In our plans we always thought to get here after an epic journey on the bike with dirt roads, strong winds, rain and cold and finally take a picture at the town sign next to the bike.
Instead we got to our B & B on a 10 minutes drive on a taxi from the airport to the city centre.
We arrive on the 9th of December in a sunny evening.
The following day however we wake up with a dark sky and rain.
In 5 months of travelling this is probably the only cold and rainy day we got.....we can’t really complain!
We hire some water proof trousers and gloves and head to the port where the Ushuaia, the boat that will take us on a 10 days journey to Antarctica, is waiting for us.
The wind is so strong that we can barely stand still while we are waiting to board the ship.
In our mind we know that the next 48 hrs will be seriously tough.
The Drake passage, the 1000 kms of sea that divides South America from the Antarctic peninsula has been dreaded by all sailors over the centuries.
When the sea is rough there are waves as high as 15 meters and gusts of wind travelling at 50 knots.
As we check in the crew tells us that we expect “medium” conditions.
We don’t know exactly what they mean with medium but the signs on the boat are not exactly reassuring.
There are emergency bags everywhere and in our room one of the handles in the bathroom door is missing. We are told that during the previous journey the boat was shaking so much that the door slammed against the wall and the handle broke.
The boat leaves on time at 6pm and we begin our cruise through the beagle channel.
The first 6 hrs will be fine as we are still sailing in the Beagle channel.
The crew take advantage of this “calm” to brief us on the emergency procedures. We even do a full on exercise on how to abandon ship!!!
Only 2 years ago a similar trip ended up with the boat sinking in the Antarctic sea after hitting an iceberg. Luckily all people on board were rescued.
During dinner we begin to meet the other 84 passengers that will be our companions for the next 10 days.
The majority of the people on board are Europeans, North Americans and Chinese.
In particular we jell immediately with a Dutch couple and an Austrian couples.
At midnight exactly we get to open sea.
We pop our sea sickness pills and run for cover
We spend the following 48 hrs in bed unable to move or in actual fact rolling from one side of the bed to the other following the movements of the ship.
Sometimes the boat leans so heavily on one side that we find ourselves squashed against the wall or against the ever so useful metal bar that prevents us from falling out of bed.
It is impossible to stand and yet after 24 hrs we force ourselves to leave the cabin in search of food.
It is literally a 2 minutes incursion in the almost empty restaurant to grab some bread, water and green apples.
Our heads are exploding, we are shivering and sweating. I even hear someone saying that I look extremely green! Then we rush back to our bed in what looks like a ghost boat.
Almost everybody is locked in their cabin feeling sick. All bags have disappeared from the corridors.
Finally, after 48 hrs in hell we hear the announcement we were waiting for: Land!
We have reached the Shetland Islands where the boat can finally anchor and our heads and stomachs can find peace.
The 84 passengers come out from their rooms in search of food and comfort.
Our Antarctic exploration can finally begin and we can proudly say “yes, we have survived the Drake passage”.
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