Drake Part Deux

Cape Horn, South America.

I have just finished crossing the drake back to South America. It was a much bumpier ride than on the way over, but it's turns out I'm secretly part viking because I didn't take any medication and I didn't get sick. Does the quanine in tonic water keep away seasickness in addition to malaria? I conducted preliminary research.

The drake on the return was rough, and after days of getting on and off the ship, it was a harder to just sit on the ship without doing anything. Yesterday (2/15) I attended an lecture on sailor supersticions, had some of my good photographs critiqued by Jay, the NatGeo photographer, hung out with astronaut Bill Readdy (who incidentally loves my nephew), watched Madagascar, and played lots of board games.

Yesterday , my nephew and I went outside to the bow after dinner to "ride the waves." He did more of the photography and I did more of the bow riding. There were awesome waves, but of course not while I was out there...the ship bobbed alot, but I didn't get too wet.

Last night we were warned that when we hit the continental shelf it would get a bit bumpy. That was the understatement of the year. I didn't go to bed until late, and just when I was falling asleep, the ship started going wild. I could barely stay in bed. A waterbottle fell off the shelf (which has a rail), it was clanging aroudn the room, I got up to retrieve it, but it was so difficult to stand up, I almost crawled to retrieve it. I finally did fall asleep (after being in bed for hours) and when I woke up this morning, they announced it was so rough and choppy they actually diverted course (which is prob when I fell asleep).

This morning (2/16) I awoke just off of Cape Horn (roughest water in world + most shipwrecks ever) to a beautiful blue sky with land in the distance. Magnificent birds have returned to our ship as we slowly make our way to the Beagle Channel to return to Ushuaia. In fact, there are a few albatross just outside of my window as I type.

It has been a fabulous trip. Antarctica is more beautiful than I ever could have imagined; pictures just don't do it justice. But I also witnessed a fragile ecosystem, and saw birds and penguins struggling to adapt as their climate changes rapidly. If I had to pick one day that just blew the rest out of the water, it was probably cruising through the Weddell Sea, seeing the tabular bergs, their blue hue, and their reflections in clear blue water, the whales, and of course - my polar plunge. By contrast, the day at Dorian was really heartbreaking, watching the baby Gentoos struggle in the unnatural freezing rain.