This is the Drake Passage on a good day. At some points, the waves were cresting 70', and the wind was gusting force 8. And we weren't doing it in a 20' lifeboat (see Shackleton, below). This ship is the Explorer aka the Little Red Ship. She was the first true expedition cruiser, and I was privileged to travel aboard her twice, both times to Antarctica via the fearsome Drake Passage- arguably the roughest piece of sea in the world.Sadly, six months after my last outing on the Little Red Ship, she finally succumbed to the perils of Antarctic travel and sank near the Falkland Islands having been torn open on a low lying bergy bit (small iceberg). All passengers were safely evacuated, but the Explorer, which I remember with huge fondness, is at the bottom of the ocean.
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