3The Drake Passage
When the temperature is above freezing, the pack ice melts, and cruise ships can navigate through the Drake Passage. Named after the British explorer Sir Francis Drake who first traveled the passage, it is now the preferred route from South America. Once considered the most dangerous crossing in the world, it runs out of the headland of Cape Horn at the southernmost point of South America to the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica.
While it is indeed the shortest sea route to Antarctica, it includes multiple temperatures and the convergence of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Thus travelers are never completely sure what to expect in terms of weather conditions. That’s why frequent sea goers sometimes say it is either the “Drake Shake” or the “Drake Lake.”
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