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Furious 10 metre waves and icy gales await those intrepid enough to navigate the Drake Passage, the crossing from the tip of South America to Antarctica seen by seafarers as one of the world's most dangerous voyages.
After a 43-hour trip negotiating waters that leave even experienced sailors queasy, the crew and a gaggle of reporters aboard the Brazilian icebreaker and oceanographic research vessel Ary Rongel finally spot land.
As night falls, huge blocks of ice can just be seen on the horizon, the still blurred contours of King George Island, the largest of the South Shetland Islands and home to a Brazilian research base.
"It is very emotional. The landscape is stunning and you can breathe very pure air," said Sergeant Adilson Pinheiro, a 25-year veteran with the Brazilian navy.
"We can see different animals, such as penguins and sea lions. It is fantastic, very gratifying. This makes up for missing your family - and for the crossing."
The Ary Rongel is transporting personnel along with provisions for Brazil's Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station, the base of the Brazilian Antarctic programme of scientific research.
The base, inaugurated in 1984, is being refurbished. Its inhabitants are living in provisional accommodation after a fire ripped through it two years ago, killing two staff.
The Drake Passage, which stretches for 1,000 kilometres, represents three-quarters of the voyage from the Chilean city of Punta Arenas to the Antarctic.
"Drake Passage is feared, as it is one of the worst seas in the world, if not the worst, to navigate," says 31-year-old skipper Lieutenant Ricardo Magalhaes.
"West to east it is buffeted by strong winds and many cold fronts, with nothing in the way of physical barriers to break the waves, which in summer can rise as high as eight to 10 metres.
"But good seas don't make for good sailors," muses the navigation specialist, who has 14 years of naval service behind him.
After a four-day trip punctuated by poor sleep and seasickness tablets, the Ary Rongel's passengers are up on deck to survey the scenery wide-eyed.
A flock of petrels marks their arrival in a world of natural beauty but also danger.
For a while the waters are calm as the vessel slips into the Strait of Magellan and heads south through Chilean waters, a 600 kilometre trek which takes 30 hours to navigate.
Locally, they call it the Avenue of Glaciers or ventisqueros - a mountainous area where snow and ice are still deep on the peaks, even as the Patagonian summer approaches its end. From there, the Ary Rongel steers into Richmond Passage and out into Drake Passage, where the Atlantic and the Pacific meet.
Days on board the Ary Rongel, affectionately dubbed "Red Giant" by its crew because of its bright red paint, are characterised by strict military routine.
Each day starts at dawn and four mealtimes are rigidly adhered to.
Communications, activities for the day and information on temperature and how long a human being can survive in the sea should the vessel sink are all broadcast over the shipboard PA.
The crew of 82, all military, carry out a range of functions from cook to diver, pilot to mechanic, chaplain to commander.
Twenty-three civilians - scientists and journalists - make up the remainder of the 105 people on board.
On each mission, the crew stays aboard from October to April, and will generally make five trips down to the base during that period.


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Drake

Brazilian ship braves fearsome Drake Passage en route to Antarctic base

The view from the Ary Rongel in the Drake Passage. Photo: AFP

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World

Even veteran sailors on Brazilian ship dread waves and winds along route to scientific base


Brazilian ship braves fearsome Drake Passage en route to Antarctic base

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Even veteran sailors on Brazilian ship dread waves and winds along route to scientific base

Even veteran sailors on Brazilian ship dread waves and winds along route to scientific base