Feb 14, Drake Passage

Day at sea so decided to sleep in a little later than normal. Seas are still rough which is to be expected as we are still in Drakes Passage and trying to out run the worst of the storms that are approaching. Bit of a heat wave today it’s going to reach 5 degrees, the sky is overcast but patches of blue still very windy.  Went to the mainstage for ask the captain, it was very informative he did a virtual bridge and engine room tour and explained how everything works, who is on the bridge at any given time and so many interesting facts. He explained that the whole time we sailed through the Chilean Fjords we had a Chilean pilot on board who is an expert in those waters, he then went on to say we had an ice pilot on board the whole time we were in Antarctica, he is from Alaska and has a vast amount of knowledge sailing not just in Alaska but also Antarctica and the Arctic. He also explained why the fog horn sounded so much on one particular day when visibility wasn’t so good, it’s a requirement that if they can’t see 2 miles they have to sound the fog horn, lucky for us it was only for about 40 minutes then the skies cleared up again. He said the swells are currently 5 meters but during the night they got to six meters and we had now managed to get ahead of the bad weather so the swells shouldn’t get any worse. The captain explained that the ship can stop in an emergency from its top speed of 21.5 knots in 3 and a half minutes which is quite impressive, he then spent about 20 minutes answering questions. Got a certificate today for Exploring Cape Horn and the Antarctic