The Drake Passage is reputedly either the "Drake Lake" or the "Drake Shake" and tracking the weather forecast before we left wasn't looking good. Jumper, the expedition safety officer (and extremely experienced sailor and Antarctic visitor) pointed out the lenticular cloud as we left Ushuaia which apparently also didn't bode well
We got bussed to the dock where the Ocean Victory was waiting for us. She'd looked rather small as she sailed into Ushuaia but up close was reassuringly large. It was also exciting to see the black zodiac boats loaded onto the back - these are what we would be using for going ashore in Antarctica. We amassed on the dock for a team photo and then made our way aboard in dribs and drabs, handing over our passports and finding our cabins.
Before we could leave there were a couple of mandatory safety briefings and a lifeboat drill so that we'd know what to do in the event of an emergency and then with a rather jump-inducing blast on the horn we were off!
The first stretch along the Beagle Passage was absolutely stunning. The blue skies and snow capped mountains lined the wide, calm sea and we even got our first sighting of a humpback whale. At the end of the Beagle Passage we turned into the Drake Passage and by this point the swell was increasing and I was starting to feel slightly queasy. I positioned myself at dinner looking straight out to sea, but knew that things weren't good when I couldn't face the delicious looking chocolate dessert!
Before I'd left I'd not been sure how well I'd cope with the sea so had come out of Boots armed with ginger capsules, travel bands and sea sickness medication (although had decided against trying to get a prescription for the patch). I wasn't taking any more chances so used all of them - along with an early night as it seemed like lying on my back was actually the best solution.
The crossing to Antarctica takes nearly 2 days and, depending on quite who you spoke to, was reportedly a 6/10 with swells of around 20ft. The Ocean Victory has a novel design with an unusual shaped bow and some additional stabilisation motors which meant that it apparently didn't feel as bad on board as it would have on other ships. I did manage to get up for breakfast (and covid testing) the next morning and I did keep dozing off I survived the crossing without throwing up and far better than some of the rest of the team.
Once we hit the peninsular the swell calmed significantly. We did have an "interesting" night getting over to Deception Island towards the end which had us waking up as things rolled around our cabin (actually causing fits of laughter). One thing that was weird was the way that the up and down made you feel almost weightless one moment and then pulled you down the next.
The crossing back was much, much smoother and I think I'd found my sea legs (although interestingly some people seemed to find it harder). So much so, that we got special permission to go and see Cape Horn, the most southerly tip of the American continent (permission needed as we had to go into Chilean waters to do so). Apparently it was only the second time that season they'd been able to do it.
