Quark Expeditions Takes the Shake out of the Drake

Quark Expeditions has announced that passengers who wish to cruise Antarctica can fly there directly and skip the notorious Drake Passage. This is billed as a time-saver, one that reduces the trip from over two days to less than two hours. But more to the point, the flight eliminates the "Drake Shake," which can leave passengers suffering from seasickness.
For my part, I wouldn't have missed the Drake Shake for anything in the world. When I took my Antarctica cruise on the red-hulled M/S Explorer (lovingly called "The Little Red Boat)," it was the "shake" that gave me some small sense of what it was like to explore Antarctica when it would have been an"expedition" rather than a "vacation." (Sadly the Explorer, the first ship ever built to explore the icy waters of Antarctica, struck ice and sank in 2007; happily all aboard were saved.)
Anyway, for those who want to see Antarctica without actually crossing the Drake, a flight from Punta Arenas, Chile, to Antarctica is the key. The BAE 146 jet aircraft carries 62 passengers and is built to land on short runways, essential in Antarctica. The Antarctic fly and cruise program saves travelers approximately 100 hours of sailing time when compared to traditional expeditions.
Travelers spend the same amount of time exploring the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands as they would on traditional Antarctic expeditions – 5 days – they just get there more quickly. They board the expedition vessel, Ocean Nova, in Antarctica, off the Chilean Research Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva, on King George Island.
Quark Expeditions was the first polar adventure company to transit the Northeast Passage with commercial passengers; the first to take travelers to the “far side” of Antarctica and the first to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent with guests, twice. In 2006 and 2007, Quark was named a recipient of National Geographic Traveler’s “50 Tours of a Lifetime” for “Emperor Penguin Safari” and the “Far Side” respectively. In 2006, Outside magazine named Quark’s “Emperor Penguin Safari” as one of the New Trips of a Lifetime.