Drake Lake, takes the cake

When Audrey went to bake a cake this afternoon, there wasn't any need to jack up the side of the oven tray 20 degrees on the side like we normally do when we are sailing. Why? Because the ocean all around is like a mill pond. Being my 10th expedition to Antarctica I have had calms in the infamous Drake's Passage, I have had light winds, but I have never had it like an oily smooth ocean.

During today we have finally started to see Ice bergs of a fair size sparsely sprinkled along our route, easy to spot by radar, but no need for that as the days are long and it never really gets dark, our latitude being 62 degrees south means that we are constantly getting closer to the Antarctic circle where the sun never goes down. We all have marveled at the reflections of the sea birds that fly by, with the sea so smooth there is a mirror image that one can clearly see on the water. Just minutes ago we had two seals floating on the water surface like they were beach bunnies at some Mediterranean club resort, oh how tough life can be. But for those of us who have been on board Xplore since the start of the season, this has to be the most relaxing holiday we have had for months. Mr. Perkins potters away giving us a steady 6 knots through the water, with our ETA at our first landing location at Deception Island which is one of two active volcanoes in Antarctica at around 7am tomorrow morning. Many on board are looking forward to a nice warm volcanic sulphur bath on the shores of Whalers Bay inside the mouth of this incredible location, reported to soon erupt again, we hope it's not during our visit.

More adventure news to come Stephen