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DRAKE PASSAGE
I AM CONSIDERING GOING ON THIS TOUR WITH MY TWO SONS AGED 26 & 28. I AM 62 AND IN EXCELLENT HEALTH. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE COMMENT ON THE DRAKE PASSAGE AND THE CHANCE OF GETTING SEASICK.
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I AM CONSIDERING GOING ON THIS TOUR WITH MY TWO SONS AGED 26 & 28. I AM 62 AND IN EXCELLENT HEALTH. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE COMMENT ON THE DRAKE PASSAGE AND THE CHANCE OF GETTING SEASICK.
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You might get seasick. It’s not guaranteed that you won’t. We can’t predict Mother Nature. We wore sea sickness patches and I cut mine in half. You can also wear the sea sick wrist bands. Frankly, I don’t know if these honestly do any good. It’s mind over matter.
If you have a tendency to get seasick, I would recommend bringing some type of medication or device that would ease the symptoms. I took this tour in December 2018 and we had a rough ride through the Drake Passage. Some passengers were literally vomiting on the deck of the ship and even inside. While each trip is different, it would be better to have something and not need it than the other way around.
When we went through the Drake Passage in January of 2020, the seas were 3 - 5 meters ( 9 - 15 feet). The captain called this "a gentle swell". When the seas are about to get rough, they line up the barf bags on the railings in the hallways - that is the sure sign. We do not tend to get seasick, but I got seasick. We brought scopolamine patches with us, and put them on as soon as I got sick ( my husband wasn't sick but he put it onto be supportive haha) . You will need a prescription to get them. They take 4 hours to work. After 4 hours I was fine. I actually enjoyed the rocking of the boat (truly). I told myself - I am going through the Drake Passage - Wahoo!!! They make your mouth dry, but you have to just expect it. You keep the patches on for 3 days - one for the Southbound trip and one for the Northbound trip. In between, the seas are very calm and you will not need them. Everyone I spoke to on the ship had scopolamine patches on. No one was seasick because they were using them. One person that I knew of got the flu and was sick, but that was it. This was right before Covid hit. Go to the doctor and get the patches for all of you. This is an amazing trip. The beauty and majesty of this desolate place are just all around you. Everywhere you set your eyes is like a scenic overlook at a National Park. My husband describes this trip as a life - changing experience. We loved this trip so much we are going to Greenland this summer to see how it compares.
We did this trip in January last year, and we were expecting the rough water that CathyandSteve had. What we encountered was a pond … well not quite a pond, but we have had a rougher ride in the Caribbean. One of the staff said it was the first smooth crossing of the season. We did the trip in mid-January and had great weather.
Our trip was fairly smooth. I don't know of anyone who got sick. I put a video of the seas on our blog which you can see at https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2021-2Antarctica-02.htm, a bit down the page.
The Drake Passage is totally unpredictable. We had a fairly smooth passage on the way south, but the trip home was quite rough. Lots of people were under the weather from it. I wore the ear patch as a precaution, had no ill effects and didn't get seasick. This is an absolutely fantastic trip, transiting the Drake Passage is worth the "price of admission".
We were very lucky to have a pond when we crossed Drake passage in 2016;we went in early December.It is good to be prepared with motion sickness remedies in case you need them.Experience of a life time regardless of the transit conditions!
I am soon to be 78 and do have some medical issues. I have been on 42 Tauck tours to date and in the past I also thought about Tauck's Antarctica tour and the Drake Passage. Although I have traveled with Tauck on a number of rivers in Europe with no problem, but I know about getting really seasick back in 1983 on a non-Tauck tour from Stockholm (Sweden) overnight to Turku (Finland) across the Baltic Sea in October and really had a bad case of seasickness then (only a 12 hour trip across the Baltic); no medicine as I had believed it would be no problem for me (it was!). I have read that crossing the Drake Passage can go either way, no problem or a problem; a roll of the dice with Mother Nature and unpredictable in advance. I have read that it is possible to get to Antarctica from land, but not with Tauck; I have never researched it for sure, so I do not know. BTW, personally after that terrible 1983 experience I decided that even any trip/tour costing thousands of dollars or more where I needed to take any medicine in advance for it was not worth it to me. That said I have loved all of my 42 Tauck tours. A great company. :-)
@tomh - I have seen advertisments from several companies who will fly you to Antarctica - one that comes to mind right now is Silversea. However, that's a much more expensive trip than a ship you take from South America.
When I was in college, I used to work on seismographic boats in the Gulf of Mexico during the summer (It was a good way to save money - there was nothing to spend money on unless you gambled, and I didn't). The first time I went out, I got sick as a dog for almost three days. They were not going to turn around just because I was seasick. Once I recovered, I never had any real problem with seasickness again.
Mike, I know. A quick check indicates that a fly/cruise to Antarctica by other travel companies would cost 3 to 4 times more to fly over and back of the Drake Passage than just sailing by boat. That said, after that 1983 experience I had (I was 38 and in good health then) with seasickness, I never wanted to go through something like that again. I have some friends who must have been born without inner ears, so the worse the cruse might be the more they enjoy it. LOL. :-)
We are on the 1/27/24 trip. coming into Buenos Aries a day early. Any suggestions for sites near the hotel ?
The hotel is in a good walking area basically in a Marina. There are numerous restaurants along both sides of the water. If you are a shopper go to Florida street. Tauck gives a good tour of the city and hits the high points.
I think you chose a good time to go. We had great weather at that time of year in 2022. We had a couple days of clouds and a little precip., but it was mostly spectacular sunshine. The weather can change in a heartbeat, and sea ice can form before your eyes. On one zodiac adventure we had to find a new route back to the ship cuz the way we had come in was blocked by ice.
This was a good restaurant where we ate. I don’t remember exactly where it was but the concierge can help with that. Don’t pay any attention to the price. Their inflation is 100% so the price at the beginning of the meal is lower than at the end of the meal. (;-)
Thx for the info Sealord. Always enjoy the pix from this journey. Will check out this restaurant. much appreciated ! Did you, or anyone else reading this, bring folding hiking poles for Antarctica trekking ? Looks like they would be quite useful in deep snow.
My traveling friend and I had walking sticks. Quite useful with or without snow.
Some cruise lines like Silverseas now offer the option of flying from Ushuaia to Antartica to avoid the Drake Passage for their expedition ships. Worth looking into if you are subject to real seasickness.
They have been doing that for a while, super expensive
Expensive and good exercise. You need to be able to walk about a mile with your luggage over unimproved terrain.
@ Seaford….is this on Windstar? Where did you need to carry the luggage?
SeaLord is talking about the expensive trip thst skips Drake passage. He went on the Tauck Ponant trip.