Crossing the Drake ?'s

[pmar93]

We will be sailing on the Fram soon, and in preparation are trying to gain all the tips and knowledge possible. Since I am prone to motion sickness and my husband is not, we have all sorts of remedies ranging from ear patches and wrist bands to the Dramine type just in case. I was planning on taking precautions even before boarding while my husband is still undecided about either.

 

Then we were discussing the possibility of motion sickness with a lady who had taken the voyage on the Fram a couple of yeas ago with her husband. We found it quite interesting when she mentioned that even though crossing the Drake was rough, that neither she nor her husband had suffered any motion sickness and they weren't taking any preventive medicine or wearing ear patches. She noted that many of those who had gotten seasick were either wearing the ear patches, taking medication, or both! Her only guess was that perhaps those who had gotten sick were over-medicated.

 

What, if anything, worked for you?

 

Also, in our research concerning clothing we have noticed that while the input varies considerably, there seem to be 2 common denominators--overpacking and changing weather. As one gentleman stated, if you don't like the weather in Antarctica, wait 5 minutes and it will change twice!

 

The bottom on line on clothing seems seems to vary from cruise to cruise and everyone's own personal "thermostat."

 

Would anyone care to comment on either topic on this board

or privately pmar93@gamil.com

 

Thank you!

Trish

[PerfectlyPerth]

Ok the basics (from my extended family of life long sailors and navy men) are - you either suffer motion/sea sickness or you dont. If you have ever suffered it - you will always suffer it. If you have never suffered it - you never will.

 

I have managed to prove their point by being perfectly fine in everything from rowboats to giant 3000 passenger liners and from flat oceans to the Drake in all its fury in a seriously rocking icebreaker. I took no remedies nor preventatives whatsoever.

 

If you already know you suffer from it then you should utilise the remedies that have worked for you in the past. Most importantly - start using them at least 12 hours prior to boarding.

 

On my recent trip I spoke to people using a varied mixture of remedies - from natural ginger, to the patches (not legal in my country and having seen some of the interesting side effects I can see why), the magnet wrist bands, and basic antihistamine pills used for general allergies.

 

One passenger had a very nasty reaction to the patch so she removed them and used a borrowed pair of wrist bands for the remainder of the month and found them to work very well for her - she took the ginger pills if it got too bad.

 

On our ship the doctor had ample supply of travel calm type pills and an injection that he doled out to many (the injection is best for those already in the process of throwing up as the pills cant stay in long enough to work).

 

Onto packing:

 

Yes overpacking happens to the best of us. My trip was a month and went a lot further south than the peninsular into serious blizzard territory - but even then I rarely wore the "middle layer" on my lower half. For outside on the decks and in the zodiacs and on shore I wore polypropolene long johns and cabela's outerwear water/wind proof pants. They were so well lined that I didnt need to wear the polartek sweat pants I had packed to wear in between. Everything I had read had said definitely 3 layers - but that is definitely reliant on the quality of your over pants.

 

Top half I wore a polypropolene (am sure I have spelt that wrong!!!) long sleeved top which was lovely and thin and I usually just wore it and a polar fleece vest when inside the ship. Outside I wore the Quark supplied jacket which was wind/water proof. It was generally the wind that was the killer so I occasionally also wore a fleece underneath in the real serious cold zones - but mostly just had the undershirt, fleece vest and jacket on.

 

Head - bandanna or head band most of the time (it helped with bad hair days !!) - with a beanie for outside.

 

Feet: For inside the ship I wore silk liner socks and a pair of Keens mary jane style shoes. If I was just docking out onto the decks to take a photo - the liner socks were fine but if I was planning to spend hours out there then I put a slightly thicker wool sock on.

We were supplied really top quality muckboots for the zodiacs and landings so I only ended up using my thinner wool socks. I had packed really thick ones as well as everything I had read was to wear 2 to 3 layers of socks in the wellington/gum/rubber boots. The muckboots were tight fitting round the calf so they didnt need to be bulked up with socks - and they were fantastically insulated so I only ever needed one layer of socks.

 

Neck: I packed a polar fleece scarf but I soon found it to be a pain. One gust of wind and it would come untucked and fly off. I ended up buying a fleece neck gaiter in the ships shop and it proved to be far better.

