The stretch of sea between South America and the Antarctic Peninsular is known as Drake’s Passage. It is notorious for strong winds and heavy seas, but our two-day crossing was relatively calm.

We arrived around mid-day on Friday in thick fog. We were in a large bay called Bahia Dallman and peering through the mist the surrounding mountains, glaciers and ice walls gradually started to appear as the fog lifted.

Bahia Dallman

Our reaction to photograph every iceberg soon faded.

As the visibility improved the sheer beauty of this wilderness became apparent.

The Neumayer Channel

The red arrows on the map on the right at the top of this page show our route through this area. After passing through Bahia Dallman we went down to the Neumayer Channel.

At first the channel was narrow with steep, rocky walls on each side but as we turned a corner halfway through, the channel opened out into an incredibly beautiful bay. The flat sea, reflected the mountains like a mirror, and people gazed in amazement, silently absorbing the moment.

After the Neumayer Channel we continued our journey southwards.