A morning Drake Lake

The sun shines, it is warm on deck, the glassy seas gently make us roll with a long, low swell, the wind has died down to a light breeze that now blows on our nose. Hard to believe this is the famed Drake Passage, which carries a backpack filled with so many stories of storms, heavy seas, and furious winds. A 500 nautical miles passage between South America and Antarctica, part of a moody and temperamental ocean that runs uninterrupted by any land masses around the southern world. From the Pacific to the Atlantic, it is often swept over by one Low Pressure System after another, by growing swells that travel for very long distances.

But its fierce character doesn’t show up today. Anyway, if the Drake offers you a chance of good weather and flat seas, better take it. Better not to linger in a Drake Lake, and if necessary, use your engines to make way. If not, you will have to face its mercurial temper at some point or another.

Like this we motor under staysails in today’s light airs, with the square sails hanging on their gear, until Royals, Top Gallants and Main Course are furled.

Along the journey, the wind slowly picks up. The sea surface is now rippled, and by the evening blows at 14 knots and is increasing.

The sunny day becomes cloudy as the afternoon goes by, and in the night, we plunge into foggy conditions.

Quite a classic situation when entering the Antarctic Convergence Area, also called the Polar Front.

Between the coastal waters of Patagonia and Antarctica, the surface water temperature varies from about 6°C in the north to -1°C in the south, with the temperature altering sharply in a zone near 60°S. As today the Europa heads north and sails about the 60° 50’ S, the water temperature raises from the 3° C measured in the morning to 5.7° C in the evening.

An oceanographic boundary that separates the sub-Antarctic surface water from the colder and fresher Antarctic water.