Expedition Guide: The Drake Passage

If ever there was a portend of rough seas ahead in Antarctica’s infamous Drake’s Passage, it’s coming out of your cabin to discover the strategic placement by stewards along the corridor handrails of paper sickbags. If your ship is beginning to pitch and roll, two outcomes appear available at this juncture. Firstly, for those who haven’t taken anti-seasickness medication, an abrupt return to the cabin may be required to pray for Poseidon’s mercy. For those medicated or possessing stronger sea legs, it’s time to embrace Drake’s wildness and avoid spilling your soup at dinner. Yet conditions down Drake’s Passage are notoriously fickle. I sailed it once in a seven-metre swell, so bad I couldn’t stand upright enough to put my trousers on in the morning. Alternatively, I’ve experienced a ‘Drake Lake’ when the passage is calm and sunny. Then, Drake becomes one of the most magical sea voyages on Earth with the thrilling prospect of the Antarctica Peninsula due south.