6 April, 2003

Rough Seas!

Today we sailed around Cape Horn and into the Drake Passage. The Drake Passage was named for Admiral Sir Francis Drake knighted by Queen Elizabeth I, who financed his voyages. He circumnavigated or sailed around the world. The Drake Passage has earned its name as the roughest passage in the world because it is through the Drake Passage that the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet- squeezed in between the narrow passage of the continents of South America and Antarctica.

Everything on the ship has been bolted, fastened, and secured so that they don't become projectiles when the seas get rough.

At dinner, one of the scientists was eating English peas. We hit a high wave which made her peas go careening across the galley!

Earlier, the chief scientist on board was sitting in his office when we hit a high wave. The television in his office went flying over the room pulling all of the cables and cords along with it. He said was glad that he wasn't sitting in the chair directly below where the television fell or he said he would have been wearing the television like a party hat to supper that night! He has placed the television over in a corner where it quietly now sits.