I have stepped foot on the White Continent.
After spending some time fishing, and hiking around southern Chile, I traveled to Zapala, Argentina. Upon arriving in Zapala, I found myself feeling like the character from that twilight zone episode called Last Man on Earth. It was a sleepy, dusty desert town that felt uninhabited because of the siesta culture. I roamed the streets trying to find food and a hotel for the night only to find myself in frustration asking "where is everybody??" It was almost as if I had stepped back in time to the American old west. Tumbleweeds passed me on the streets, and chain linked fences creaked in the distance. If a car drove past, it would slow to stare at me, and continue on. Finally I found a hotel with a receptionist, only to learn it was the oldest hotel in the town being built in the late 19th century. It felt like it too.
From Zapala, I continued south by bus to Bariloche. Bariloche was supposedly where some theorists claim Hitler had fled to live out the rest of his days after World War 2. I could see why the Germans chose this place as it felt like it very well could have been Germany. Tall snowcapped Mountains in the background. A large lake, and surrounding forests. Much of the archictecture was German design. From Bariloche, I again jumped on a bus to Rio Gallegos. From Rio Gallegos to Ushuaia. Somewhere in the ride, someone with sticky fingers got in my shoulder bag and made off with my ipad and about 2000 Argentine Pesos.
It was quite a long journey to get to Ushuaia. "Ushuaia, where the earth ends and the winds whip", as they say. And boy does the wind whip. Ushuaia is the most expensive city in all of Argentina. I wouldn't recommend staying for longer than you have to. Hotels are ridiculously expensive. Restaurants drastically inflate their food and drink prices to take advantage of tourists. The cheapest hotel I could find put me on the outskirt of the city with a 45 minute walk to downtown. Being the relatively stingy backpacker that I am, I decided to walk both ways instead of calling a cab. Backpacking around South America I had never had a problem with street dogs. But in Ushuaia, the street dogs were vicious. I was chased down and almost bitten a few times as I stumbled my way back to my room from downtown. Walking to town and back felt like walking through a lion's den having to be alert and on edge for the dogs. There is something in the kibbles in this town. During my time in South America so far, very rarely to I see or hear tourists from the United States. But Ushuaia was crawling with them. All of whom dressed identically to one another as if they were setting off on some great and harrowing archeological expedition. This also meant that a lot of the locals were halfway decent in English which was a nice change.
I didn't come all this way just for nothing. I was going to Antarctica. One night in my little apartment, I was contemplating what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. After researching maritime careers, I came across a web page for a sailing ship that travels to Antarctica four times a year. Not only do you travel to Antarctica on this ship, but you are actually classified as crew and help sail and steer it as well. It was a hands on adventure. Instantly, I knew I had to do this trip at least once in my life. Going to Antarctica had always been a childhood dream of mine. Ernest Shackleton was and still is one of my heroes. I did a biography on the man even when I was only in the 8th grade I believe it was. Here I was exactly one hundred years after he and his men were stranded on the Endurance. Of course a trip like this came with a price. I took some drinks, and said fuck it. I sacrificed and slaved away a good portion of my twenties that I'll never get back. I wanted to live and see the white continent. So, I booked my trip. I could also learn if I could handle life on board a ship and see if it would be a good fit for me.
The Europa was built in 1911 and is registered out of the Netherlands. The Europa was originally a German lighthouse ship. It was purchased by Dutch investors and transformed into a three masted tall ship in the 90's. The crew is predominantly Dutch themselves. When I was in Ushuaia, I was so excited I could barely sleep at nights. I've always loved ships, and here I was going to learn how to crew one along with going to a place that not many people can say they have traveled to.
The other cruise ships that leave from Ushuaia or Chile are big expedition type ships complete with waiters, swimming pools and massage centers full of retirees. Fuck that. The cruises normally only go for two weeks at a time, and from what I saw and heard barely ever let you leave the ship to go ashore. The Europa goes out for an entire month. You make about twenty two different Zodiac landings along the Antarctic peninsula and the South Shetland Islands. You definitely get your monies worth. But, I can say that the Europa trip is definitely no pleasure cruise. Fatigue, hunger, wetness, and soreness were included in the package.