 

Hands. If I was just ducking out to take a few photos on the decks then I stuck with a pair of silk liner gloves. But if I was out on the deck all day I wore the liner gloves inside proper ski gloves. I did make a big mistake purchasing and packing the well advertised "neoprene photographers gloves" on the ship to shore website. These proved to be useless in damp or wet conditions and they didnt keep the wind out either. Luckily another passenger had packed multiple spares and loaned me a decent pair.

For out on the zodiacs or on landings I wore the liner gloves and ski gloves but usually the "camera hand" ended up in just the silk liner glove.

 

So out of what I packed and never used:

- the thickest of the wool socks (but this is definitely dependant on the kinds of boots the ship supplies or you have packed).

- 3 fleeces (2 non zip, 1 zip) - ended up using the zip one regularly but rarely wore the non zip ones as they were too thick.

- 3 merino tank tops (bought for being the base layer under the polypropolene top) - I think I wore one on the coldest day but only when out walking on the ice round the ship. 1 would have been ample.

- fleece scarf - annoying in windy conditions.

 

Mine was a month long trip and I packed 3 long johns and 3 poly tops and as they were what I was living in day to day I sent 2 at a time out to laundry every few days. (Thats dependant on ships with laundry services - mine had a great same day service). The next layer - the fleece sweats and fleece tops - I had laundered about every 4 to 5 days. The silk and wool socks seemed to go at least 3 days before needing a wash. The pairs I bought were designed for those hiking up Everest and not washing for weeks - suffice to say I didnt let them go that long - even for a test!!!!

 

Definitely what I did find (coming from a drought ridden stinking hot country) - the really important factors were your head and your hands. When they were warm you could tolerate it elsewhere.

 

I found the interior of my ship to be extremely over warm so I tended to just walk around in the undershirt and sometimes the fleece vest, and tied my zippered fleece around my waist for spur of the moment running out to the decks moments!! The gloves and beanie lived in the fleeces pockets so were always at the ready.

 

Hope that helps. I do agree its all subjective tho and based on ones own tolerances. If you are only going to the peninsular then it will be warmer than where I was - but a real windy day takes the cold to a whole new level!

[pmar93]

Thank you so much for your lengthy reply. It will be very helpful with our packing and planning.

 

Since some of my earliest memories are of being "car sick" I'll put on a patch the night before the cruise so that it has a chance to work. I've used them in the past and have had no bad side effects. That's probably something that varies from person to person. Also,the medication in the patches themselves may vary from country to country. I'll wear my wrist bands, although I really don't know if they help me or not.

 

We will be on the Hurtigruten Fram on February 1 and will go south of the Antarctic Circle, if conditions allow, so we'll probably need heavier clothing than we would on a shorter voyage. We live right in the middle of the continental US, so we have had a lot of experience with cold temps, snow, wind, etc. and know how quickly conditions can change. We're curious to find out if an Antarctic summer is about like our winter.

 

Thank you again for sharing your experiences. We really appreciate it.

 

Trish

[PerfectlyPerth]

I actually discussed the patches with the doctor on board as I was curious as to why there were so many fascinating reactions in different people (well fascinating to me - not to the people having them !!). The ingredients are one and the same where ever they are purchased - its just that Australia has chosen to bann them. Some of the Aussies on board my ship had admitted to ordering them from New Zealand.

 

At least you have used them in the past so you know they work for you - that is much better than people who waited til day 2 of the trip to try them for the first time!

 

I just had a quick search on the Frams website to see what your destinations were - if I found the right one it looks like its the short 13 day trip ? and what looks like a lot of spots on the peninsular (excellent - hope you get lots of landings).

So you wont be out in the wilds of the pack ice in the Weddell Sea like we were - thats where it was the coldest for us. Plus of course ours was November and yours is further into "summer" (I use the term loosely because of course in my city there is no lovely ice or snow in summer!!).

 

The people on my trip who I hung out with were from the very icey regions of the US and they compared our coldest day to "a normal winter" for them - from memory that was around minus 30F. Our non blizzardy days were more like 15F ish. So I imagine if you are the same you wont need to buy any additional gear etc - it will already be in your cupboards.

 

Oh - I did pack a tonne of hand warmers - mainly for the camera batteries. I got a box of 80 really cheap on ebay. I usually popped one in my camera satchel when I spent the day on the decks or on shore. Obviously didnt come close to using all of them so I donated them to the crew. But there wasnt really a day I would have thought was worthy of using them for hands or feet.

 

Only a month to go for you so I bet you are getting excited !!

