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Category Archives: Drake passage
Monday 22 November
Another sea day, but today the ship pushed over the Antarctic convergence and entered the waters of Antarctica. It is a phenomenal change with the temperature dropping from 7 degree to 1 degree in a matter of 5 miles and a sudden shift in birdlife. This morning I spent an hour on the back deck watching the albatross wheel in my wake. This afternoon there are no albatross in sight and we areinstead surrounded by cape petrels and small prions that are buzzing around the boat and dipping between the crests of the wave. A lovely part of the ocean but I’m constantly scanning the horizon for our first iceberg and the rocks of Antarctcia … it is still a long wait.
Sunday 21 November
I woke up this morning at 6:00, stepped outside and watched two peale’s dolphins cruise by. This has been followed by a day of sealife with albatross, petrels and terns wheeling around the ship … the bad news is we have not gotten far towards our final destination.
The weather system we were trying to avoid yesterday ended up turning rather nasty and we had to hold off today just outside of the beagle channel. We didn’t actually get underway until 5:00 in the afternoon which puts us a long way behind schedule. Still the sea is heaving outside, our bow is pointed towards Antarctica and we are on our way.