Now the Europa is classified as a training ship. So, even though you are a paying passenger, you are also legally part of the crew on the ship. In the end we each received a certificate stating how many nautical miles we sailed, and what our responsibilities were onboard. You are classified as voyage crew. Even though you are crew, your help is optional. When time came to set sail, we went through safety briefings, man over board drills and familiarization of the ship. The morning of our departure, we had favorable winds in the Beagle Channel and the captain ordered all sails to be set. It was madness.
With a voyage crew of about fifty, I believe it was, we were under command and supervision of the deckhands. At this point, none of us knew what we were doing. We were taking orders from the deckhands, and pulling on ropes. None of us knew what these ropes did, or why we were pulling on them. But it all worked. The sails were set. A three mast tall ship under full sail is truly a spectacular sight to see. Beautiful. The sails had to constantly be adjusted for the changes in wind to get us out of the Beagle Channel. After eight hours under sail, we said goodbye to our pilot. We were now entering the Drake Passage.
The Drake Passage. The name even sounds fierce. Sir Francis Drake was a fierce man, so the name is appropriate I think. I had read about the difficulties of the Drake Passage in books before. Even Shackleton himself referred to the Drake Passage as a not a pleasant experience. Winds are strong, with a mixing of currents from the Pacific and Atlantic so you're likely to encounter difficult swells. And in a hundred year old sailing ship that's 184 feet in length I was curious to see how this would be.
I was disappointed. Did that make me a fool? Our crossing across the Drake to our first destination was not what I had envisioned. I wanted action. The waves were big, and things were being tossed around but not that exciting. Even the crew said that it was calm for the Drake Passage. On our way back however, that crossing was the real Drake Passage.
Voyage crew passengers were split into three different watches. The red, white and blue watches. The colors of the Dutch flag. Each watch was four hours in length. On your watch, you take turns with others standing lookout at the bow, or manning the helm and keeping the ship on course. If you weren't doing either of those, you were waiting in the deckhouse, talking with your shipmates waiting to be told to pull on ropes by the deckhands if they needed you. During the day, the ship also served as somewhat of a sailing school. Classes were given by the deckhands on the fundamentals of sailing. Lessons were given so we could literally "learn the ropes" to know which sails they were for and what purposes they had. We learned and were certified to climb the masts so we could assist the deckhands with setting and furling the sails. And let me tell you, climbing masts as the ship rocks from side to side and you're being thrown around in the wind is pretty frightening at first. As your climb ladders, one slip and a loss of a grip will have you over the side. It's a good test of courage, but was absolutely exhilarating. Once you're off the ladder, you are hooked in with a carabiner but that doesn't inspire much confidence. It's amazing to think about how this was how men of antiquity conquered the world. In sailing ships much more crude and smaller, but with primitive navigation devices is crazy to think about. That took serious faith, courage, and desire for glory to sail off from home in search of new lands when for all you knew you could have sailed off the end of the earth.
Lessons were given on traditional navigation like dead reckoning. Which is a good name for it if you find yourself off course. We learned how to use a sextant and along with DR to plot the course of the ship and match it to the ship's GPS. Most of us failed miserably. That takes some serious practice. After enough classes, understanding the different sails and how the shipped worked all began to come together. In the evening, classes were given by the ships two naturalists on Antarctic wildlife, whaling history, history of Antarctic exploration, and scientific research being done. There was never a shortage of things to do.
Many people were seasick. There were some voyage crew, mostly women, who used their sickness as a mere excuse to not participate in the watch system. But yet, they would be seen at dinner, or have their roommates bring food to them in bed. Nice try ladies. There were some slacker men also don't get me wrong. I took some sea sick pills prior to entering the Drake and never once got seasick. There's four or five people in a cabin. And they group people together by age so you have people to relate too which was nice.
Prior to stepping on mainland Antarctica we made several landings along the South Shetland Islands. We were warned about the aggressiveness of the fur seals. On my first landing, I stumbled a bit too close to one of these guys. They can be hard to see from time to time. He charged right at me only to stop within a couple of feet. We were told not to run if this happened, but to stand your grand, raise your arms and yell at it. Fortunately I remembered this, but not going to lie, seeing this massive seal charging at me full speed on its belly almost made me want to piss my pants. That was my warm welcoming from the local population of Antarctic residents.
