Christina’s Journey Journal

Tag: Drake Passage

  • Reels from Social Media about our Antarctica adventures 🇦🇶

    Here are the social media stories about our adventures. You need an Instagram account to see those on that platform but you should be able to see the Facebook ones without having Facebook. 🤷‍♀️

    When we first got to Antarctica, it was indeed a Beautiful Day (U2): https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cm2T_h2ptJPrjXbpe-5oKmnYq0WuvDZIvAkL_Y0/?igshid=ZmMyNmFmZTc=

    Expedition has begun and as Louis Armstrong says What a Wonderful World: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cm63bnjvqINLV83f0wyR8QHL9guNzFIreRCwZ00/?igshid=ZmMyNmFmZTc=

    Penguins and snow in Palaver Point, Two Hummock Island. Don’t Worry, Be Happy (Bobby McFerrin) was the theme of this day! https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnC0kFYNzrCEK4o_Q0bFsXoaimM_fZUG9Or8Ig0/?igshid=ZmMyNmFmZTc= OR on Facebook without music: https://www.facebook.com/reel/5671650036287982?mibextid=wa05Vy&fs=e&s=9RfQYY

    Baby Chinstrap Penguins at the rookery on Two Hummock Island. Isn’t She Lovely? (Stevie Wonder) https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnN32yMLb5sJERzS97KAjXpWFyTsQKGmgIWj_M0/?igshid=ZmMyNmFmZTc=

    Dreams (The Cranberries) for sure on Danco Island, Antarctica during our camping experience—sleeping (on the snow/ice) with a colony of Gentoo penguins while the Humpback whales sang in the bay: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnYKJinuQZyNoUZZNEVcbvkOocYIrigGCjusGo0/?igshid=ZmMyNmFmZTc= OR this one from Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reel/3724972331062866?mibextid=wa05Vy&fs=e&s=9RfQYY

    SUPing in the Southern Ocean (Stand Up Paddleboarding) on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reel/691724379123605?mibextid=wa05Vy&fs=e&s=9RfQYY OR this one from Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnAIepHKuUXvKy8aRaFfL5qgEgXMm0HmRQssQs0/?igshid=ZmMyNmFmZTc=

    Porpoising penguins of Antarctic! on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cn0ewOBDj6mFQpzNa5Su3uKbFPaOSqHCHtoN9s0/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

  • Happy New Year’s Eve!🇦🇶🎊

    Full day today as we approach the 7th continent. I posted our agenda below. The waters have calmed down considerable but I am now using the patch as well. I feel renewed!

    We finished the Helicopter safety briefing this morn. Our ship has two Airbus H145. We also entered the “who can spot the first iceberg” contest. I have heard different things but we should see one of islands off the Antarctica coast between 3:00-5:00 pm. For reference it’s 9:07 am in STL and 12:07 pm in The Drake Passage.

    Laura and I are sipping coffee/hot cocoa from the 7th deck in the panoramic lounge. It’s time to look for some whales. We’re ready!

    From the bow of the ship—ahoy mateys!
    Our daily agenda onboard Ultramarine💛

  • 12/30: They call it the Drake Shake 🌊🇦🇶

    We have been in the Drake Passage for over 24 hours. About another day to go. I was doing fine and now I am laying down due to the motion. Seems that while the Dramamine helps, it doesn’t help 100%. Let’s just hope it starts to calm down soon. While we haven’t experienced the 7 meter swells like we did the other evening, it’s a lot of constant rocking. 🌊

    Shout out to Hayley Arceneaux and Dr. Sian Proctor who spoke tonight about their experiences as astronauts on SpaceX’s Inspiration4 Mission last September. Not only are they two talented women who are “firsts” in many ways (Sian-first black woman to pilot a spacecraft; Hayley-first person in space with a prosthetic leg bone after surviving childhood bone cancer), they are also generously paving the way for others to follow!❤️ Did you know that this SpaceX mission raised $250M for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital? If you get a chance, watch the documentary on Netflix – Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space️. It’s super cool that Quark Expeditions advocates for sustainability as well as diversity, equity and inclusion in their programming.

    Laura, Me, Sian, and Hayley in Ushuaia before boarding our ship 🛳️ 🚀

  • Take 2! 🇦🇷 💨

    All ship announcement: In 10 minutes (on 12/29) we are going for it! The captain will take us about 5 hours south to Cape Horn. Once we’re there he will reassess if we keep going on through to the Drake or turn around once again. Fingers (and toes) crossed! If anyone wants to follow the ship, go to www.cruisehive.com and put in our ship, The Ultramarine.

    I circled where we have been hanging out all day. It will take us 5 hours to get to the tip of Cape Horn and out to open water.
  • The weather 🌊🌩️🌊

    The weather 🌊🌩️🌊

    We’ve been cruising along the Beagle Channel since the captain made the decision not to cross the Drake at 3:00 am ish. While it’s been relatively calm, the waves are even a bit more rough here in the channel.

    I want you to see what we’re dealing with here. This is a pic of a weather map. The black line represents where we are in Ushuaia, on the southern tip of South America. Then we cross the Drake Passage where we will be in Antartica. The blue color is what we want—nice calm seas with no storms. Green is next in order of preference and then yellow, orange and red. Red truly does mean “STOP” (and turn back). The black circle represents the eye of the storm.

    Update—we just heard that we will try again at 4:00 am to start through the Drake. We found out that we only made it 11 nautical miles through the Drake before we had to turn around.

    The red puts the shake in the Drake

  • Short posts upload better…

    You will see much shorter posts from me. The free wifi isn’t that great and I don’t want to pay $50 A DAY for premium wifi.

    Hopefully you saw my update to the 12/28 post. If not, here it is again with some additional details—

    Holy moly—last night we were rocking. Up to 7 meter waves. And the Dramamine did the trick! This was in the Beagle Sound. We started in the Drake Passage but had to turn back so we remain in the Beagle Sound until the storm recedes and we can make it through. 4-5 ships are sheltering here now. The sound of the waves—the creaking! Comforting but yet frightening. Laura was talking to our head Expedition Leader, Ali, and we were planning to head into the Drake last night even with 7 meter swells but there was a ship coming out that told us to stop—the swells were up to 12 meters. That’s almost 40 feet!