The "Drake"

20th January 2016
We were woken this morning at 7:30 with soft music being played through the cabin speaker. I don't think that many people were asleep since in the early hours of the night the rolling started as we entered the Drake Passage.
In this part of the southern ocean there is no land right around the planet so the westerly wind just keeps going wiping up the sea. It's hard to sleep when your body is continually rolling to and through.  Occasionally there is a big one and twice in the night the wardrobe door, which does have a big catch on it, burst open throwing our bags out. I'm sharing a cabin with Robert from Argentina and Ken from China.
The weather is 5C and rain and the sea state is Beaufort 7-8.
I have decided to go for belt and braces to avoid sea sickness. As well as the patch I have put on two Travel Bands. They use ancient Chinese principals of acupressure. So that's an old method and chemicals I'm putting my faith in.
Breakfast was at 8 and there is a danger that I may end up the size of an elephant seal.
After breakfast there was a lecture by Kta, one of our leaders, on Antarctic Birds. During the lecture we could see Wandering Albatrosses following the ship. They are the biggest bird in the world with a wingspan of 254-363cm. There is also a Petrel following us, they follow ships because the propeller churns up food to the surface.
The ship continues to roll constantly, we have been told that is is just normal for the Drake. We still occasionally get a couple big roles. It's funny, I didn't see the hand rails yesterday but you notice them today when you need them.
I heard in the morning that on of the ladies onboard has taken a fall in her bathroom when the ship rolled, it sounds like she has bad bruising. Another lady told me how scared she was in the night with the ship rolling. Just imagine would it would be like if this was not a normal crossing. The big rolls have caught a few people out and taken them off their feet.
There were two more lectures in the afternoon, one was about Penguins given by Leandro.