More landings were made in and around the South Shetland Islands for wildlife viewing. Prior to this trip, I never knew bird and penguin behavior could be so interesting. It turns out that a certain breed (I now forget) of female Penguins are sluts and prostitute themselves. These penguins make their nests from rocks that are protected by male penguins. Its common for penguins to try and steal rocks from one another for their own nests only to result in penguin fights. However the female penguins have learned that if they let their intended target have sex with them, they can steal rocks in the process and the male will not do anything about it. Penguins are funny creatures. Ernest Shackleton said there is "something curiously human about penguins". It's true, they really are like watching little people and their behavior is hilarious. I've seen and smelled enough penguins to last me a lifetime. I never once got seasick, but I almost once yacked stepping through ankle deep penguin shit as we slogged our way through a colony. The smell of penguin colonies is something that will always remain with me. If I want a reminder, I can go to the San Diego Zoo.
The rest of the landings were unique in their own ways. Some of these landings were like being on a completely different planet. It was truly a very amazing experience. But all in all, lots of snow, ice, some good hikes, lots of iceburgs, more seals, and same penguin shit just different rocks. There's only two types of plant life on Antarctica. The guides were very strict about not stepping on them. We visited the remains of 100 plus year old Whaling Stations. Old shipwrecked boats still lay on the beaches of these stations with thousands of whale bones scattered about. Tattered buildings with bottles and radio equipment from the turn of the century scattered about. Here so far away, lay the ruins of men who toiled to bring back blubber in order to turn on the lights of Europe and bring people soap. One of the guides said if you go SCUBA diving in some of the harbors at the stations, you can't even see the ground floor at times because it is littered with hundreds of thousands of leftover whale bones.
Sailing back across the Drake Passage we encountered some pretty rough seas. This is what I wanted to experience. With winds averaging 45-50mph and waves crashing over the bow and sides, we were being tossed around like a toy boat in a bathtub with Lindy West. Some minor injuries and bruises were sustained. One hand for the ship and one hand for yourself. That applies to life also.
There was one night in particular that I will never forget. My watch this night was the death watch as we called it. That being from midnight to 0400 in the morning. The seas were very rough and the winds fierce as we were sailing through a low pressure system. There was a bit of rain also to add to the mix. I don't remember how many knots we were doing, but we were hauling ass this night with the sails set. In rough seas such as this we had to wear harnesses and clip ourselves in to safety ropes as we walked around, unless we were pulling on ropes. But talk about an adrenaline rush. Pulling on ropes in the cold Antarctic weather as your being splashed by monster waves while trying to adjust sails was an extreme adrenaline rush. Manning the helm most days was a constant battle of wind and ocean trying to keep the ship on course with the compass. She wants to go where she wants to go, but its up to you dominate her and keep her on course. If you fail to keep on course and drift to far off your heading, the captain or first mate will pop his head out of the bridge and yell back to you "what's your heading?! ! " In other words quit fucking up and keep her on course. But tonight, you barely had to touch the helm we were scootin along so fast.
This night because of the wind direction and force, the ship traveled at a constant list to where I shit you not the tips of the yards on the masts were practically skimming the surface of the water. As I stood on lookout watching this, you would swear the ship wanted to capsize. But she seemed to defy the laws of physics and never did. The Captain said she has been in a storm where the tips of the yards were indeed underwater. It's crazy to think about. As I stood on lookout, I looked up past the breaks in the clouds as the storm started to settle only to see millions of stars. It was truly one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life. I found myself contemplating the purpose of life and the creation of the universe in the middle of the ocean. There's no way the universe is an accident. But this night I'd never felt so alive before in my life as we battled the elements of mother nature to keep the ship sailing. Just a year ago I was trapped in a job that was eating away at my soul and making me completely lose faith in humanity. I was living in a man made suburban prison. On this night out in the middle of the Drake, I couldn't have been a happier man.
