Antarctica Day 3 - November 30 - Drake Passage

Last night we passed the Antarctic Convergence line where the cold waters of the southern ocean meet the (relatively) warm waters. We're still in the Drake Passage but the crazy rolling has thankfully stopped.

At 10 am the bridge announces a pod of four Humpback Whales feeding 50 metres from the port side of the boat. I rush out to join keen photographers yielding powerful zooms. I can barely believe what I see. These creatures are massive, 20 metres long. I can even see the barnacles on their tail flukes. They move at a pretty pace too - 10 to 15 knots. I join the other passengers running from port side to starboard trying to keep up. Afterwards the marine biologist tells us it's rare seeing whales linger for so long that close to the boat. Although we see a few more whales on the trip, they are fairly far off in the distance. At times I find it difficult to tell the difference between a whale blow or a wave. Shortly afterwards we spot some penguins porpoising but everyone is still reeling from the whales, including myself.

At 4pm we sight our first iceberg in the distance and at 7.30pm we're due to make our first landing, which is unscheduled, at Desolation Island. We layer up in thermals, waterproofs and rubber boots and line up on the gangway ready to jump into the zodiacs. In our briefing it looked easy, as if we literally step off the ramp into the boat. I'm in the first group of ten due to board and as the water laps on to the gang plank and the zodiac struggles to maintain an equilibrium I have that feeling you get when you´re just about to do something potentially stupid and your brain is wondering whether it might be better to back out before it's too late.

It takes 20 minutes to load ten people into the first zodiac due to the conditions. Ten minutes later the expedition leader aborts the landing for safety reasons and we all disembark a little disappointed.

(Photo - Humpback Whale)