This trip of Drew's is turning out to be a real geography lesson for me. I didn't know that you could see the mountains of Chile from Argentina. Of course I knew that Chile was in South America and have looked at a map numerous times but the realisation that Chile hugs Argentina all the way down her left side has only cemented itself now that there's a real reason to study the map.
I also googled Drake Passage.....and my eyes grew as big as saucers when I read this!!
The Drake Passage is the stretch of water between the most southerly tip of South America and the most northerly tip of the Antarctic peninsula. It is the place where not only are there high and strong winds that blow most of the time, but where the "Circumpolar Current" is squeezed through its narrowest gap. This is a Westerly flowing current that flows around Antarctica powered by Antarctic winds. It flows at the rate of around 140 million cubic metres (tonnes) of water per second, or the equivalent of 5000 Amazon rivers.
The Drake Passage has been described as the roughest stretch of water in the world, it is what must be navigated when rounding Cape Horn and Tierra del Fuego. To reach the Antarctic peninsula it is necessary to traverse this stretch of water at right angles to the current flow.
http://www.coolantarctica.com/gallery/scenic/weather/Antarctica_weather3.htm
Holy crap. The roughest water Drew has been in is the surf at Nobby's!! I wonder how it's going! Someone in Canada must have known something was afoot - he got seasickness pills for Christmas!
It's going to take two days to sail across - TWO DAYS!! He will welcome 2012 on board the ship.
Here's a Wave Height weather map of Drake Passage for Saturday Dec 31 - that pink oval shape in the middle looks a bit ominous!!! If I'm reading the legend correctly that equates to 8-10m waves! Hang on tight Drewy!!
http://passageweather.com/
There'll be plenty more for me to learn about the southern continent before his trip is over.
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