When we arrived back to Ushuaia. We had a farewell dinner onboard, and then everyone took to town to go to a bar frequented by mariners to drink our asses off and talk about the journey. We all really did have a sense of accomplishment after returning. We all agreed; tt takes a unique person with an intrepid sense of adventure to want to make this trip when there's easier options available. We stumbled back to the ship at around 4 am, only to have to wake up at 8am with wicked hangovers to gather our things, pay the purser for our bar tab and say farewell. It was bittersweet to say goodbye to the crew and passengers. The sailing, and the landings, proved to be a bonding experience for us all. On my trip we had good voyage crew. Apparently on some trips the voyage crew treats the permanent crew like shit and grumble and whine the whole way. But these guys, and a few of the women made for a fun crew. As we shook hands and parted ways, I couldn't help but be a little sad watching them fade away into the distance and become a memory. Story of my life. It was worth every penny, and I would do it again in a heartbeat if I could.
My only gripe was the food. The food was pretty bland and you had to pour mountains of salt on it to try and get flavor. After a watch of pulling on ropes or being out on a landing, you want good food which we just didn't get most nights. If you do this trip I recommend you bring a bag of snacks with you. I was constantly hungry. And they say you can't bring alcohol, but it's not like they do bag checks so you definitely can. They do have alcohol to purchase on board that you pay for at the end. It would have been nice to have my own flask tucked away in my bunk.
One of my favorite memories was raising a Whisky toast to Ernest Shackleton on the night of his birthday. That was an honor for me. For any adventurous man, this is a must do once in a lifetime trip.
"Men go out into the void spaces of the world for various reasons. Some are actuated simply by the love of adventure, some have the keen thirst for scientific knowledge, and others are drawn by the "lure of little voices" , the mysterious fascination of the unknown. I think in my own case it was a combination of these factors that determined me to try my fortune once again in the frozen south." Ernest Shackleton, 1909.
Here's a great video of the Europa sailing in the Drake with a classy soundtrack.
After spending some time fishing, and hiking around southern Chile, I traveled to Zapala, Argentina. Upon arriving in Zapala, I found myself feeling like the character from that twilight zone episode called Last Man on Earth. It was a sleepy, dusty desert town that felt uninhabited because of the siesta culture. I roamed the streets trying to find food and a hotel for the night only to find myself in frustration asking "where is everybody??" It was almost as if I had stepped back in time to the American old west. Tumbleweeds passed me on the streets, and chain linked fences creaked in the distance. If a car drove past, it would slow to stare at me, and continue on. Finally I found a hotel with a receptionist, only to learn it was the oldest hotel in the town being built in the late 19th century. It felt like it too.
From Zapala, I continued south by bus to Bariloche. Bariloche was supposedly where some theorists claim Hitler had fled to live out the rest of his days after World War 2. I could see why the Germans chose this place as it felt like it very well could have been Germany. Tall snowcapped Mountains in the background. A large lake, and surrounding forests. Much of the archictecture was German design. From Bariloche, I again jumped on a bus to Rio Gallegos. From Rio Gallegos to Ushuaia. Somewhere in the ride, someone with sticky fingers got in my shoulder bag and made off with my ipad and about 2000 Argentine Pesos.
It was quite a long journey to get to Ushuaia. "Ushuaia, where the earth ends and the winds whip", as they say. And boy does the wind whip. Ushuaia is the most expensive city in all of Argentina. I wouldn't recommend staying for longer than you have to. Hotels are ridiculously expensive. Restaurants drastically inflate their food and drink prices to take advantage of tourists. The cheapest hotel I could find put me on the outskirt of the city with a 45 minute walk to downtown. Being the relatively stingy backpacker that I am, I decided to walk both ways instead of calling a cab. Backpacking around South America I had never had a problem with street dogs. But in Ushuaia, the street dogs were vicious. I was chased down and almost bitten a few times as I stumbled my way back to my room from downtown. Walking to town and back felt like walking through a lion's den having to be alert and on edge for the dogs. There is something in the kibbles in this town. During my time in South America so far, very rarely to I see or hear tourists from the United States. But Ushuaia was crawling with them. All of whom dressed identically to one another as if they were setting off on some great and harrowing archeological expedition. This also meant that a lot of the locals were halfway decent in English which was a nice change.
