Drake Passage and New Island, Falklands

Crossing Drake Passage was not the extreme event for us that it might be for others.  Seabourn Quest uses highly sophisticated technology that tells the Captain when to wait due to bad conditions or when to hurry up along with the special build of the ship, we crossed Drake Passage with 10’ – 12’ swells.  Not too frightening except when you bounced off the hallway walls when trying to go somewhere. Many of our friends were experiencing seasickness from the rocking and pitching, but we were spared.  Margo put on a new patch for the crossing and did not get sick; Mark did not need a patch and was fortunate to not get sick.

Monday was a sea day with talks from some of the expedition team, and our noon time trivia. We are making a bit of a comeback (tied with 3 others for 2nd place) but the winning team is so far ahead I don’t think we can catch them. 

On Tuesday we awoke at New Island, Falklands.  New Island is located at the extreme west of the Falklands’ archipelago.  The highlight of this area is a large colony of Rockhopper penguins and black-rowed albatrosses on the cliffs.

The other night when we had dinner with Nic, the director of hotel (everything that isn’t engaged in actually sailing the ship) Margo asked, “what do we have to do to get a tour of the bridge?”  He responded that he would make that happen. Today was our day for the tour.  Very interesting, and of course Mark wanted to make certain the Captain knew what he was doing.  The Captain has been to Antarctica 150 times and is a qualified Ice Captain certified to operate a vessel in polar waters.  As you can see from the picture below, Mark was bestowing his counsel to the Captain.  It appears the Captain followed Mark’s advice because we safely landed in New Island.

We were at 65 degrees south in Antarctica and are now at 51 degrees.  (Remember, we are in the Southern Hemisphere headed north toward the equator.)  It is already 20 degrees warmer and the sunset was at 9:30 rather than 11pm in Antarctica. 

We anchored and Margo took the Zodiac ride to the island.  Because of the rough terrain and long distance of walking on the island to see the penguins and albatrosses, Mark wisely decided to give his knee a rest and stay on the ship.

The Zodiacs were greeted with a nice-looking wrecked ship and a number of albatrosses.  As you can see from the picture, it looks like we might be in the Caribbean with the beautiful green and deep blue water.

Upon getting off the Zodiac onto New Island, Margo walked half a mile to the other side of the island.  The first part of the walk was up a steady incline on a rugged path in high winds.  Anne and Robert, you would have really enjoyed this place because there were so many birds. 

Once she reached the other side of the island, she walked up to the rugged edge and saw the funny looking Rockhopper penguins and thousands of albatrosses. 

The hardest part of the walk was beside the cliffs where one had to walk in knee-high, thick grasses under which there were large rocks and clumps of grass.  It was challenging to walk in, and more than a few people fell down. It was a windy, challenging walk but it was so worth it!  You can see from her beautiful hairdo how strong the winds were.

She stayed up on the hill just watching the birds and nature until it was time to catch the Zodiac back.  On the walk back, she took some pictures of the vegetation to give you an idea of the island.

New Island was not a scheduled stop on our itinerary; it is a potential stop as the Captain adjusts course based on the weather across the Drake.  We left Antarctica a few hours earlier than we might have and sailed quickly across the Drake to get ahead of the weather. 

Everyone on the ship seems to be experiencing Antarctica withdrawal.  The cruise is wonderful, the stops are beautiful, but there is just something about leaving Antarctica.

Our friends from trivia, Ian & Tina and Deb & Paul from Australia and Bill & Connie from Florida, are talking about our reunion cruise.  We are looking at the Panama Canal in October 2020.  Until then, we are continuing our beautiful Antarctic cruise as we transition back to the other world.