This day, our third day of landings, was the farthest south we would go, at 67 degrees, 51 minutes south (the location of Horseshoe Island that we’d visited in the morning).

After we landed at Carvajal, we were heading north again to hit some of the more common landing sites and where there would be more penguins again. (And who doesn’t want more penguins?)

But at dinner that night, the water started getting rough. At first most of us didn’t think much of it, but gradually, throughout the meal, the waves got higher and higher. Dishes were sliding around. A lot. Sometimes entirely off the table. These waves were bigger and rougher than what we’d experienced on the (admittedly calm) Drake.

We experienced 100mph winds and 30+ foot swells. You could barely stand up on the ship, we were rocking and rolling so much. You had to hold on to a wall to remain upright. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I didn’t feel seasick (the rocking felt different than it had on the Drake) but I didn’t want to take any chances, so I went ahead and took a phenergan to be safe.

I went out to the top deck to get a couple photos of the waves crashing over the bow of the ship.


Some of the biggest waves covered the bow of the ship completely, and some crashed over the top deck where I was standing. (I turned my back and tried to protect the camera as much as possible during those. A waterproof camera would’ve been useful here, too!) It was windy and wet and I didn’t stay out there very long.

Jeff took the GoPro out and got this video of one of the bigger waves. At some point Alex came over the PA system to let us know that it was, in fact, a hurricane.

This happened to be February 14, Valentine’s Day, and Quark had a Valentine’s social planned for the evening in the lounge.

I’m not sure how well attended this was…I opted to skip it and get a shower and some sleep. Showering on a ship during a hurricane is a bit of an undertaking, but I managed by holding on to the bar and bracing myself against the wall. And then the crazy waves and phenergan rocked me right to sleep as we sailed north again in search of penguins.