As Christmas approaches, the Antarctic cruise season is a month old and taking its familiar course.
There have been a few rough crossing of the Drake Passage, and not only was the Lemaire Channel block for the first few voyages venturing south but there were even problems getting into Cuverville Island.
Clipper Adventurer has problems with one of its propellers and needs to cancel a couple of voyages to be repaired in Buenos Aires.
Sea Spirit touched bottom at Deception Island’s Whalers Bay and had to wait for high tide to float free. Fortunately, no damage was sustained so its season continues.
And Orion is heading towards Commonwealth Bay and Mawson’s hut for Centenary celebrations but iceberg B9B is causing a backlog of ice that is likely to prevent any landing there – a scheduled repair voyage there has been rescheduled for next year.
There are fewer ships down south this year and that’s making ship scheduling much easier than in the past. As we say in the trade – may everyone have fair winds and following seas.