Next Up -- The Drake Passage
Ushuaia was essentially our “jumping off” point to Antarctica. From there we began the trek truly southward, where we anticipated “The Drake Passage”. This is the area between Cape Horn, Chili (or Argentina, depending on your political leanings) and Antarctica where the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern oceans meet. It can make for some really rough waters.
So the question comes up about “how rough is the ‘Drake Shake’”? Turns out there is a scale against which to measure the roughness of seas called the Beaufort Scale, which the National Weather Service has adopted to eliminate just these types of arguments. It looks at wind and weather conditions and comes up with a number for the severity of the situation.
During the day, the sea was a little rough, but honestly nothing that we had not experienced on other ships before. On Thursday night, though, things did get a bit bumpy as we were into the depths of Drake’s Passage, and we were told that the ship experienced a 7 of the Beaufort Scale. https://www.weather.gov/mfl/beaufort
Traversing the Drake Passage lasted about 36 hours – again, nothing of particular concern. Nobody spilled a drink, nor did we even consider missing a meal. It was just an interesting experience. The crew shared that this size ship handles the Drake Passage with minimal disruption -- you know it is different but everyone is still able to go about their normal day.
So the question comes up about “how rough is the ‘Drake Shake’”? Turns out there is a scale against which to measure the roughness of seas called the Beaufort Scale, which the National Weather Service has adopted to eliminate just these types of arguments. It looks at wind and weather conditions and comes up with a number for the severity of the situation.
During the day, the sea was a little rough, but honestly nothing that we had not experienced on other ships before. On Thursday night, though, things did get a bit bumpy as we were into the depths of Drake’s Passage, and we were told that the ship experienced a 7 of the Beaufort Scale. https://www.weather.gov/mfl/beaufort
Traversing the Drake Passage lasted about 36 hours – again, nothing of particular concern. Nobody spilled a drink, nor did we even consider missing a meal. It was just an interesting experience. The crew shared that this size ship handles the Drake Passage with minimal disruption -- you know it is different but everyone is still able to go about their normal day.
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