Antarctica 2010 - Day 5

We are now in the Drake Passage and making good headway. Woke at about 7.30 and was aware that something had changed. There was now a lot more movement in the ship. A heavy roll in the sea moving from the starboard to port side is causing the ship to pitch about 20 degrees both ways. It makes from some interesting attempts to move around the ship! There are a few victims to the sea conditions but this will pass as soon as people get their sea legs. This is the Drake being gentle though. It is regarded as one of the most treacherous bodies of water in the world. Hopefully we won’t get to see it at it worst. So far the forecast is looking good but down here things can change very fast!

We are doing about 10-12 knots so we will continue sailing Drake until late Thursday and are scheduled to make our first landing at Cuverville Island on Friday morning. Our first colony of Adelie Penguins is located there so looking forward to seeing them.

In the meantime the staff had arranged some presentations about the wildlife, exploration and some history which were great. Jodhi, one of our guides also gave a presentation about his work researching black browed Albatros in Chile including some incredible photos of these huge birds.

We’ve also had some Albatros visiting the ship although with the light rain we are having, numbers are down due to lower visibility. The ones that we have seen are enormous with 6-8 foot wingspans. Really impressive to see.

We had a brief with our Kayak guide to go through what we need to know and do for our upcoming kayak trips. It sounds like it will be amazing.

The weather is now picking up with some great sunshine and less swell so fingers crossed it’s a good omen for the rest of the trip.