Cruising from Ushuaia, Argentina, across the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula is no picnic. Some 40 small expedition ships make the crossing during the summer season (December - March), each carrying less than 100 passengers.
The Drake Passage is some of the world's roughest ocean, and the ships are small by legal requirement. That combination of small ships and rough seas makes for exciting sailing. The other DrC and I made the crossing and, looking out our cabin portholes sometimes saw, not sky or foam, but green water on the other side of the thick glass - our portholes were temporarily underwater.
So far this season there have been two nautical mishaps, the most recent a hulling of the
MV Polar Star four days ago,
here is a link to
CNN's story of the event. Two months ago another ship, the
MV Clelia II, was damaged by the extremely rough seas of the Drake Passage;
here is that
CNN story.
Most cruises are just pleasant interludes, the crossing to Antarctica is an adventure.
