22nd – Crossing the Drake – again

Last night was spent in the bar and with the increased rolling of the ship it gave view to some quite interesting and impressive dance moves. One of our guides is very energetic and kept running/dancing/jumping around – so much that it was more fun looking at the expedition leader who was standing at the bar and his reactions; changing between looking absolutely baffled and facepalming hard trying to hold back laughter. Another guide gave a near perfect lip sync with precise dance moves to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Nothing I had expected to see from a large German with the same name as one of the biggest warships from WW2. It was amazing.

Breakfast was had as planned at 0800 and afterwards there were two presentations; geology of the Scotia Sea and the Amundson/Scott race to the South Pole. We are going back to Ushuaia crossing the Drake and nothing really to do (unless whales – or orcas! – appear near the ship) so it’s all about just killing time from now on until arrival.

The conditions got gradually worse during last night but according to the crew it reached its highest at around 0300 and from then on slowly getting better. And it does feel better than last night and getting close to how it was going when we were going south. Very manageable still, but there are a few people not showing up for the meals.

After lunch we watched the movie Happy Feet which according to the guides the main reason we are on this trip. We were also presented with a small concert by the ship’s musician in the lounge. Things could be a lot worse than this.

During the afternoon visibility dropped to 50m or less. It didn’t get much better during or after dinner where we watched The Big Year – a movie where birding is the main plot point.

Sea conditions have gotten even better and is expected to stay like this until we reach Ushuaia. As we are doing very well on time (speed is app. 14 knots) the captain offered to take us by Cape Horn on the way. There were no complaints, on the contrary. Expected arrival around 0700 tomorrow and discrete wakeup call maybe 15 minutes before.