Drake Passage, Beagle Channel and into Ushuaia
We woke to sunshine and a forgiving sea: the dreaded Drake is letting us off lightly. With a Force 2 wind from the southwest and a following current we have been making a superb 15 knots towards Cape Horn. We meet over breakfast like conquering heroes, returning from a long, punishing campaign in which we have emerged victorious. Tested by an impressive sea on the way down, fog, snow and biting winds in the first few days, we were soon welded into a crack battalion of storm-troopers who wouldn’t flinch at the sight of wild beaches and rugged mountains. Able to man the Zodiacs and take a hostile beach in under 20 minutes, we have trained hard and mastered the multiple disciplines of expedition cruising. With the best ship, the toughest crew and the finest clothing, we have faced and survived the harshest environment on earth. We return with our heads full of wonderment: soaring white mountains, vast glaciers, giant blue icebergs, swirling snow, frozen chequerboard seas, thousands of penguins, hundreds of seals, and whales gorging themselves on the krill swarms of the southern ocean. Then for several glorious days at the end we were dazzled by sunshine, which transformed the peninsula into a magic kingdom and trumped the days with incomparable dawns and sunsets. Are we ready to go home? Not quite yet... but the two days of our passage across the Drake already make that faraway land at the uttermost end of the earth seem like a fabulous dream. Escorted by a Royal Albatross herald, sooty shearwater outriders, and a bowriding pod of Dusky Dolphins, we are entering the Beagle Channel, the Argentinian flag fluttering aloft as we await the arrival of the pilot boat. Tonight we will be at anchor in Ushuaia “the safe haven sheltered from the west” as the Yamana Indians named it. And this evening we will give thanks for the privilege of being part of this grand voyage, and the loyal ship which took us there and brought us safely home. Endeavour : well named, after Captain Cook’s dogged, pioneering little ship, the first to cross the Antarctic Circle over 200 years ago.
But spare a thought for the heart of our ship, the german MAK engines which since 1965 have toiled loyally for over 218,000 hours to take this ship to every ocean on earth. And salute the loyal heart monitors who tend them day and night: shown here are Chief Engineer Bob Firth and 3rd Engineer Lito Eustaquio alongside the clacking, whirring, pumping pistons which drove us so far, so safely. What a ship... what a team.... and what an adventure.
We woke to sunshine and a forgiving sea: the dreaded Drake is letting us off lightly. With a Force 2 wind from the southwest and a following current we have been making a superb 15 knots towards Cape Horn. We meet over breakfast like conquering heroes, returning from a long, punishing campaign in which we have emerged victorious. Tested by an impressive sea on the way down, fog, snow and biting winds in the first few days, we were soon welded into a crack battalion of storm-troopers who wouldn’t flinch at the sight of wild beaches and rugged mountains. Able to man the Zodiacs and take a hostile beach in under 20 minutes, we have trained hard and mastered the multiple disciplines of expedition cruising. With the best ship, the toughest crew and the finest clothing, we have faced and survived the harshest environment on earth. We return with our heads full of wonderment: soaring white mountains, vast glaciers, giant blue icebergs, swirling snow, frozen chequerboard seas, thousands of penguins, hundreds of seals, and whales gorging themselves on the krill swarms of the southern ocean. Then for several glorious days at the end we were dazzled by sunshine, which transformed the peninsula into a magic kingdom and trumped the days with incomparable dawns and sunsets. Are we ready to go home? Not quite yet... but the two days of our passage across the Drake already make that faraway land at the uttermost end of the earth seem like a fabulous dream. Escorted by a Royal Albatross herald, sooty shearwater outriders, and a bowriding pod of Dusky Dolphins, we are entering the Beagle Channel, the Argentinian flag fluttering aloft as we await the arrival of the pilot boat. Tonight we will be at anchor in Ushuaia “the safe haven sheltered from the west” as the Yamana Indians named it. And this evening we will give thanks for the privilege of being part of this grand voyage, and the loyal ship which took us there and brought us safely home. Endeavour : well named, after Captain Cook’s dogged, pioneering little ship, the first to cross the Antarctic Circle over 200 years ago.
But spare a thought for the heart of our ship, the german MAK engines which since 1965 have toiled loyally for over 218,000 hours to take this ship to every ocean on earth. And salute the loyal heart monitors who tend them day and night: shown here are Chief Engineer Bob Firth and 3rd Engineer Lito Eustaquio alongside the clacking, whirring, pumping pistons which drove us so far, so safely. What a ship... what a team.... and what an adventure.
