Day 40 - Sailing the Drake Passage

Our passage across the Drake Passage so far has been mild, it’s just a bit after 8:00 AM as I write this, and we still have about 36 hours to go. I’m hoping that this is our norm for the entire voyage.

Today is day 40, and I’m ready to go home. I miss my dogs, my favorite reading chair and the possibilities of beautiful sunrises and sunsets from my own windows. Not to mention family and friends. I still believe that the perfect length for a trip is the length that you plan. If it’s a weekend, it’s grand! If it’s a week, it’s perfect! If it’s a year, it’s spectacular!

I expected this cruise to be educational, and it was. Many interesting lectures and even more great one-on-one conversations with crew members who are very well educated and willing to share their knowledge.

I learned that I can travel my myself on a cruise and be very happy. I am able to reach out and meet new people and enjoy the conversations. I also learned that I am still terrible at small talk! That has been the most exhausting part of the cruise, the patter between people that is mostly mindless. I’ve also learned to recognize the looks that I get when I delve too deeply into any subject, when chit chat is required. Here’s an example: it’s appropriate to ask where someone is from. Also appropriate to ask (in this environment) where else people have travelled. However, much too personal to ask, “What was your favorite place to visit and why?” Or “What do you like about living in xxxxx?” It seems that only the very superficial is appropriate.

OK, that’s probably not entirely true, but I have found that those questions usually inspire an uncomfortable look and a redirection of the conversation. How is it possible that at this late date in my life, I’ve not mastered the art of casual conversation!!

In my travels, when I get to the far edge of the journey, I almost always want to know what’s just beyond where I must end. Antarctica is the same, but more so. It’s hard to express how shockingly large it is, and how very little we covered! It is 1.5 times the size of the US and we covered only a small part of the Antarctic Peninsula which is a bit larger than California. In other words, it’s like we visited an area just a bit bigger than the Redwood Forest of the US. I’d love to see more!

I’m so glad that I went early in the season as the scenery was spectacular, but, next time I’d go late in the season when the opportunity to see wildlife is greater.

Today we have birds with us all day – the Northern Giant Petrel and the Cape Petrel – the nickname for the Cape Petrel is “Pintado Petrel”, or painted petrel, because then they’re flying the backs of their wings are black and white, almost like a piano keyboard. They’re very distinctive, and VERY fast – hard to get a picture!

I took a couple of photos of the World Café this morning – they had a whole table of Croissants for breakfast, and they always have wonderfully fresh made bread each day. It’s hard to resist!

Last but not least, here are some photos from previous days that were taken by the crew.