Crossing the Drake Passage is one of the most challenging parts of an Antarctic cruise. This notorious stretch of water is the quickest way to get to Antarctica but on any given day it can be rough and wild or it can be calm. Find out how our first day of Antarctic cruising went and the food options on board the Atlas World Navigator!
I was told that we would know when we hit the Drake passage and it’s 10:08 pm when I feel it. It makes its presence known with a strong, back-and-forth push. I feel like a baby in a bassinet being rocked side to side by a giant’s hand. Sickness comes quickly and I pop an anti-nausea tablet and then wait until it subsides. Then I lie back and drift off to sleep for nine solid hours. When conditions are calm they call the gentle rocking of the passage Drake Lake. When waves extend to up to 8 metres it’s called Drake Shake.
It takes roughly 2 days to cross the Drake Passage named after English explorer Sir Francis Drake. The Drake Passage occupies the space between the south west tip of Argentina and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica and its force is fickle and unfettered because there is no land to interrupt the currents. It has claimed a total of around 800 ships and almost 20,000 lives.
There are several ways to help minimise the effects of seasickness: go for a walk, lie down and avoid alcohol – all things to consider when trying to remedy the situation naturally apart from medication like Dramamine. The tastiest way that the crew swear by is to eat a green apple (which is why there are always green apples available on board the ship).
The next morning I can still feel the gentle rocking of the boat and they make an announcement just before the safety drills to let us know that this glassy water is a rarity. We have lucked out with swells around 1 – 2.5 metres in height. At 10:15am after working out, I attend the compulsory safety meeting in the auditorium. For those still green around the gills, they have the option to sign in and then watch from the television screens outside the auditorium where they can see the horizon.
After this, I head to Paula’s Pantry for a wellness shot and a coffee or tea. The wellness shot changes every day and today it features ginger, honey and celery. The ginger does a wonderful job allaying any slight twinges of sea sickness. The coffee is made with organic beans from Italian coffee house Caffè Milano and the teas are by Kusmi. I sip on my caramel frappe and nibble on a cheese and ham bun filled with bechamel and ham heated up so that it is soft and tasty. Come 11:30am they will bring out filled sliders, bagels, and range of desserts.
The World Navigator has one main restaurant called Porto that serves the whole ship and today’s lunch is a buffet with live station of barbecue chicken and mussels in a white wine cream sauce. Lunch is always a buffet and changes every day although there are always cold salads and hot selections available. They also switch up the offering at the carving stations and the live cooking every day.
There’s also a large display of desserts every day at both lunch and dinner from cakes, pastries, potted desserts and fresh fruit. During lunch there’s a frisson of activity as everybody rushes to the window and we spot a pod of hourglass, dolphins and long finned pilot whales (the second largest member of the dolphin family.
There is a 4°C/39.2°F change over 100 miles called the Antarctic convergence that is coupled with a Antarctic Circumpolar Current or the only infinitely running current that is the strongest current in the world. Both these elements isolate the ocean from the rest of the planet and animals find it difficult to cross as each species has adapted to the very particular conditions. The only animals that can cross are ones that breathe air like mammals and birds.
With such glassy conditions comes less birds as they use energy from the wind but we see petrels and wandering albatrosses. These are fascinating birds that mate for life and live for 70 years. Like humans they reach puberty at 12 years old and lay 1 egg every year. These extreme animals don’t even need to flap their wings. The open ocean is their home and they only go to land to breed and lay eggs. The wandering albatross spends the first 7-8 years of their life flying. They actually sleep while flying in a semi meditative state. In fact, it is while flying that their heart rate is lower than on land. They fly in an undulating pattern locking their shoulder joints to keep them in place. Their large pectoral muscles also aid in this. The adult wandering albatross has no predators at sea although when they’re young they are vulnerable to sharks. The main part of their diet is squid.
I know all of this because a couple of times a day the expedition guides hold talks about the animals we will see. Each guide has a specialty and for guide Janel Saydem from British Columbia it is birds. He tells us about the Southern Royal albatross, snowy wandering albatross, grey headed and black browned albatross and the light mantled albatross. In Antarctica there are also a number of petrels including northern giant and southern giant petrels, sooty shearwater, white chinned petrel, cape petrel, southern fulmar (often found with whales), cape petrel, blue petrel, slender billed prion, Antarctic prion and tiny Wilson storm petrels thought to be the most abundant sea bird on the planet.
We will also encounter skuas that are the “pirates” of the fish world. These scavengers of the southern ocean feed on carcasses of whales and seals and several types can be found feeding together. When feeding their tails fan out like a turkey. Petrels been on the planet for 6 million years and the closest relation is the penguin. On this cruise, we are likely to see three types of penguins: Chinstrap, Gentoo and if we are lucky, the Adélie penguin.
It’s a busy day of activity today with everyone preparing for the first expedition in a couple of day’s time. First there is the compulsory fitting of our lifejacket, waterproof jacket and boots. Then I go exploring the boat visiting the bridge, listening to lectures about the wildlife of the Drake Passage and having afternoon tea at 4 pm at the Dome, where I nibble on sandwiches and a high tea assortment with a wide array of teas.
I watch the hypnotic view outside searching the glassy seas in search of dolphins before an announcement comes over the loudspeaker system, announcing that it is time for Peter Hillary will be doing having a lecture about his life, his father’s influence and the three poles. He shows some touching footage of climbing Mount Everest and talking to his father when he reached the top. “It can be done is an important message” he says. There are two streams of talks on the Insider Expeditions cruise. There are the nature talks by the Atlas expedition guides and these are layered with talks by Insider Expeditions’ “Stewards” where they have a range of speakers from Damon Gameau to Peter Hillary and more entrepreneurial speakers. You can pick and choose which ones you want to watch and either view them from the auditorium, on the tvs just outside the auditorium or watch these from your own stateroom.
Dinner this evening is back at the Porto restaurant, but it is à la carte style so we can choose what we want. They put down the bread basket with whipped butter and I try the focaccia and the rye bread, which are both delicious. The bread is a real highlight on the ship. I start with the flamed salmon, two squares of cured salmon, lightly torched on the outside and served with crispy lemon quinoa, potato, cream and dill oil. The dabs of strawberry jam with it are not even necessary.
For main I go with the recommendation of coq au vin with a soft braised chicken maryland, burgundy sauce, silver onion, bacon and mushrooms. It’s very generous in size and meltingly textured. After I add some salt and pepper it’s very tasty. A lot of the food does tend to be underseasoned during the cruise perhaps to cater for people that can’t eat a lot of salt.
The ship is travelling at a fast pace at 14.9 knots thanks to the mild winds and we are lucky enough to cross the Drake Passage and reach the south Shetland islands in record time in just over a day.
So tell me Dear Reader, would crossing the Drake Passage put you off visiting Antarctica?
Up next: our first day on the zodiacs and setting foot on the Antarctic Peninsula!
NQN travelled to Antarctica as a guest of Qantas and Insider Expeditions but all opinions remain her own.
Insider Expeditions
https://insiderexpeditions.com/
Qantas
https://www.qantas.com/au/
Atlas Ocean Voyages
Published on 2024-05-02 by Lorraine Elliott.
