The Drake Shake
If you happened to have skipped past my early post when we navigated from Ushuaia, Argentina to Antarctica through the Drake Passage then the context for this may not be easy to track. But, for those who did read through it, I won’t put you through it again here. For those who missed it, you can find it here.
Yes, we had the Drake Lake on the way to Antarctica, but the Captain warned us early this morning that we were likely to experience the Drake Shake on the journey home with swells of up to 4 meters (over 13 feet) and winds sustained at 45 mph. The worst of it would likely be between 5 PM and 5 AM.
Today we are making our way to The Falkland Islands through the infamous Drake Passage. I would like to share a few images and videos of the experiences of the day but this post will be brief as tomorrow’s experience was truly extraordinary with penguins up close and personal.
Today’s agenda at sea…
Argentinian Tango Private Dance Lesson
Silver Dinner Gala (our 2nd to the last dressy night of the cruise)
Enduring the Shake
First, I’m not providing much information on all the group and private Argentinian Tango lessons we’ve been taking, nor the Milanga’s we’ve been attending, as I am going to do an entire post just on this in case anyone wants to know. For now, I’ll just share that Trina and I love our experience with professional instructors Andrea and Victor that I feel have also become friends. Exceptional dancers, instructors, and even more importantly, just wonderful humans we really gravitated to during our experience aboard the Oosterdam.
We dressed up for the Silver Gala dinner while being fully prepared for the challenges of it. All day the swells, waves and winds have built, just as the Captain prepared us for. We decided to make a go of it. Let’s just say that walking to the main dining room made me look like I had a serious issue with vertigo combined with a dozen shots of tequila. Fortunately, we were all doing the same dance so I was strangely not standing out.
The first thing we noticed was that the dining room for the 5:30 PM seating (our seating time every night for this cruise) was eerily sparsely occupied. It’s always packed, full. Not tonight.
My lovely wife Trina making our dinner picture look good:
My favorite picture of the evening goes to mom and dad! I love that while mom initiated this, she didn’t give up and waited patiently for dad to join in the fun. Many smiles.
The dinner they served was lovely, a tenderloin of beef, with lobster, roasted vegetables and rice with a demi-glacé sauce.
Trina hung in there as long as she could but between the swinging drapes the the loud crashes of dishes and glasses beginning to permeate the dining room mid dinner, she did excuse herself to the stateroom to get lots of fresh air.
Mom and dad and I stayed but we did rush our dinner a bit towards the end as it become and unpleasant, loud and startling, symphony of crashing dishes everywhere. On the way to tables, in the kitchens, on the floor below us, and pretty much everywhere.
The Captain came on during dinner and stated that there would be no access to any outdoor spaces on the ship due to dangerous and deteriorating conditions outside. And, that this would be the case through the night as the low pressure was deepening and winds and swells increasing.
At the end of dinner I helped mom and dad to their stateroom as walking and staying upright was not a foregone mission of success.
Then I navigated the ship for a bit trying to get an angle of video to share that would show what the seas were like which is really challenging to capture in a way that can experienced for those following along here.
The video below I was able to shoot through a window just off the bow but was early so only about 9-10 foot waves/swells at this time. But, the mist perpetuated a vertical rainbow so I just stayed and captured it.
I decided to head to Lido deck to the pool to see what it looked like:
Next I found a lower window to try and catch some wave action and it’s not the prettiest location but gives you a bit of an idea. Still seeking something that shows the movement more:
I tried to get lower on the ship and the only decent view was in the bar and others are trying to capture it too. Since it’s closer to the water on the 2nd deck, it’s much easier to walk and manage movement vs our floor (7th deck) and Lido (9th deck):
It’s now a little after 7 PM so I head to the stateroom to check on Trina. At first I thought she locked me out. I couldn’t open the door. The steward came by and indicated it could be the wind pressure based on the noise inside. So I tried again, and it took a massive push to get it open and the moment I did the wind tunnel sucked any loose paper in our stateroom out through the door into the hallway. The steward helped me gather it up. And then I was in.
The wind tunnel was created because Trina had the door to the balcony propped open to keep the room cool and the wind helped her stay comfortable to avoid seasickness. Most people avoided dinner this night and never made it to the dining room we learned the next morning.
Trina heads to bed, with some medicine, and we leave the door propped open for the next three hours. I put on my Antarctica sock cap and sweatshirt and heavy wool socks and write on this journal for three hours until I shut the door. The whistling sound of the wind for every moment of those three hours you can enjoy for yourself, for up to four and half minutes if you like (from our balcony which I think I was not supposed to be on):
Trina is fast asleep so after I close the door to the balcony I make one more trek to lido deck, to the pool, deck 9… and I looked a bit like a bowling ball on an alley with gutter bumpers going down the hallway… we’ll just say, walls, and rails, are a good thing.
It was pretty quiet at the pool. 1,800 people on board and just me and an employee up here at Lido:
Our ship is not like others who navigate these waters that have seat belts for the beds in situations like this. But I’m confident we’re good for the night. We learn in the morning that seas capped at just over 5 meters overnight… about 16.5 feet swells and 60 mph winds for 6-7 hours.
It’s another one of those ‘Christmas Eve as a kid’ sort of nights for me. Tomorrow we arrive in the Falkland Islands. This ship, and ships like her, are not allowed in the port if winds exceed a certain level of knots. Fingers crossed in hopes that’s not the case as this is penguin heaven we’re hoping to adventure to tomorrow.
If I sleep, the morning will come quicker. And so, I sleep.
I did try to find a good and recent Drake Shake video for those interested. It is just a minute and twenty seconds but it was a ship of 80 women scientists who went to Antarctica in Jan of 2019 who were also returning home from Antarctica.
I love that they loved it so much! Good night!