and not only did I do that, but I learned an awful lot at the same time.
Up next: arriving at the White Continent! Excursions, cruising, and camping out