The Drake Passage

The Drake Passage is the body of water between the Southern tip of South America at Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands.  It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean (Scotia Sea) with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and extends into the Southern Ocean.  The passage is named after Sir Francis Drake whose only remaining ship after passing through the Strait of Magellan was blown far south in 1578 and who inferred an open connection of the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.  There is no significant land anywhere around the world at the latitudes of the Drake Passage, which is important to the unimpeded flow of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current which carries a huge volume of water.  Sir Francis must have done it tough - it isn’t all that easy in a Silversea ship either!!!  

So, if yesterday was a challenge, last night and today have probably been worse!  The captain’s cocktail party was held in the theatre/lounge last night, and after some speeches all the ship’s crew were brought on stage to the tune of ‘when the Saints come marching in’ - as a group they swayed to and fro, back and forth, and I must admit I thought they might all go down like dominoes but they are all well seasoned and managed to get the dinner service done!  Such as it was!  At a table for six, we struggled to keep still, my chair almost threw me backwards even though the chairs are chained to the floor.  (They do have some flexibility). No-one ordered wine, my coke and water ended up on the tablecloth, and the cutlery took a nosedive to the floor!  Half the dining room was empty, not sure if room service would have been an option - maybe they just didn’t eat! 

After dinner Will, a guest, entertained us with sea-shanty songs, more like a sing-a-long.  Got back to the room, things everywhere, drawers open, stuff all over the floor, and later on staying on the mattress was interesting.  This morning has been just as bad, the ship is listing to starboard because of the very strong winds coming up from the south.  However, WE ARE NEARLY THERE - will be rounding Cape Horn around 4 pm and should be in Ushuaia at 8 pm.  The Captain has promised we can leave the ship to take a walk and hopefully there might be a saloon near the dock where we can have a drink without spilling it!  We disembark in the morning then make our way to the airport, with a 1 hour stop on the way to check out the shops.