I didn't come all this way just for nothing. I was going to Antarctica. One night in my little apartment, I was contemplating what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. After researching maritime careers, I came across a web page for a sailing ship that travels to Antarctica four times a year. Not only do you travel to Antarctica on this ship, but you are actually classified as crew and help sail and steer it as well. It was a hands on adventure. Instantly, I knew I had to do this trip at least once in my life. Going to Antarctica had always been a childhood dream of mine. Ernest Shackleton was and still is one of my heroes. I did a biography on the man even when I was only in the 8th grade I believe it was. Here I was exactly one hundred years after he and his men were stranded on the Endurance. Of course a trip like this came with a price. I took some drinks, and said fuck it. I sacrificed and slaved away a good portion of my twenties that I'll never get back. I wanted to live and see the white continent. So, I booked my trip. I could also learn if I could handle life on board a ship and see if it would be a good fit for me.
The Europa was built in 1911 and is registered out of the Netherlands. The Europa was originally a German lighthouse ship. It was purchased by Dutch investors and transformed into a three masted tall ship in the 90's. The crew is predominantly Dutch themselves. When I was in Ushuaia, I was so excited I could barely sleep at nights. I've always loved ships, and here I was going to learn how to crew one along with going to a place that not many people can say they have traveled to.
The other cruise ships that leave from Ushuaia or Chile are big expedition type ships complete with waiters, swimming pools and massage centers full of retirees. Fuck that. The cruises normally only go for two weeks at a time, and from what I saw and heard barely ever let you leave the ship to go ashore. The Europa goes out for an entire month. You make about twenty two different Zodiac landings along the Antarctic peninsula and the South Shetland Islands. You definitely get your monies worth. But, I can say that the Europa trip is definitely no pleasure cruise. Fatigue, hunger, wetness, and soreness were included in the package.
Now the Europa is classified as a training ship. So, even though you are a paying passenger, you are also legally part of the crew on the ship. In the end we each received a certificate stating how many nautical miles we sailed, and what our responsibilities were onboard. You are classified as voyage crew. Even though you are crew, your help is optional. When time came to set sail, we went through safety briefings, man over board drills and familiarization of the ship. The morning of our departure, we had favorable winds in the Beagle Channel and the captain ordered all sails to be set. It was madness.
With a voyage crew of about fifty, I believe it was, we were under command and supervision of the deckhands. At this point, none of us knew what we were doing. We were taking orders from the deckhands, and pulling on ropes. None of us knew what these ropes did, or why we were pulling on them. But it all worked. The sails were set. A three mast tall ship under full sail is truly a spectacular sight to see. Beautiful. The sails had to constantly be adjusted for the changes in wind to get us out of the Beagle Channel. After eight hours under sail, we said goodbye to our pilot. We were now entering the Drake Passage.
The Drake Passage. The name even sounds fierce. Sir Francis Drake was a fierce man, so the name is appropriate I think. I had read about the difficulties of the Drake Passage in books before. Even Shackleton himself referred to the Drake Passage as a not a pleasant experience. Winds are strong, with a mixing of currents from the Pacific and Atlantic so you're likely to encounter difficult swells. And in a hundred year old sailing ship that's 184 feet in length I was curious to see how this would be.
I was disappointed. Did that make me a fool? Our crossing across the Drake to our first destination was not what I had envisioned. I wanted action. The waves were big, and things were being tossed around but not that exciting. Even the crew said that it was calm for the Drake Passage. On our way back however, that crossing was the real Drake Passage.
