At Sea / Drake Passage
At 8am we are in the Drake Passage headed for Ushuaia, the southern tip of Argentina. Both the sky and the ocean are grey, the wind is coming from the NW with a wind speed of 15 mph and an air temperature of 45 degrees Fahrenheit. A few petrels and albatross have been following the ship. National Geographic Explorer is riding the back of the mightiest sea current in the world, the river of the west wind drift, approximately 1,200 miles broad pushing 4 times the water masses of the Gulf Stream with an average speed of 8 miles per day.
I was the first to start the day’s presentations by sharing my experiences in East Antarctica through my stories and pictures of penguins, seals and whales. Around lunchtime the wind picked up a little bit and started to show whitecaps, luckily the National Geographic Explorer moves beautifully in these seas. People have gathered on the bridge and try to keep their balance while taking shots of the foaming crest over the bow. Those pictures are going to show friends and relatives what an adventure a crossing to Antarctica can be. Also, on the aft deck people tried to photograph the wandering albatrosses that occasionally followed the ship.
At 2:30pm Peter Hillary gave a talk entitled “Memories of Ed- A son’s memories of Sir Edmund Hillary” a very interesting and colorful presentation.
The wind direction has changed from NW to W with an increased wind speed of 35 mph from the mornings speed. More people gather on the bridge to get the last chance to capture the famous howling 50’s.
Later in the evening, after the daily recap and dinner we all went to bed to get a good night’s rest and look forward to tomorrow when we expect to get our first glimpse of the infamous Cape Horn.
