Days 9 and 10: The Drake Revisited

So here we are back at the Drake Passage.  Many people had that worried look of anticipation, knowing the possible horrors the Drake had in store.  And although a number of people were once again confined to their cabins, I have to admit that we, happily, were not.  Perhaps it was the preventative Gravol we popped like Smarties, or perhaps it was because the passage was truly smooth and forgiving.  So then it became, what do we do with this extra time now that we have experienced the flora and fauna and stuffed our brains with as much information as we could?  Well, some time was still given over to sleep, some to watching movies in our cabins – particularly notable was March of the Penguins (if you haven’t already seen it – we did not see the Emperor penguins, they are further north, but an excellent film nonetheless );  and Werner Herzog’s documentary Encounters at the End of the Earth, which was a bit disappointing for me – I found it a bit disjointed and rambling – but it did give an excellent portrait of the kind of people who dedicate their lives to studying the wildlife of Antarctica, right down to microscopic organisms which give some clue as to the origin of life on this planet – pretty heady stuff .  The film showed these people to have unique outlooks on life, the planet, and us as humans.  Often poetic, perhaps even visionary, these people see life in its most basic ways – concepts such as hunger, freedom,  death, predation, rebirth – these are the things these people contemplate on a daily basis.  Makes routine life back in Toronto seem pretty, well, routine.  On the other hand, these people have been drawn to Antarctica for a variety of reasons – some are trying to find answers to lifelong scientific questions, some are fleeing a life elsewhere, and some found that they just didn’t fit into a mainstream society and found a community of likeminded misfits that suited them better.  In any case, their work and dedication is to be applauded.

In fact, the past two days, like the first two days of passing through the Drake, were filled with informative and interesting lectures from members of the expedition team: another group of people   dedicated to their work.  This is a group of incredibly knowledgeable and hard-working people who are not only happy to share their expertise with us, but are also incredibly passionate about their work and about Antarctica as a region worth preserving.  We listened intently to lectures on climate change, Antarctic land claims, and one which I found particularly intriguing because it gave a human face to life in this region, what brought a number of members of the expedition team to work in Antarctica and on this particular expedition.  Many of these people are scientists or at least naturalists,  and many have been down in this region working year round on isolated scientific data gathering stations all around the Continent.  It brought home to me the love and dedication these people have for their work, this continent, and for the planet in general, with Antarctica being one of the last and least explored areas of the planet. 

So in amongst the lectures, the naps, and the movies, we also found time for some fun games, one of which was a game where we had to match random facts about the expedition team to the team member the fact went with.  Most of the facts were matched with a person whose personality was least likely to go with that fact.  We also had a trivia night about information we learned while on the trip, as well as just playing some fun party games to pass the time. 

                                                                 Trivia in the lounge

So this is the last day on the ship.  And the day has unfolded pretty much the way the whole trip has: with a variety of weather patterns that turn on a dime.  A bright and sunny morning, followed by an overcast late morning with some snow , and finally a cloudy afternoon with sun breaking through the clouds.  Due to our speedy passage through the Drake, our captain treated us to a short voyage around Cape Horn, truly the southernmost tip of South America (pictured below).  The sun broke through the heavy low-lying clouds just long enough to brighten the green covering the mountainside of Cape Horn, a bright concluding omen to the relatively smooth passage our trip has taken.  And a variety of sea birds, white and grey and brown, petrels and albatrosses, with wing spans much longer than our arm spans,  swooped and circled around us as if to carry us into our final port.  And just to remind us, if not sadly, a couple playful dolphins bounded around the front of the ship as if to remind us that we have truly left Antarctica and were entering new yet familiar warmer waters.

                                                                   Cape Horn

Tonight will be the captain’s farewell dinner where I am sure we will toast his nautical skill at navigating a smooth voyage and we will reminisce about our favourite moments on the trip, a voyage that started a mere 10 days ago, but has been filled with such memorable experiences as to make it seem much, much longer.  Then we will dock in Ushuaia to continue the next leg of our journey home.

Until then....