November 23, 1999

We were underway from Punta Arenas at about 1:00am. The engines roared, chortled and whirred beneath us, and the distinctive chirp of the sonar could be heard resonating through the hull and the walls beside our bunks, ‘cheep’…’cheep’…’cheep,’ once every 5 seconds. I was barely awake, but registered the same favourable conditions as we slipped into the Straights. There was practically no swell and I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Phil Sacks describes the transit through the Drake Passage by sea as a journey, "through the looking glass." After all the last minute, harried planning and hurried distances covered by airplane, the world takes on a different pace, attenuated by ocean rhythms and changing light. There is a needed psychological transition to a different frame of mind. The crossing is through some of the roughest seas on earth and life aboard ship slows down to a minimum, for all but the crew.

Waves breaking on the fantail of the Laurence M. Gould.

The morning brought a heavier swell with waves breaking across the deck as we cleared the Straights of Magellan and adjusted our course south along the eastern coast of Tierra del Fuego. The fires have long died out, along with the indigenous people, and the flat land reveals scattered farms, settlements and the occasional lighthouse.

Steve is slowly regaining his strength and has managed to get some much needed rest. The galley and the lounge provide gathering places for crew and science teams and we have slowly been getting to know one another. The lounge is equipped with a large screen video and VCR, and an eclectic collection of movies: everything from action and adventure to a hodge-podge of dramas. I have been buried in the new Tom Wolfe book, "A Man in Full."