Crossing the Drake Passage
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An extraordinary location
Where is the Drake Passage? This particular body of water connects two regions that seem impossibly far away. It extends from Cape Horn at South America’s southernmost tip to Antarctica’s South Shetland Islands and serves as the shortest route possible to the icy continent. En route, you’ll pass the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, both of which have their own extraordinary stories to tell.
Hidden depths
Connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, this particular waterway is an impressive 620 miles (997 kilometers) wide – about the distance from London to Berlin. Its average depth is 11,150 feet, although the ocean floor is thought to reach up to 15,700 feet deep near the passage’s southern and northern boundaries.
Sailing conditions make for a thrilling crossing
The Drake Passage is famously choppy and sailing through it is often an exhilarating adventure. It’s the convergence of oceans and temperatures that makes this region so lively, with cyclones that form in the warm Pacific sweeping into the passage below the cape.
Which leads to the question, is it safe to sail through the Drake Passage? Quite simply, yes. As you follow in the footsteps of Charles Darwin and the HMS Beagle, you’ll enjoy the benefit of modern forecasting, advanced technology and developments in the design of seafaring vessels, all of which make the route safe to travel today.