Drake Passage/Return Home 2/4-2/6 Wed-Fri Days 17-19

Our Drake Passage turned out to be not too bad. We continued to experience winds around 40 knots with the ship pitching and rolling quite a bit. The staff gave it a 6/10 rating, so I’d definitely call this the Drake Shake, but not to extent of some trips. Our Expedition Leader Ali said on her first trip through the Drake, she experienced periods of 90 knots of wind and swells above 15 feet. She has also experienced hanging her feet over the edge of the ship and seeing the water look like a mirror, so she’s seen it all in her 16 years with Oceanwide. 

The staff kept us entertained again on our two day passage. On Thurdsay, our guide Karoline gave a lecture on Isopods, multilegged creatures (think pill bug or roly poly) found in many places, but especially large ones are located in very deep waters. Apparently, you can eat them, but not sure why you would, and they supposedly taste like chicken. Our Asst Expedition Leader Charlotte gave a lecture on whale reproduction, and yes, humpback whales have a 10 foot long penis. We now know more about whale genital and mammary slits than we ever thought possible. Expediton Leader Ali gave a presentation on women in Antarctic exploration history, exploring the relationship between Ernest Shackleton’s wife Emily, and Robert Scott’s wife Kathleen (Scott died on a return trip after being the second person to reach the South Pole, after Roald Amundsen, in 1912). Both women played very important roles in their husband’s careers, and apparently did not like each other very well. 

On Friday, our guide Karoline, who has a Master’s in Glaciology, a PhD in Geology, and used to have a “real job,” gave a presentation on her several years spent owning and living in a remote trapper cabin in Longyearbyen on the Norwegian island of Svalbard, with her partner and one year old son. It was fascinating to hear about life in such a remote location. They hunted reindeer and trapped Arctic foxes for income, and had a team of sled dogs for transportation around their cabin. They had to fend off a few polar bears, especially one that kept breaking down their door (!). The video of her partner in his boxers and Muckboots shooting a flare gun at a very persistent polar bear was hilarious and frightening at the same time. (I edited my previous post with guide photos of Marcelo, Annina, and Sven.)

Two of the passengers, who are busy sailing around the world when not on this expedition, gave a presentation on our ship the Plancius, which was known as the M/S Tydeman when it was a Dutch Naval Ship. Dutch couple Janneke Kuysters and her partner Wietze van der Laan, have a have authored a book on their explorations and have been featured in many publications. Weitze was an officer and electrical engineer on a Dutch navy submarine, and was quite familiar with the Plancius. It was quite in interesting presentation, with personal stories from friends who were stationed on the ship in the 1970’s and 80’s. You can read more about the current Plancius here.

In the afternoon, we had our Plancius Pub Quiz. We had four rounds of ten questions each, related to things we had learned about The Falklands, South Georgia, Antarctica, and the staff and ship. Our five-person team, which we shared with two gentlemen from the UK and a gentleman from North Carolina, came in 5^th out of about 15 teams, and was a respectable finish. We had the Captain’s toast and a final gathering of the expedition team before dinner.

Dinner was a fun affair, as we got to finally see and meet all the crew that work behind the scenes. We were also treated to another birthday celebration, one of 11 on this sailing, as the dining room team partied their way around the room to the birthday person. You could not hide if you had a birthday on this ship; they had our passports, so they knew who we were. It was actually a lot of fun. That dining room crew, as well as all the crew, were super hard working and amazing people. Like most cruise ship crew, they acted like we were the one and only sailing they had all season. They knew our names and cabin numbers from day one, and promptly prepared our Aperol Spritzes and Gin and Tonics without our asking when they saw us walk into the bar. 

After dinner and a fun evening, we headed back to our cabin to get packed up. We tend to throw everything into our suitcases, expand the zippers, and check our bags on the way home, and this was no exception. Everything still smelled a bit like penguin in our cabin, although it had dissipated quite a bit and Steve really couldn’t smell it, but it was all getting a bath when we got home anyway. We did hand wash our clothing we were wearing home, as we didn’t want to get on our flights smelling like penguin poop. 

We returned to Ushuaia about 1 am on morning of Friday Feb 6^th. After breakfast, we disembarked the ship and took the provided bus to Ushuaia Airport. On the flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aries on Aerolineas Argentinas, Steve knew a “friend of a friend” of the Captain, and we got an invitation to come to the cockpit and hang out for a bit. This could never happen in the US, thanks to 9/11, sadly. We were surprised when the flight attendant came and got us. I’m sure the rest of the airplane was wondering where we were going when we got out of our seats. It was a fun experience. I didn’t ask if I could take any photos. I did get to see another airplane, traveling in the opposite direction, fly right underneath us at 1000 feet below our altitude. It was bizarre, as it looked like we were going to run right into each other from that perspective. The three pilots in the cockpit, including the interloper, got a kick out of me freaking out a little bit. 

We are back home now on the Indiana side of Louisville, KY, and curled up on the couch with our rescue puppies and kitties. We have about 10 inches of snow on the ground here and it’s 24 deg F, colder than it was in Antarctica. 

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