Drake and Bransfied Strait

11 photos, 1 videos

Our first day aboard was a day at sea, crossing Drake's Passage.

Drake's can be notoriously rough seas. The cruise two weeks before for us had encountered waves reaching 40 feet!

Luckily, we got "Drake's Lake" - very calm seas. So on ship activities like a cooking class went as scheduled.

The ship is unique in that the bridge is open to passengers at all times (except during more difficult sailing.) Very appealing to the engineers (all 4 of us) and also able to hang out with the naturalists on the bridge keeping an eye out for things of interest, like the occasional whale.

Our first view of Antarctica was as we reached the Bransfied Strait. We saw our first islands, and also arctic ice.