Week 50: Drakes Passage & El Calafate

On the first day of week 50! Wow. That means only 2 weeks until we have been travelling for a year! The first day of week 50 was quite sad because we were leaving Antarctica and sailing into the Drakes Passage. It was the Drakes Shake. Definitely NOT the Drakes Lake. When walking on the ship it felt like there was a tidal wave that hit the ship. My point is that it was very rocky. The wind was travelling at 90 knots (that’s how strong the winds are in a hurricane)! It was so fun.

The next day was sadly our last full day on the ship. We were trying to savour the little time we had left. We ate all the food possible, there probably wasn’t enough for dinner. And we stayed up till 11:00 pm! At night time we had a disco on the seventh deck and watched a slide show that one of the crew members had put up. It was a bunch of fun. When we woke up we were very tired.

Then came darkness… Dun dun dun! We had to say goodbye 😔. We got off the ship and it felt like there were clouds in the sky and every one was so blue. There was absolutely no vibe on the way to the airport, just black. It really was a miserable day. We had to sit in squeaky chairs and listen to bad music that people had on with no head phones. The miseries were endless. And it keeps going. The plane was… ROCKY! This is what I mean people. Once you get off of a ship everything is sad and grey.

Anyway, we did something very fun the next day. We went walking on a glacier! But before we did that we went on a boat ride really close to it, walked around it, took a few photos of a waterfall and then went on the ice. We had to put on these crampons on our shoes so then we wouldn’t slip on the ice. The ice was super duper blue. It was a blue that I don’t think I have ever seen before (except for in Antarctica). You may be asking how does it get blue? Well I can answer that. When the sunlight hits the ice it absorbs the red and the blue bounces around. That makes our eyes see blue 🤯🔵. When we were on the ice it was cold and cool. We got to drink this really fresh water out of the little holes it has. It was even better than Fiji Water 😲! It was delicious.

Then after walking on the glacier we went to a view point to watch ice crash into the water and make a thunder-like sound. We waited; and waited; and waited then we heard this huge sound and our heads shot up like there was a double patty burger in front of us. It was huge. It was like it was in slow-mo. It started off small but as it went down it got bigger and bigger and crash it went into the water. It was incredible. Sadly we had to leave to our bus and go home. It was one amazing day.

The next day we went to a really nice lunch. I had a tiny bite of the lamb and I didn’t like it so dad had to eat at least 1/5 of a lamb! We also got a serving of chips, a vegetarian wrap and so much more food. We were very full. Then after that we went to an ice bar. An ice bar is a place made out of ice. NOTHING is not ice! It was so cool. But before we went in there we got dressed up in these warm yeti outfits. They came with a beanie, a blue jacket, and crampons. It was awesome. Then we went home had dinner and went to bed.

Fun facts

Why is it called the Drakes Passage?

Answer: Because a guy called Drake went across it and named it after him.

What is the strongest classification of winds?

Answer: Hurricane wind, that’s 60 knots and above! We went through those wind at 90 knots!

How far does the Perito Moreno Glacier move every day?

Answer: 2 metres! That’s about 700 metres per year!!! That’s also how far my school is away from home 😱.