How To Cruise Antarctica Without Crossing the Notoriously Rough Drake Passage

I'm not particularly prone to seasickness. In fact, I've been lulled to sleep by the rock of a ferry more times than I can count. But the notorious Drake Passage is an open-water crossing like no other. The 500-mile stretch of ocean looms between the tip of South America and Antarctica and has a reputation for being home to the roughest seas in the world. So the idea of crossing it twice on a round-trip expedition sailing from Ushuaia, Argentina, to Antarctica made me a touch nervous.

Fortunately, a sail-and-fly cruise — which is available on several cruise lines — allows passengers to skip one and sometimes both Drake crossings that are normally required for the round-trip to and from Antarctica. So when National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions offered the option to sail one way and fly back via an Antarctica Direct 10-day journey on the Explorer for the first time this season, I jumped at the chance. I braved the passage once but boarded a short-haul aircraft from the tiny Teniente Rodolfo Marsh Martin Airport on King George Island in Antarctica back to Puerto Natales, Chile, instead of facing it again on the way back to Ushuaia.

That meant instead of two three-day crossings with no stops to enjoy the scenery on the choppy Drake when traveling both ways, I enjoyed a short two-hour flight on the way back. It did mean luggage restrictions were stricter, but it felt like a small price to pay.

That's because the Drake Passage may be the shortest distance to the frozen southernmost continent, but it's rarely the most pleasant. The Southern Ocean rushes in an uninterrupted ring above the continent and as it circles it must squeeze through the narrow chute known as the Drake. And when that much water is forced through a too-small space, seas get rough: average swells are 13-15 feet high (though waves as high as 65 feet have been reported).

So despite my propensity to handle rocking ships with aplomb, I popped motion sickness meds an hour before departure; No way was I risking spending three days feeling nauseated — or worse.