Another day of waiting is day 2. We needed to drop our luggage for transfer to the Sea Spirit at 08:00, we needed to leave our hotel at 10:00. But, we weren’t due to be picked up to go to the ship until 15:30. So began another day of waiting. We spent the day flopped in the lobby of our hotel, Arakur. We basically read all day until it was time to depart. At 15:30 we loaded onto a giant charter bus for transfer to the ship. There are only about 120 people on the ship plus 40 crew. As a result of our small numbers the…

transfer and boarding process was so smooth that it was over before I knew it began. With our bags pre-loaded, all we had to do was hop up the gangplank, pause for a quick photo, and enjoy our welcome champagne. Afterward, we were shown to our cabin, one deck down on two, the main deck. I’d never been on a cruise but I was expecting something at least as tiny as a London hotel room. I was pleasantly surprised to find our suite much nicer than many actual hotels I’d stayed in. We returned upstairs for our first orientation. As we gathered in the lounge…

for our briefing, work began to harden the ship for the Drake Passage crossing. The M/V Sea Spirit is an ice-hardened polar expedition ship. And even it needs a special configuration to cross The Drake. After the hatches were quite literally battened down, the crew had to affix giant aluminum panels over all the windows on even the upper decks. The effect of this precaution was to leave us in a dark, floating bunker. We got underway and began our departure form the Beagle Channel and to the open ocean. This leg would take about six hours. While still in the…

Beagle Channel the sea is so calm it’s difficult to detect our movement. And the weather is so warm you don’t even need a jacket. We don’t expect these conditions to last. We head down to the dining room for our first dinner on board; a simple but surprisingly good buffet. After dinner Alexandria and I both take a double dose of Dramamine (*we think) and went to bed early.