Day 5: Drake Passage
(This is part of a series of re-posts from my trip to Antarctica in 2009)
Last night we entered the Drake Passage, world renowned for its choppy waters and nauseating, 45 degree tilts.
I hate to spoil the excitement but the Drake Passage is boring. B-O-R-I-N-G. You’re out in the open water with nothing to look at except the occasional bird. Yes, we’re rolling around, but I don’t think we’ve hit any tilt higher than 20 degrees. Although the one that just hit us did drive my head up against the wall. People seem to be doing ok and there don’t appear to be many folks with motion sickness. I’ve been largely immune to the problem either due to my magic legs or my magic patch of medicine. I had a bit of a headache at lunch today but an ibuprofen took care of that quckly.
In an attempt to pass the time there’s been occasional presentations on things like the birds of Antarctica, the history of its exploration, and how to manage your Lightroom catalog. I missed the bird one because I was asleep. You do a lot of that when crossing the Drake. Eat, sleep. Get up, eat, sleep.
Late tomorrow evening we should be through the Drake Passage and if we’re lucky we’ll be at our first landing site.
I’m definitely getting my sea legs. I’m at the point where I can walk from one end of the boat to the other down a hall without having to use handles to stand up. You just have to lean the right direction at the right time!
Lunch was chicken kiev, salad, bread, etc. I ordered the chicken kiev but left before it came because of my headache. At dinner the serving lady gave me grief for not eating the kiev 🙂 Dinner was duck or fish (I had duck), minestrone soup, salad, and chocolate mousse for dessert. I thought tonight’s food was better than last night’s. Oh, and I discovered they have fantastic sweet plums in the fruit baskets. YUUUMY!