[pmar93]

Yes, we're getting excited. When we booked last spring, it seemed so far away. Now it's almost time to travel! We're doing the 13 day polar circle tour, so we'll be farther south than some, but not on the continent itself. After reading your earlier post, I had to go back look at the information myself to be sure of how far south we'd actually travel.

 

We spent last February, 2010, in your beautiful country! We toured the center by ourselves, joined a tour group at Ayers Rock, then saw eastern Australia, and on to New Zealand. Someday, we'll return to see the north, west, and Tasmania. We loved Australia!

 

It was in New Zealand that I last used the motion sickness patches. One afternoon, the air conditioning quit on our bus. The rough ride near the back of the bus and the heat got to me. After a very miserable few hours, we were finally in Queenstown, where my husband found a pharmacy and bought every motion sickness remedy available over the counter! The patches worked great for the rest of the trip. Here in the US, we can only get them through the pharmacy with a doctor's prescription.

 

My motion sickness is very inconsistant. As a child, I seemed to grow out of it only to have it return when I was about 30. It came and went for several years. Until last year, it was about 15 years since it had affected me. I decided to be prepared for the Drake. If I follow the sae pattern, I could be bothered again for a few years.

[SarniaLo]

I have done the Antarctic Circle trip with M/S Fram in February 2009. I agree that M/S Fram is a good ship and the stabilizers help very much maintain very smooth ship moves even in rough sea. However we didn't get really bad weather so I haven't tested the ship in real strong waves.

Since I am not so prone to sea sickness, I didn't take anything to prevent it, but if you are more comfortable with anticipating motion sickness, then by all means go along with the treatment that works for you.

 

I know that the weather changes from year to year (it can even change from minute to minute in Antarctica! ;) ), but we were blessed during all our trip with very mild weather and mostly sunny days. The air temperature was around 0°C (30°F) even below the Artic Circle. The feeling of cold is actually mostly given by the wind, and we had almost none during all the actual cruising in the Antarctica Peninsula.

 

PerfectlyPerth gave you good advice for clothing. I would usually have long thermal underpants under standard trousers, plus a waterproof overalls for landings (I'm a sailor so I brought along my sailing gear, which was fine). For the top, two or three layers (a light polar shirt + a stronger polar fleece, and sometimes a thermal long sleeve tshirt under everything). I had brought along my sailing jacket as well, which was fine, but mostly everybody used the jacket that is given on board. It is not lined, but it is of good quality, and really waterproof and windprooof. If you take one a size bigger than your usual size, you can wear it over your two or three layers and be fine most of the time.

 

I agree that it is really important to keep your head and your hands warm (and I would add, your feet). For the hands I had warm ski gloves and thermal undergloves to be able to take pictures without completely baring my hands. For the feet, warm ski socks for instance, and for walking around the boat we had brought waterproof hiking shoes. For landing you will be provided with rubber boots on board.

 

We only had strong wind on the Drake passage on the way back (after the glorious trip we had, I would have been disappointed if we hadn't! ;) ) and as I said, the M/S Fram handled this weather very well.

 

During our trip we were able to actually go as far as planned (Marguerite Bay) and none of the landings had to be cancelled, but it seems that the Fram's crew and expedition team are very efficient in finding quickly alternative solutions when planned landings are not possible. Altogether we felt that the crew and expedition team were very keen on making us enjoy our Antarctic experience as much as possible. It was an absolutely fantastic trip that I will remember for the rest of my life. I hope you have the same feeling during your trip, I will follow the M/S Fram's blog during your journey!

[pmar93]

Thank you, SarniaLo for your response. I'm glad to hear that the Fram's stabilizers handled the sea well. We've been following the Fram Blog and are getting more excited as our trip approaches. We sail February 1.

 

Thanks again for your response.

Trish

[diane.in.ny]

We did the trip on the Nordnorge which is a sister ship to the Fram.

 

I did a post on my blog about what we took which is similar to what has already been written. For us, the most important items were glove liners. The glove liners allowed us to take off our windproof mittens to take pictures.

 

We pretty much used everything we took but then we travel light and did this trip with just carry ons

 

(http://www.travelsnippetsandmore.com/2008/11/packing-for-antarctica.html - also, if you click on Antarctica a scroll down a few posts you can see some of our pictures)

 

Of course the trick is to layer. Keep in mind that while sailing, standing on deck can get VERY cold.