We’re now steaming away from Antarctica. I use that term intentionally. We are in a motor ship and not a steamer but motoring sounds like we are in a car. Using the earlier term, sail, does not make sense to me in this context. Steaming away seems right. And we are steaming through a very benign Drake Passage. This is one of the stormiest and roughest passages of water on this planet. It is the only place where there is no continent to block a circumpolar weather system. Often wind just screams through here and the waves have a very long fetch, in other words they can grow very big. We are traveling through 3-meter (10 foot) seas and the ship is very stable.
We were in Antarctica 5 years ago with sunny skies. The colors were stark. This time it was overcast and cloudy. That was good for bringing out the blues of the ice, and the greens and reds of the algae. But it was also was moody and brooding. In other posts you can see the colors that the dull skies bring out. In this post I am playing a little, trying to strike a mood.
If you want to see pictures of Antarctica in sunnier times you can check my cruise blog from the 2015 Grand South America and Antarctica Voyage on the Prinsendam. Click here for the first Antarctic post and then progress to the next one.
very beautiful photographs