Featured Image Credit: Storyful
Topics: Cruise Ship, Travel, Viral
Jess Battison
Sure, you might be going on one of those absolute mega boats with slides and zip wires and all kinds of mad activities, but a lot of people go on a cruise holiday to relax.
Chilling out under the sun, getting spa treatments, sipping on drinks, and watching the ocean pass by as they forget about real life.
They’ll even be able to unwind when it’s total darkness outside and there’s nothing to see for miles (which a lot of us would find terrifying).
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But whatever it is you’re doing on a cruise ship, you don’t exactly envision yourself being thrown about by the waves and falling into the walls while there’s something horror film-like going on outside.
Although, some cruise enthusiasts get pretty excited about passing through the infamous spot guilty of causing these kind of scenes. Watch one nightmare like experience play out here:
Yep, it’s Drake Passage.
This is a rather dangerous body of water located between South America’s Cape Horn, Chile, Argentina, and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica.
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As you can see going off in the video, Drake Passage is known for its pretty rough waters and mammoth waves.
It’s got the ability to make passengers on even the biggest of cruise ships feel a little queasy and off-balance despite the boat being so huge and heavy.
It was the passengers aboard Quark Expeditions’ Ocean Explorer ship that felt the true wrath of the waters as they went flying about, sliding across the floors and knocking into the walls.
Lesley Anne Murphy, a travel blogger on board captured the footage showing her fellow cruisers experiencing Drake Passage during a return trip from Antarctica.
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She reckons some of the waves were between a whopping 30 to 40 feet, and added that the ship’s unique design of large panelled windows allowed them to see the waves coming. But let’s be honest, it almost makes it scarier to watch – and a little cool, I guess.
According to Quark Expeditions, the passage is formidable as the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern oceans flow into it and ends up creating this ‘fierce’ weather and ‘dramatic ocean conditions’.
Showing off the madness of trying to walk about the ship while passing through Drake Passage, Murphy described the experience as a 48-hour rollercoaster in her Instagram caption.
“I am proud to say we survived not one but two Drake Shakes,” she said. “If you’re lucky, you get the ‘Drake Lake.’ If you’re like us, you get the ‘Drake Shake’ with 35-foot waves.”
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Murphy added that she was safe and it was all worth it for the ‘trip of a lifetime’.
I feel seasick just watching it, let alone being on the ship itself.