The Drake Passage & Beagle Channel

“In memories we were rich. We had pierced the veneer of outside things. We had suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole. We had seen God in his splendor, heard the text that nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man...”
- Sir Ernest Shackleton

Our final day aboard the expedition ship National Geographic Endeavour - it has been an incredible ride.

In looking back over the voyage, one barely knows where to begin, when did we first fall in love with Antarctica, and then continue to do so over and over as we discovered something new? Was it the first time we heard the raucous calls of the chinstrap penguin? Again when we first saw all the different sizes, shapes and colors of ice, realizing each piece is as unique as a cloud? Yet again when we had that first special interaction with an animal that has no reason to fear us? Whether we have taken 1 or 100,000 pictures this voyage, our experiences are forever embedded in our minds, and the tough part lies ahead, trying to convey the feeling to our friends and family back home.

For the last two days we have been sailing North through the Drake Passage, with the continent of Antarctica falling further and further behind. Finally we have been able to finish downloading our pictures (but not necessarily organizing them), while our naturalists continue to fill our minds with information – Steve talks about climate change; Michael gives us an inside look at Alaska; and of course don’t forget the rowdy game of Jeopardy, testing the knowledge you have accumulated throughout the voyage!

We are surrounded by a host of birds, following us as we near the coast of South America. They play on the wind currents, running with the waves, their wings nearly touching the surface of the water, before completing an impressive loop-d-loop, radically switching direction. Black-Browed albatross are the most numerous, but pintado and giant petrels, also swirl around the ship. Giant Petrels come in many morphs, from dark brown to almost all white. Today we were fortunate enough to be visited by the latter, as the white petrel is notoriously a good omen in sea lore.

As the islands off the tip of South America come into view, we know soon we will be in the shelter of the Beagle Channel. Our landscape suddenly changes. Having spent the last week in a world that is largely black and white, the green hills of Tierra del Fuego are an assault on our eyes. Sailing further into the channel, small houses of red, yellow, and blue dot the shoreline, until we arrive in the “big city at the end of the world” - Ushuaia, with its electric lights, and bustling sidewalks.

Tomorrow we begin our journey home to all the corners of the world, and with us we take the last wilderness, Antarctica, home in our hearts and mind.