Voyage crew passengers were split into three different watches. The red, white and blue watches. The colors of the Dutch flag. Each watch was four hours in length. On your watch, you take turns with others standing lookout at the bow, or manning the helm and keeping the ship on course. If you weren't doing either of those, you were waiting in the deckhouse, talking with your shipmates waiting to be told to pull on ropes by the deckhands if they needed you. During the day, the ship also served as somewhat of a sailing school. Classes were given by the deckhands on the fundamentals of sailing. Lessons were given so we could literally "learn the ropes" to know which sails they were for and what purposes they had. We learned and were certified to climb the masts so we could assist the deckhands with setting and furling the sails. And let me tell you, climbing masts as the ship rocks from side to side and you're being thrown around in the wind is pretty frightening at first. As your climb ladders, one slip and a loss of a grip will have you over the side. It's a good test of courage, but was absolutely exhilarating. Once you're off the ladder, you are hooked in with a carabiner but that doesn't inspire much confidence. It's amazing to think about how this was how men of antiquity conquered the world. In sailing ships much more crude and smaller, but with primitive navigation devices is crazy to think about. That took serious faith, courage, and desire for glory to sail off from home in search of new lands when for all you knew you could have sailed off the end of the earth.
Lessons were given on traditional navigation like dead reckoning. Which is a good name for it if you find yourself off course. We learned how to use a sextant and along with DR to plot the course of the ship and match it to the ship's GPS. Most of us failed miserably. That takes some serious practice. After enough classes, understanding the different sails and how the shipped worked all began to come together. In the evening, classes were given by the ships two naturalists on Antarctic wildlife, whaling history, history of Antarctic exploration, and scientific research being done. There was never a shortage of things to do.
Many people were seasick. There were some voyage crew, mostly women, who used their sickness as a mere excuse to not participate in the watch system. But yet, they would be seen at dinner, or have their roommates bring food to them in bed. Nice try ladies. There were some slacker men also don't get me wrong. I took some sea sick pills prior to entering the Drake and never once got seasick. There's four or five people in a cabin. And they group people together by age so you have people to relate too which was nice.
Prior to stepping on mainland Antarctica we made several landings along the South Shetland Islands. We were warned about the aggressiveness of the fur seals. On my first landing, I stumbled a bit too close to one of these guys. They can be hard to see from time to time. He charged right at me only to stop within a couple of feet. We were told not to run if this happened, but to stand your grand, raise your arms and yell at it. Fortunately I remembered this, but not going to lie, seeing this massive seal charging at me full speed on its belly almost made me want to piss my pants. That was my warm welcoming from the local population of Antarctic residents.
More landings were made in and around the South Shetland Islands for wildlife viewing. Prior to this trip, I never knew bird and penguin behavior could be so interesting. It turns out that a certain breed (I now forget) of female Penguins are sluts and prostitute themselves. These penguins make their nests from rocks that are protected by male penguins. Its common for penguins to try and steal rocks from one another for their own nests only to result in penguin fights. However the female penguins have learned that if they let their intended target have sex with them, they can steal rocks in the process and the male will not do anything about it. Penguins are funny creatures. Ernest Shackleton said there is "something curiously human about penguins". It's true, they really are like watching little people and their behavior is hilarious. I've seen and smelled enough penguins to last me a lifetime. I never once got seasick, but I almost once yacked stepping through ankle deep penguin shit as we slogged our way through a colony. The smell of penguin colonies is something that will always remain with me. If I want a reminder, I can go to the San Diego Zoo.
The rest of the landings were unique in their own ways. Some of these landings were like being on a completely different planet. It was truly a very amazing experience. But all in all, lots of snow, ice, some good hikes, lots of iceburgs, more seals, and same penguin shit just different rocks. There's only two types of plant life on Antarctica. The guides were very strict about not stepping on them. We visited the remains of 100 plus year old Whaling Stations. Old shipwrecked boats still lay on the beaches of these stations with thousands of whale bones scattered about. Tattered buildings with bottles and radio equipment from the turn of the century scattered about. Here so far away, lay the ruins of men who toiled to bring back blubber in order to turn on the lights of Europe and bring people soap. One of the guides said if you go SCUBA diving in some of the harbors at the stations, you can't even see the ground floor at times because it is littered with hundreds of thousands of leftover whale bones.
Sailing back across the Drake Passage we encountered some pretty rough seas. This is what I wanted to experience. With winds averaging 45-50mph and waves crashing over the bow and sides, we were being tossed around like a toy boat in a bathtub with Lindy West. Some minor injuries and bruises were sustained. One hand for the ship and one hand for yourself. That applies to life also.
