Late last evening the National Geographic Orion left the protection of the Beagle Channel and entered the Southern Ocean. The narrowest point between Antarctica and any other continent is from the tip of South America, where we are leaving from, to the Antarctic Peninsula, an area called the Drake Passage. This will be our route to the Antarctic for our exploration adventure of the “White Continent”! Most tourist vessels use this route because of the shortened distance to travel in the open ocean.
So, as the National Geographic Orion came to life the next morning we found ourselves far from land and surrounded by vast ocean on all sides. Luckily, we had following seas and relatively light winds, so the ride was fairly smooth, although there may have been a few on board that would have disputed that!
Even though we were in this massive open ocean, we were not alone. There were numerous sea birds traveling along with us as we made our way south, petrels, prions and a number of large albatross, including the Wandering Albatross, the largest bird of flight in the world! It can be a mesmerizing experience to watch these incredible aerial masters flying almost effortlessly across great distances for days, weeks and months at a time!
During the day there was also a series of lectures given by the expedition staff which enlightened us and hopefully inspired us also! Topics ranged from Antarctic geography, to sea birds, to krill, to the whales which make a living in these cold waters. All-in-all, a very full day on the Drake Passage, ending with the Captains Welcome Aboard cocktail party, and another delicious dinner. A great start for our voyage to Antarctica!
