Several harrowing videos of strong waves pounding cruise ships in Drake Passage as passengers look on have gone viral in recent months, serving as a reminder that high-priced Antarctic cruises, while impressive, take passengers through of possibly the most treacherous waters in the world. world.
In early December, a TikTok vlogger who calls herself “Natasha” shared a video of huge waves hitting her cruise ship as it sailed through Drake Passage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans at the southern tip of South America. The video was viewed more than 12 million times, The New York Post reported.
“Waves are crazy in Drake Passage”, another user named “Edmundo” Posted on TikTok in December to showcase a cruise ship facing rough seas: “Come to deck 6 of our ship.”
“It’s very common,” travel expert Lee Abbamonte, who has traveled to all 193 United Nations member states along with the North and South Pole, told Fox News Digital over rough seas in Drake Passage.
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The bow of the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov pushes through a wave in rough seas as it crosses Drake Passage.
(David Tipling/Universal Images Group via Getty Images/File)
“The season in Antarctica is very short, just a few months, and the Drake is known for its unpredictable waves,” Abbamonte said. “Some get lucky and make it to Drake Lake, others will probably stay horizontal for a few days. It’s Antarctica, not the Caribbean.”
In late November, a 62-year-old American passenger on a Viking cruise ship was killed when a rogue wave went through a window, sending broken glass into the air. Four other passengers suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
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Waves are seen crashing alongside the Viking Polaris cruise ship during its recent voyage through Drake Passage.
(Ann Clark Mah/File)
The Viking Polaris ship, which was heading to the Argentine city of Ushuaia on its way to Antarctica, suffered “limited damage” and returned to Buenos Aires after canceling the trip.
Massive currents colliding in the 620-mile-wide waterway result in layers of cold seawater from the south mixing with warmer seawater from the north, causing powerful eddies that are often exacerbated by storm surges. strong winds from storms, according to travel blog Expeditions to the entire ocean.
Blogger Candice Gaukel Andrews wrote of a trip through the passage in 2015, writing that she woke up one night to waves pounding against the ship “like she was riding a horse at a rodeo.”
“Not only were we bouncing up and down in large swells, but we were also spinning from side to side,” Andrews wrote. “I held on to the side of my bed with white knuckles to keep from falling. My roommate finally gave up trying to stay still, pushed her mattress to the floor, and fell on top of it. Everything that wasn’t bolted down: books, bottles, papers, pens, they flew across the room, as if we were experiencing zero gravity that had somehow been sped up.”
“Outside of the porthole, however, it looked more like a washing machine.”
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Waves crash on the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise in Drake Passage as it sails towards the Antarctic Peninsula on February 10, 2018.
(Reuters/Alexandre Meneghini/File)
The average water flow of the main stream that flows through the pass, the West-East Antarctic Circumpolar Current, spans more than 12,400 miles and is estimated to carry 135 million cubic meters of water, about 600 times the volume of the Amazon river.
The rough waters of Drake Passage, named after the English explorer Sir Francis Drake, who never actually traveled the canal but died near the site in 1578, are believed to have caused more than 800 shipwrecks.
It is generally believed that the best month to visit Antarctica is January, when the seas in the Drake Passage are usually calmer, but the waterway remains unpredictable regardless of the month.
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Despite the sometimes rough waters and waves that can reach up to 40 feet, Abbamonte says passengers are willing to shell out “more than $20-$30K” in some cases for the chance to visit the remote continent via a luxury cruise
“You can go out in zodiacs and see the ice up close,” Abbamonte said. “Some people jump into the water, and you’ll usually see a lot of penguins in their own habitat.”
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Abbamonte said that Antarctica cruises are “very safe as expedition cruises go” despite viral videos showing rough seas, and that travelers who prefer to avoid Drake Passage can fly to Antarctica, but those trips can be more expensive.
