This morning we completed our transit on the high seas of the legendary Drake Passage and approached Cape Horn at the tip of South America. We enjoyed the company of dolphins and seabirds, impressed by how truly comfortable they are in their element, as we entered the Beagle Channel. We are returning from one of the wildest of all places on Earth, having met many of its challenges. We have immersed ourselves in Antarctica – the dramatic landscapes, the snow and ice, the penguins, and the sea itself. For many, it was the final continent, and certainly a trip of a lifetime with Lindblad/National Geographic.
12/22/2024
Read
National Geographic Resolution
Drake Passage
There’s nothing quite like a wake to the “Drake Lake.” Bright skies, calm seas, and refreshing winds welcomed us to our journey’s jolly jaunt into the fabled gateway to the Antarctic. As National Geographic Resolution’s surroundings streamed past in crisp, high-seas definition, we used our sea day to prepare for tomorrow’s first landings beyond the Antarctic Convergence: Zodiac briefings, decontamination parties, and presentations galore filled our memory banks as we enjoyed this gift of a crossing from the sea gods. Plentiful seabirds joined the procession. Great albatrosses followed closely astern as Antarctic prions and Cape petrels zoomed about in our slipstream, all phylogenetic and ecological neighbors to yesterday’s Magellanic penguins spotted in the Beagle Channel, just before two sei whales pushed back bedtime by a whale of a margin. “Blows, big blows up ahead!” came the call from the Bridge, when, in the midafternoon, we came upon a group of lazy fin whales, casually cruising by as the second largest organisms to have ever lived on Earth. With our souls full from this small appetizer of the richness of the world to the south, Captain Martin welcomed us all to the adventures ahead. Tomorrow, the South Shetlands—onward!
