The Drake Passage
The rolling swells kept us sleeping sweetly until breakfast time this morning. This is the last leg of our long journey to Antarctica, the crossing of a fabled strait where polar winds circle the globe without obstruction, coiling into deep wells of low pressure that contain some of the strongest storms on the planet. This is the shortest segment of our journey, yet the one most dreaded by many of us. What is the Drake Passage really like? Will the ship pitch and roll like a rodeo bull? Will huge waves and winds lash the decks while we are lashed into our bunks? At last we have our answer. Our crossing is an easy one over calm seas with only moderate winds, just enough to lift the wings of the beautiful seabirds that make these wild seas their home. Long low swells sweep through from the Pacific to the Atlantic, lifting our ship gently, rocking her through the night.
Our day has passed quickly, as there is much to be done in preparation for arrival in Terra Australis Incognita. The first event of the day, immediately after breaking our fast, was an introduction to the natural history staff of National Geographic Explorer. Other than the fact that the great majority of them had beards, they were a diverse group with very broad range of interests and specialties. Together they represented many decades of experience in the Antarctic and, beard or no beard, they were all excited and delighted to be returning to the White Continent.
In the late morning we made our way up to the lounge again, this time for a presentation on seabirds give by Mike G. After learning about the wonderful life histories and beautiful adaptations that make these birds at home on the world’s windiest seas, we walked out onto the aft sundeck and were immediately treated to a fantastic encounter with one of the birds we had just learned about. On narrow wind-cutting wings, each one as long as a man is tall, a wandering albatross soared by. As we watched, it turned in the air, gliding down to catch the wind from the top of a swell and then rode the gust up to begin another turn, in just the way that Mike had explained
Our afternoon was equally busy. The photography team – CT, Mike N., Mike G., Doug, David and National Geographic photographer Mark Theisen – all helped us to get more comfortable with our cameras or learn some advanced techniques appropriate for our time among the rocks and ice of the Antarctic Peninsula.
The Antarctic is not far ahead. We’re ready. And tonight the storied waters of the Drake Passage rock us to sleep again.
