Travelling to Antarctica Part II

Part II: Drake’s Passage

This was the part of the trip I was dreading.

Arriving on board the MV Ortellius had been great. I had bumped into someone in the Ushuaia Tourist Office who happened to be heading for the Ortellius too, so I embarked having already made a friend – and a good one too. We got on brilliantly and ended up spending most of the journey together as part of a group.

I handed over my boarding pass on arrival and was shown to my cabin: 341 on Deck 3. My cabin was a quad room, so 2 sets of bunk beds, 4 narrow lockers, a desk and chair, and a shower room/toilet were all snugly situated inside. The two bottom bunks had already been taken, so it was a top bunk for me.

The first afternoon and evening passed quickly. There were orientation meetings, people to meet, things to unpack. We had set sail at about 6pm and moving along the Beagle Channel was smooth and uneventful. But by the time I awoke the next morning, we were sailing across Drake’s Passage…

I felt ok when I woke up. Things were definitely a little rockier than the previous evening, but I had a sea sickness patch on, was wearing the wrist bands – so I got up to go to breakfast. I made it as far as the chair next to my bed before I had to sit down. The nausea hit me as soon as I was upright. I climbed back into the bed and lay still until the feeling passed. 

After a while, I figured that some fresh air might do the trick. I managed to get up and dressed, then stumbled up the 3 flights of stairs to get to the deck. I went outside for a little and the fresh air did help – but as soon as I sat down inside again, I felt an unstoppable wave of sickness. 

Fortunately, the handrails along every deck of the ship are lined with sickness bags for your convenience. I decided that lying down was the best course of action for the short-term future, so back to bed I went. I basically stayed there until the next morning. By then, the seas had calmed and everything felt a little more stable.

It helped a little that one of my cabin mates was similarly afflicted, so we wallowed in misery together. The other two ladies who were staying with us had no sea sickness at all. It seemed to be about 50/50 across the ship really. The afternoon lecture about Zodiac safety was postponed until the next day because so many people were ill. The crew, however, told us later that the Drake’s Passage had actually been pretty calm in comparison to many other crossings. I definitely count myself lucky that it was. I was seasick for just over 24 hours. I felt a little shaky on Day 2, but was absolutely fine by Day 3. I dread to think how I would have felt if Drake’s Passage had been any rougher!