Half Moon Island/Enter the Drake Passage Tuesday 2/3 Day 16

This morning we landed at Half Moon Island, where we finally got to see a colony of Chinstrap Penguins. We had only seen two on this entire trip, and both were single penguins in with other varieties. Chinstraps are the cutest, and they look like they are wearing little helmets strapped onto their heads. Their babies were not quite as far along in their molting process as some of the other varieties, so they were super cute and fluffy. 

We enjoyed a nice hike up to the colony, where we also saw Elephant, Fur, and Weddle Seals on the beach and in the water. The Fur Seals were playing King of the Rock. We then walked to the far end of the landing where we got to meet some interesting folks. There is a small Argentinian military base here, and we met a group of Bulgarian researchers who had come ashore on Zodiacs from their ship which was moored in the harbor opposite of our ship. Of course, Marcelo, our esteemed guide and retired Argentinian Admiral, knew the Bulgarian Commander, as Marcelo had once been one of his instructors in a joint operation. So he introduced us and we had a nice chat with them. Marcelo knows literally Every. One.  

After lunch, we were supposed to have our last landing of the trip at a place called Yankee Harbor, but after assessing the landing site, the expedition team decided the swells were too big to land us safely. The ship’s Captain remarked that he didn’t like seeing the bottom of Ali’s Zodiac as she was assessing the water. They tried really hard to get us out on our last landing, but they just didn’t feel like it was safe enough to do so. So we had a free afternoon, and the staff served us hot chocolate with rum and whipped cream outside on the deck while we sailed past the South Shetland Islands. We also sailed past Edinburgh Hill, which is the remains of a millions years old volcanic eruption, and past Livingston Island, which is the first land discovered below 60 degrees south latitude. Livingston is historic, as prior to its discovery, most of the world assumed there was a land mass at the southern end of the globe, which was termed Terra Australis Incognita, but no such land had ever been discovered. The discovery of Livingston Island in 1819 marked the beginning of Antarctic exploration.   

Leaving the South Shetland Islands marks the beginning of the Drake Passage. Cue the music… dun, dun, dun! The dreaded Drake Passage is the body of water between Cape Horn and Antarctica where the Pacific meets the Atlantic and extends into the Southern Ocean. It is notoriously one of the most dangerous bodies of water for ships to traverse. This is due to the fact that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which runs through the Drake, meets no resistance from any land mass. Waves can top 40 feet, and the Drake has the reputation for being the most powerful convergence of all the seas. All voyages that go to Antarctica from Ushuaia will cross the Drake at least once, and some cross it in both directions, so it’s basically a rite of passage for folks who sail to Antarctica. It takes roughly 48 hours to cross the 500 mile Drake Passage. It is referred to as the Drake Lake when the passage is smooth, and the Drake Shake when the passage is rough. We began our crossing of the Drake under relatively “normal” conditions, with winds about 29 mph, lots of swells, and some rocking and rolling. None of this was any worse than what we had already experienced on the way to the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, and on our way south to Antarctica. The forecast is decent, so we will see what the next two days bring as we make our way back to Ushuaia. 

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