Antarctica Blog: Twelve days in the freezer - Days 5-6, Sailing in the Drake Passage

Day 5: Wednesday 21st February - departure day

Today we departed for Antarctica. Our first stop is due to be Bellinghausen, one of the first research stations founded by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition in 1968.

However, recent 80 mile an hour blizzards have put this slightly into question. "Jumper", our Antarctic navigation expert, thinks we'll be able to land there, but it will be the captain's call when we get close enough to assess the situation.

The day began with checking out of hotel, doing some last minute shopping and receiving lectures on safety. The Drake Passage, the strip of water lying between us and Antarctica is known as the roughest sea in the world. 50 foot waves are not unusual in bad weather.

In this part of the world three minutes is the most time you have to live if you fall in the ocean. The three minute marker is a moot point though, since most people last much less, and the ship cannot be turned around in that time. With this thought uppermost in many minds we boarded our ship, the Panama registered "Ushuaia" in the late afternoon.


Under dull, overcast skies the gloomy light made good photography difficult. Gulls and sea petrels circled the ship as we pulled out of port and made our way towards the Drake Passage and the welcome of the open seas.

Day 6: Thursday 22nd February - the Drake Passage

The planet's toughest ocean has been kind to us so far. Our ship is not luxurious, a former US navy vessel dating from 1970; she is built for hardiness rather than comfort. Two to a cabin we settled in and waited for sea sickness that largely, never came. Twelve hours into the voyage the swells became a little rougher.

Tomorrow we'll arrive at Bellinghausen, close to the tip of the mountainous Antarctic Peninsula, a continuation of the Andes mountains of South America. Glaciers from the Peninsula flow into the Larsen ice shelf, which experienced unexpected break up in 2002 due to climate change.

Across the entire Antarctic, the ice sheet is, on average, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) thick. If all of this ice melted total sea levels would rise about 60 metres. This, however, is unlikely, since the bigger East Antarctic Ice Sheet is land-based, and according to at least one paper published in the journal Nature, is cooling while the Peninsula is warming rapidly.

Meanwhile the differing West Antarctic Ice Sheet covers western Antarctica. The sheet has been of recent concern because of the real, if small, possibility of its collapse.

If the sheet were to break down, ocean levels would rise by several metres in a relatively, geologically, short period of time, perhaps a matter of centuries. According to some theories it could be much quicker than this.

A challenge for the Peninsula in particular lies in its location. Lying north of the Antarctic Circle, temperatures are warmer and tourist numbers are increasing.

In 2004-5 some 28,000 tourists visited. By 2010 this number is expected to increase to more than 80,000. Scientists and environmentalists have been calling for a cap on tourism numbers to prevent damage to ecosystems and the environment.

But since tourism in the region is self-regulated by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, an organisation of which many visiting ships are not members, containing the growing numbers remains a significant challenge for the region. As a politically neutral continent, national authority is seen to end outside national bases on the continent. What happens when activities take place outside of these remains somewhat unclear.

For the next entry, click here: Days 7-8, King George Island

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