Crossing the Drake

Wednesday, February 01, 2017
Drake Passage, International
Every trip to Antarctica requires a transverse of the roughest stretch of sea in the world - the Drake Passage. At this latitude in the world there are no significant pieces of land to break up the winds, which therefore build up very quickly and increase the likelihood of freak weather events.
 
Entering the Passage the previous evening, we took an arched route across to avoid a building storm that was threatening to keep us in Ushuaia, and the following day was spent getting across the rough water. With waves of 12 metres the sea was 'relatively' good, however it still hit most people with some form of sea sickness.
 
Despite the day being without landings, the ship still kept us busy. Beginning with a buffet breakfast we then had our first lecture in the lounge on Glaciers, before a half hour break and our second lecture on Photography.

Having woken up feeling fine, throughout the course of the day so far I had begun to feel pretty queezy, resulting in a quick dash to the toilet. Heading up for the buffet lunch to find the restaurant literally rocking from side to side, I then made another dash back down to the cabin and decided that today would have to be a write off.....
 
Spending all afternoon lying in bed had helped, nibbling on some biscuits to fill my stomach before eventually heading up for dinner. However it didn't take long, and when a less than appealing soup was placed in front of me I decided that it was probably best to head back to the cabin for a lie down again to settle my stomach.

A lot of the day was unfortunately wasted, but after a busy few days in Brazil and Ushuaia, and not having much choice anyway, a day in bed was probably a wise decision after all - it wouldn't be long before we reached Antarctica and I'd be busy and back to my usual self again!

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