Drake Passage: Crossing North

The Drake Passage, infamous for its 40-foot waves and howling winds, once again treated us to a “Lake” rather than a “Shake.” The sea state was no more than 10 feet for much of the day. That there was sunshine and blue skies, too, made for a delightful crossing north.

Yes, it is still on the chilly side, but no complaints. We’ll be in hot temperatures soon enough and it won’t be long before we’re complaining about the opposite spectrum of the temperature gauge.

We had a quiet day … a lot of reading … a lot of writing and photo processing to get some of the Antarctica footprints caught up.

I carved out time to go to Dr Andrew Atkin’s (Antarctic expedition team historian) presentation on “Scott, Amundsen, and the South Pole.” It was a comparison of the expedition styles of the two men. I must admit that I am in the “Amundsen camp” on this one. I am looking forward to his presentation on Shackleton on our next day at sea.Read more