Drake Passage
Yesterday we arrived at the southern end of South America, Ushuaia. Argentina’s, and in fact the entire world’s southernmost city. It’s a jumping off place for anyone wanting to visit the Antarctic Peninsula. The National Geographic Explorer’s natural history staff and crew welcomed everyone aboard and as we were beginning to find our way around the ship our dock lines were being cast off and what promises to be a 10-day life-changing adventure had begun. We passed a very pleasant evening steaming southeastward between snow-capped peaks and tree-lined islands of Chile on one side and Argentina on the other. It was close to midnight when most of us were tucked comfortably in our beds and we were finally able to feel the gentle rise and fall of the Southern Ocean beneath us as we left the protection of the Beagle Channel and entered the open sea.
After breakfast this morning we took the opportunity to remove any organic material from our boots, backpacks and outer gear so as to not introduce any foreign contaminants into the pristine environments we will be visiting this voyage. With that completed our photographers explained how we can get the best results from our cameras. Between naps and visits to the bridge and decks to watch our seabird escorts, we had a presentation by Stefan Lundgren on the lives of the penguins we’ll be seeing and one on Sir Ernest Shackleton by Magnus Forsberg in preparation for our visit to Elephant Island tomorrow.
Just before dinner we had our first evening recap, which shed light on the complex and important nature of the Southern Ocean ecosystem complete with a spirited explanation of global weather systems from our Captain.
