Sir Ernst Expedition. Tuesday 1st February.

 

Aeolus had booked us a very gentle crossing of the Drake Passage. We were figuring the route out mid-morning, then glimpsed the first rugged relief and ice of Antwerp Island between layers of fog under a forbidding sky.

 

 

Visibility improved as we approached the Melchior Islands. A whale made a brief appearance greeting us with its round back, then disappeared. It augured well for the rest of the sail. Around 17:00 Sir Ernst was anchored and moored by all four corners, well protected in the narrow cove of the Melchior Argentine base. The tension always felt on arrival dropped. We took advantage of a calm evening to have refreshing showers. Hervé cooked up a chili con carne with some very good meat we got in Ushuaia, washed down with local Patagonia beer as an aperitif, then a good Argentinian Malbec. We all appreciate the idea of a calm night at anchor.