Land Ahoy!

Friday 5 January (Drake Passage: 62° 26' S, 62° 12' W)

Today we had our first sight of land at noon, catching glimpse of
towering Smith Island off to starboard. Not long after we sighted Snow
Island directly ahead. The plan is to sail through Boyd Strait between
the two, then off to the east to anchor in Deception Island. Deception
is ideally suited for this purpose with a perfectly sheltered harbour,
as well as being interesting in its own right with an old whaling
station and huge penguin colonies.
Land comes as a most welcome sight after four full days on the 'Drake
Lake'. Touted as one of the wildest parts of the ocean in the world, for
us it has been a slow slog. Our skipper Darrel says this one of the
longest Drake passages he has ever done. The cause is calm weather, flat
seas, and not enough wind from not quite the right direction. The result
is 5 knots when we are burning through diesel and 3-5 knots when the
wind permits sail without use of the motor. When you consider that the
trip to Deception is around 500 nautical miles from Ushuaia, you can see
why it has taken us so long to get here.
Aside from the excitement of seeing land for the first time in five
days, we have also been spotting more and more icebergs. Although it is
heartening to see clear signs of the great white continent, it is also a
sight to make one nervous. These great hunks of ice can spell doom to a
big boat, and for little vessel like ours it could be the end of our
trip, or worse. As we enter the Boyd Strait we will be keenly looking
out for 'bergs', 'bergy bits' and the cutely named but dangerous
'growlers' which make this place their home.
We had some attractive birdlife yesterday. The mottled Cape Petrel has
been our company for the last couple of days and continues to flit
around the yacht intermittently. We were also lucky enough to see a pair
of light-mantled sooty albatrosses yesterday. Getting a clear photo of
these magnificent seabirds can be difficult but we enjoy their company
immensely.
As we come into the South Shetland Islands and then onto the Antarctic
Peninsula proper, we expect to see significant penguin and seal life.
Orcas, whales and leopard seals are all real possibilities as well.
An optimistic view would have us anchored at Deception Island by
midnight tonight. Certainly those who have watch shifts scheduled for
late in the night hope so, perhaps finding a first full night's sleep
since we have entered 2018. We hope for favourable wind, clear skies and
occasional flat seas for our first kayak expeditions – is that too much
to ask for?s