Drake Passage
At sea,
somewhere between the South Shetland Islands and Cape Horn, rolling gently on
the regular swell of the Southern Ocean. With no landmasses to impede the
low-pressure systems to circle Antarctica whenever they please, the westerly
winds can reach formidable speeds and the seas turn very rough. That’s why Rounding
the Cape became legendary in the old times. For sailors it was a kind of coming
to age, a rite of passage to gain automatic respect from any other sailor. It
is said that those who made it were allowed to pierce their ear with a golden
ring, to put their feet on the table after dinner or to spit against the wind.
After all, these waters were named after a pirate. Today, though, the infamous
rough seas of the Drake were on holiday...
After the
last three exciting days at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and
with long intercontinental flights on everyone’s mind, it’s good to have a
pause, to cool down for a couple of days and calmly revive all the
unforgettable experiences lived in Antarctica. In a sense, this is an
unavoidable process. You have to adapt yourself to the wishes of the Seventh
Continent before reaching the Ice; you have to accept the rule of natural laws
that are so easily forgotten at home; and on the way back, you have to re-adjust
yourself again to cope with the modern world. Such is the power of Antarctica
than even if the Drake Passage did not exist, something like it should be
created to have the time needed to reset your brain. Given the opportunity,
though, we might ask for an open passage with not much swell. After all, the
pirates are long gone…
At sea,
somewhere between the South Shetland Islands and Cape Horn, rolling gently on
the regular swell of the Southern Ocean. With no landmasses to impede the
low-pressure systems to circle Antarctica whenever they please, the westerly
winds can reach formidable speeds and the seas turn very rough. That’s why Rounding
the Cape became legendary in the old times. For sailors it was a kind of coming
to age, a rite of passage to gain automatic respect from any other sailor. It
is said that those who made it were allowed to pierce their ear with a golden
ring, to put their feet on the table after dinner or to spit against the wind.
After all, these waters were named after a pirate. Today, though, the infamous
rough seas of the Drake were on holiday... 
After the
last three exciting days at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and
with long intercontinental flights on everyone’s mind, it’s good to have a
pause, to cool down for a couple of days and calmly revive all the
unforgettable experiences lived in Antarctica. In a sense, this is an
unavoidable process. You have to adapt yourself to the wishes of the Seventh
Continent before reaching the Ice; you have to accept the rule of natural laws
that are so easily forgotten at home; and on the way back, you have to re-adjust
yourself again to cope with the modern world. Such is the power of Antarctica
than even if the Drake Passage did not exist, something like it should be
created to have the time needed to reset your brain. Given the opportunity,
though, we might ask for an open passage with not much swell. After all, the
pirates are long gone…
