Drake Passage – Dec. 30th – Dec. 31st

Today was a day that I had been looking forward to for over a year in that it was the day that we boarded the ship.  Since we didn’t have to board until 4:00 pm, I spent most of the day doing a tour of Tierra del Fuego National Park (see previous listing).  Once we boarded, we found our rooms and met our roommates.  I was in a three-bed room with two other woman.  I had met one of them because she was my roommate in the hotel room the night before.  She was landlord from California and the third roommate ended up being a woman from Hong Kong who spoke almost no English.  By the time I got to the room, they had both chosen their beds so I got stuck with the top bunk, but I probably would have chosen it even if I was the first to arrive.  There was a meet and great and then we had a briefing about how the boat worked.  It was pretty basic about holding on to the railings while walking around, no flip flops, safety procedures etc.  We also learned about all the extra opportunities for excursions that were available, like kayaking, cross country skiing, climbing, stand-up paddle boarding, camping, and snowshoeing.  After that we got time to unpack but they also did an emergency drill as well.  We didn’t get to actually get into the lifeboats, but we had to take our lifejackets to the staging area, get organized, and go outside as if we were getting on a lifeboat.  It was interesting to see that all 188 passengers could be on lifeboats within about 15 minutes.  That night we also got our free parkas (which we get to keep) and our boots (which we don’t get to keep).

The second day was a sea day and a day that I had dreaded.  It was the infamous Drake Crossing.  The Drake is notorious for foul weather and even in the big cruise ships many people get sick.  I had plenty of Dramamine, but sometimes that’s not enough.  All of my fears were unfounded though and we had a perfect crossing.  All the staff stated that it doesn’t really get any better.  It was good that it was calm because the staff kept us very busy.  We started off the day with a mandatory meeting about the biohazards of being a tourist in Antarctica.  Any clothes, backpacks, or tripods that we were planning to take on land as outer layers of clothing would need to be vacuumed to get rid of any seeds that might be stuck to them.  They don’t want any foreign plants in Antarctica.  I had just bought all my cold weather gear so I was ok.  I just needed my backpack cleaned.  After that it was lunch time and after that I had a massage scheduled (awesome!!!).  Later in the afternoon the ship’s photographer gave a lecture about how to get the perfect picture.  That night was New Year’s Eve so they had the dining room decorated to set the mood.  After dinner we moved to the bar and stayed there all night.  About 15 minutes before midnight they had everyone move to the outside deck and that’s where we celebrated New Years.  It was definitely one to remember.