The Drake Passage is notorious for being ‘the most dreaded bit of ocean’, but just how bad is it actually?
If Christmas was really that atrocious and you’re now planning on getting as far away from Santa in the North Pole as possible by planning a trip to Antarctica, then you’ll either have to shell out the cash for some very expensive flights or you could gamble with taking a trip to the southernmost continent by ship.
The question is, do you dare battle the Drake Passage between South America’s sourthern-most tip and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica?
Strong winds
Ernest Shackleton calls the Drake Passage ‘the most dreaded bit of ocean on the globe’ and one factor you’ll have to battle should you enter the Drake Passage is some intense winds.
Oceanographer Alexander Brearley, head of open oceans at the British Antarctic Survey told CNN Travel: “It’s the only place in the world where those winds can push all around the globe without hitting land – and land tends to dampen storms.
“In the middle of the Drake Passage the winds may have blown over thousands of kilometers to where you are. Kinetic energy is converted from wind into waves, and builds up storm waves.”
Shackleton adds U.S. Navy’s Sailing Directions for Antarctica says winds can reach ‘hurricane intensity’ and ‘with gust velocities sometimes attaining to 150 to 200 miles per hour’.
Following on from this, it’s not a massive surprise the waters can end up pretty choppy too.
Vastness and rough waters
Brearley explains a ‘funneling effect’ happens in the Drake Passage given water is being ‘squeezed’ through the Antarctic and the southern hemisphere.
Not only is the water ‘turbulent at the surface’ – a video of a ship traveling through the passage giving a queasily good insight into this – but the turbulence is also there ‘all the way through the water column,’ Brearley says.
While he notes he doesn’t think he’s ‘ever been really fearful’ of the turbulence during his travels on the passage, it ‘can be very unpleasant in terms of how rough it is’.
And the history of other ships’ journeys – or should I say attempted journeys – through the passage don’t do much to ease fears either.
Ghostly history of sunken ships
It’s reported a whopping 800 ships have sunk in the Drake Passage, with deaths dating to as recently as 2022.
It’s no surprise that extreme caution is subsequently exercised by those traveling through the passage.
One of three captains of polar vessel adventure cruise company Ponant, Captain Stanislas Devorsine reflects: “We have to choose the best time to cross the Drake. We have to adapt our course — sometimes we don’t head in our final direction, we alter the course to have a better angle with the waves. We might slow down to leave a low pressure path ahead, or speed up to pass one before it arrives.”
He resolves: “We are extremely cautious – the ocean is stronger than us. We’re not able to go in terrible weather. We go in rough seas but always with a big safety margin. We’re not gambling.”
