There wasn’t much to do today except survive the “Drake Shake,” the nickname given to rough seas through the Drake Passage. The crew warned us yesterday about likely rough conditions and today they tied down anything loose around the ship, encouraging us to do the same in our staterooms. The captain said to expect 35-40 knots winds and 18-20 foot swells. We mostly stayed in our cabin sleeping, occasionally walking around the ship to get a better look at the rough seas.
No idea what why this crew member was scaling the ship during the Drake shake:
We felt fine overall; maybe we found our sea legs. Before dinner, we went to the Explorer’s lounge for a drink and then had light meal of – you guessed it – sushi.
Dinner overall was sparsely attended, with many apparently skipping dinner or eating in their staterooms. The captain made an announcement at about this time that seas had worsened further, with swells to 8 meters (~26 feet). As a result, he made the difficult call to forego our planned morning visit to Cape Horn and instead sail a more direct route to the smooth waters approaching Ushuaia.
More about the Drake Passage: it is considered one of the most treacherous voyages for ships to make, a powerful convergence of seas between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, with no resistance from any landmass. During one of our daily briefings, the crew reviewed another primary contributor to the typically rough seas -- ACC.
Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is a massive clockwise rotational current around the southern pole, moving at 2-4 knots. Because the Antarctic peninsula extends north towards Cape Hope at the tip of South America, it creates the narrowest passage of the ACC around Antarctica. The resulting funnel phenomenon accelerates the current at the same point as the waters are converging between the oceans. In addition, the Andes Mountain range whips low pressure systems off the tip of South America.
Cape Petrel often follow ships through the Drake Passage, using the updraft created by the ship to assist their flight. They are hardy birds, able to fly in rough conditions without us, but they enjoy following ships, nonetheless. We saw a few out the window, but most outdoor decks were closed due to rough conditions, preventing a better look.
Being a slow day, this is a good time to comment about the crew of the Viking Octantis. I’ve participated in intensive team-building programs over the years with Opel, Saturn and Disney, as well as the LeaderShape Institute. I’m really impressed with the Viking crew; they live the customer experience every day.
Disney has a phrase “it’s not my fault, but it is my problem” – every cast member is empowered to ensure that Disney guests have an enjoyable stay. It’s like that on Viking. Not everything went as planned, but the crew adjusted, adding programs when some activities had to be cancelled by weather or technical problems. The COVID protocol onboard was strict, but the crew made it easy to execute and we didn’t hear any complaints. Every meal had selections for every diet and taste imaginable. Crew members all knew us by first name after Day 1 (even though we couldn’t remember their names, and they were wearing nametags).
Our housekeeping staff went far beyond cleaning rooms – they are on the frontline of everything for their guests: outdoor gear, food, health concerns, directions. They gladly accept responsibility to follow-up on guest needs, interacting with Guest Services and Expedition Central as necessary. R-Jay and Ayu were our housekeeping team throughout our stay, remaining pleasant and attentive, even while working 12+ hour days through the rough Drake Passage.
Tomorrow – Ushuaia, where we will stay docked overnight before disembarking on Friday for our return flights home. We heard from Guest Services that there might be a bus tour of Ushuaia available on Friday morning.
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Wow, drake passage stories are very cool. Do you have any video of the 8m waves?? That's quite big.. How many people on the ship? guests + crew?
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delay -- just reviewing comments now. I took some videos of the waves, but they really didn't capture the scale. And our internet on the ship was slow & intermittent, so I gave up posting videos. There were 246 paid passengers on board (capacity of 378) and 250 crew. We also had an extra contingent of scientists and VIPs on board, since this was the maiden voyage. So about 550 on board overall.
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