The Trip to Palmer – Step 6 Transiting The Drake Passage
The trip from Punta Arenas, Chile would take us through 500 miles of what is historically known as the roughest seas in the world; and in fact, our cruise was delayed for a couple of days in the vicinity of Cape Horn while we waited for a very strong low pressure system to pass through the area. Forecast models showed 50+ foot seas and the advisory from our forecasters strongly recommended against transiting The Drake while this system was present. As this was the first time I have ever spent this amount of time on rough seas, I had no idea of whether I would get seasick or not. As it turns out, I am one of the fortunate ones….with the exception of a bit of queasiness, I felt good during the entire crossing.
On the other side of the Drake, we were privileged to visit Deception Island. This island is fairly geographically unique in that it is a volcanic caldera. We sailed into the caldera and spent a few days inside while one of the science groups collected data on degradation of historic structures on the island.
Deception Island was used as a whaling station and sealing station in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s. It is currently home to a couple of seasonal Antarctic research stations and is a popular Antarctic cruise ship destination due to a large chinstrap penguin colony and the thermal hot springs that dot the beaches.
Tags: Antarctica