There was one night in particular that I will never forget. My watch this night was the death watch as we called it. That being from midnight to 0400 in the morning. The seas were very rough and the winds fierce as we were sailing through a low pressure system. There was a bit of rain also to add to the mix. I don't remember how many knots we were doing, but we were hauling ass this night with the sails set. In rough seas such as this we had to wear harnesses and clip ourselves in to safety ropes as we walked around, unless we were pulling on ropes. But talk about an adrenaline rush. Pulling on ropes in the cold Antarctic weather as your being splashed by monster waves while trying to adjust sails was an extreme adrenaline rush. Manning the helm most days was a constant battle of wind and ocean trying to keep the ship on course with the compass. She wants to go where she wants to go, but its up to you dominate her and keep her on course. If you fail to keep on course and drift to far off your heading, the captain or first mate will pop his head out of the bridge and yell back to you "what's your heading?! ! " In other words quit fucking up and keep her on course. But tonight, you barely had to touch the helm we were scootin along so fast.
This night because of the wind direction and force, the ship traveled at a constant list to where I shit you not the tips of the yards on the masts were practically skimming the surface of the water. As I stood on lookout watching this, you would swear the ship wanted to capsize. But she seemed to defy the laws of physics and never did. The Captain said she has been in a storm where the tips of the yards were indeed underwater. It's crazy to think about. As I stood on lookout, I looked up past the breaks in the clouds as the storm started to settle only to see millions of stars. It was truly one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life. I found myself contemplating the purpose of life and the creation of the universe in the middle of the ocean. There's no way the universe is an accident. But this night I'd never felt so alive before in my life as we battled the elements of mother nature to keep the ship sailing. Just a year ago I was trapped in a job that was eating away at my soul and making me completely lose faith in humanity. I was living in a man made suburban prison. On this night out in the middle of the Drake, I couldn't have been a happier man.
When we arrived back to Ushuaia. We had a farewell dinner onboard, and then everyone took to town to go to a bar frequented by mariners to drink our asses off and talk about the journey. We all really did have a sense of accomplishment after returning. We all agreed; tt takes a unique person with an intrepid sense of adventure to want to make this trip when there's easier options available. We stumbled back to the ship at around 4 am, only to have to wake up at 8am with wicked hangovers to gather our things, pay the purser for our bar tab and say farewell. It was bittersweet to say goodbye to the crew and passengers. The sailing, and the landings, proved to be a bonding experience for us all. On my trip we had good voyage crew. Apparently on some trips the voyage crew treats the permanent crew like shit and grumble and whine the whole way. But these guys, and a few of the women made for a fun crew. As we shook hands and parted ways, I couldn't help but be a little sad watching them fade away into the distance and become a memory. Story of my life. It was worth every penny, and I would do it again in a heartbeat if I could.
My only gripe was the food. The food was pretty bland and you had to pour mountains of salt on it to try and get flavor. After a watch of pulling on ropes or being out on a landing, you want good food which we just didn't get most nights. If you do this trip I recommend you bring a bag of snacks with you. I was constantly hungry. And they say you can't bring alcohol, but it's not like they do bag checks so you definitely can. They do have alcohol to purchase on board that you pay for at the end. It would have been nice to have my own flask tucked away in my bunk.
One of my favorite memories was raising a Whisky toast to Ernest Shackleton on the night of his birthday. That was an honor for me. For any adventurous man, this is a must do once in a lifetime trip.
"Men go out into the void spaces of the world for various reasons. Some are actuated simply by the love of adventure, some have the keen thirst for scientific knowledge, and others are drawn by the "lure of little voices" , the mysterious fascination of the unknown. I think in my own case it was a combination of these factors that determined me to try my fortune once again in the frozen south." Ernest Shackleton, 1909.
Here's a great video of the Europa sailing in the Drake with a classy soundtrack.
Dreams are like horses; they run wild on the earth. Catch one and ride it. Throw a leg over and ride it for all its worth.
Psalm 25:7
https://youtu.be/vHVoMCH10Wk